Alexander “Nosey” D. Smith came to Havre as a Great Northern Railroad conductor when the first trains came through town in the mid-1890s. He purchased two lots for $5 in 1897 and built this late Victorian Folk style home in 1902. Multi-light windows and the steeply pitched roof with rolled edges are reminiscent of an English cottage while Craftsman style elements include the tapered front columns. Inside, oak stair treads become pine as the stairway turns the corner. This may seem an expression of thrift, but the upstairs fixtures are silver. Smith, noted for his own beautifully kept yard, served several terms as street commissioner, transforming Havre’s streets from irregular, unsightly lanes into boulevards. He also installed both styles of the town’s first streetlights. Smith’s wife, Jennie, gave voice lessons and the couple had one son, Harry. Smith died in 1915. In 1926, Jennie sold the house to Dr. Arthur Husser and his wife, Rae. Dr. Husser’s surgical practice was on First Street and his wife was a nurse at the Havre Clinic.
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