Filed Under Kalispell

404 Second Avenue West

West Side Historic District

When twenty-five-year-old housekeeper Cora Brooks Moore lived here with her four-year-old son, she owned the home free of mortgage. She built the simple, one-story gable-front home sometime between 1894 and 1899. At that time, it had a back porch but no front porch. Her neighbors were mostly residents of female boarding houses a turn-of-the-century euphemism for brothels. Claude Jump, who owned a livery stable one block north, rented the home in 1907. Ezra and Catherine Slack purchased the property in 1910, after their eight children had grown up. The founder of an important Kalispell realty company, Ezra died in 1918. Catherine continued to live here until her death in 1924. Her son George and his family lived just up the block. The red light district had moved elsewhere by the time the Slacks moved in, and the female boarding houses had all been torn down or converted into more respectable lodging. By 1927, the area’s transformation was complete. Two churches neighbored this residence: the Free Methodist Church to the north and the Full Gospel Mission Church to the east.

Images

404 Second Avenue West
404 Second Avenue West 404 Second Avenue West. Front to side view of the house, facing southwest on 2nd Avenue West. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Oct. 1980

Location

404 2nd Avenue West, Kalispell, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “404 Second Avenue West,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/479.