Marcus D. Baldwin came to Montana from Ohio in 1885, appointed by President Cleveland as superintendent to the Blackfoot, Blood, and Piegan bands of the Blackfeet tribe in northwestern Montana. Baldwin brought his wife, Sarah, and their two small sons to live at the agency on Badger Creek. Daughter Kokoa, whose name was reportedly derived from the Blackfoot word for “little girl,” was the first white child born on Montana’s Blackfoot Reservation in 1888. Baldwin, who deserves partial credit for the founding of Marias Pass, moved to Kalispell when the town was platted in 1891. He was a practicing attorney and prominent in the founding of Kalispell and Flathead County. The original brick front-gabled residence was built between 1891 and 1894 and the carriage house along the alley between 1899 and 1903. Circa 1914, remodeling added a wood-frame second story and gambrel roof. Many fruit trees once graced the spacious yard of this significant residence, which remained in the Baldwin family until 1973.
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