Carbon County Historic Rehabilitation Grant Program (CCHR)

The Carbon County Historical Society and Museum building was originally constructed as a Labor Temple that was designed by architect John Horne and built entirely by the Red Lodge Miners Local No. 1771. The Labor Temple is of primary historic and architectural significance. The building is very meaningful in its origin and to the history of the Red Lodge area and the past local unions and mines of the area. All local brick was used for the construction of the building primarily from the Fromberg Brick yards. The building has a prominent location on Broadway Avenue in Red Lodge. The free-standing masonry Labor Temple building is located at the northern end of the historic district on a key street corner location and serves as the entry point to the district. The Labor Temple building fits the 'Early Twentieth Century Commercial' architectural style. The Labor Temple's original configuration included a union meeting hall, union offices, a library, and a saloon for union members. The third floor was a dance hall and at times a roller skating rink and the original first floor was occupied by a Mercantile company. The United Mine Workers Union Local 1771 offices existed on the second floor. By the time the building opened, there were over one thousand local miners in the Red Lodge area. The building is one of the largest in the area. When the Red Lodge coal mines started to close in the 1920s, the Labor Temple building declined in usage and went through various owners including the American Legion, an auto parts store, and a farm implement dealership. In 1983, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing member of the Red Lodge Commercial Historic District. The building was anonymously donated to the Carbon County Historical Society in 1990. The ground floor was refurbished and turned into the Peaks to Plains Museum with a newly remodeled basement and first floor in 1999. The name of the museum was changed to the Carbon County Museum in the early 2000s. The Carbon County Museum contains three floors of important Carbon County historical artifacts and many forms of original research documents and information.

Information sourced from the application.

The Larkin and Fleming Hall/Italian Hall in Red Lodge, Montana, stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of early 20th-century architecture and community life. Its significance extends beyond mere physical structure; it embodies the collective memory and cultural integration of Red Lodge's diverse communities. Constructed in the early 1900s, the hall emerged as a vital social nexus for the burgeoning Italian immigrant population, providing a space for communal gatherings, celebrations, and cultural exchange. In the context of widespread immigration to the region, the hall symbolizes the resilience and adaptability of immigrant communities in forging bonds and preserving traditions amid cultural shifts. Beyond its role as a cultural beacon, the hall reflects broader historical trends in American society, particularly the evolution of community spaces and the intertwined nature of architecture and social dynamics. Its architectural style, characterized by sturdy brick masonry and elegant yet functional design, mirrors the pragmatic yet aspirational spirit of early 20th-century public buildings in the Northwest United States. Moreover, the hall's historical significance lies not only in its physical attributes but also in its intangible value as a repository of stories, memories, and community connections. Over the decades, it has served as a platform for local leaders, activists, and organizers to rally support, foster dialogue, and shape the trajectory of Red Lodge's development. Information sourced from the application.

The Red Lodge Carnegie Library serves as the northern anchor for the Red Lodge Commercial Historic District, identified as such in the 1982 application for the National Historic Register. The building follows the Carnegie floor plan A, and features the classic Carnegie library hallmarks of a central elevated entry with the door flanked by globe lights. These features were selected by Andrew Carnegie to embody the ideas that one's status in life is elevated by entering a library and that one is enlightened upon doing so. As a post-war, post-1918 flu epidemic Carnegie library, the building is more austere than many Carnegie libraries, but the frontage does include the name CARNEGIE stamped into a decorative concrete feature above the doorway as well as an arched entrance with radial mullions in the transom above the door.

The efforts to secure a Carnegie library in Red Lodge lasted for many years and were championed by many groups and individuals in the community before it was successful. As with many communities, it was the local Women's Club whose efforts went the furthest in establishing the library and supporting it through its earliest decades.

The Red Lodge Carnegie Library is a department of the City of Red Lodge, having been established by Ordinance No. 369 in May 1917. The city received $15,000 from the Carnegie Corporation for the construction of the library. In 1918, after reviewing a number of potential sites, the current location on a triangular plot of land between Oakes Avenue, Broadway Avenue, and 8th Street was selected.

For over 100 years, the Red Lodge Carnegie Library has ​been a cultural institution in ​the community and is one of 9 Carnegie libraries in Montana still serving as libraries (17 were originally constructed.)

Information sourced from the application.

The building was considered one of primary significance within the Red Lodge Commercial Historic District in the original nomination, having “retained a high degree of architectural integrity, especially at the second story level…”. Notably, the original side entrance to the second story is still in place and the wood framed plate glass storefront with recessed entry are resources that contribute to the character of the Red Lodge Commercial District (24CB0145), as they ‘…help to create the essential streetscape rhythm of uninterrupted structures of similar size, scale, and material quality’ in the historic district.” The historic integrity of the building has been retained with minimal changes made with each change of use. Built in 1907, the building was mentioned in the August 3, 1905, Carbon County Gazette for the owner, Mrs. C.E. Simpson, intention to open a millinery store. It was noted that she intended to use cement blocks manufactured by Red Lodge Cement Works. It housed one of the first motion picture theaters for a short year and half, known as the Parker Amusement Company Theater or the Family Theater. Following, it housed the post office for approximately 10 years before housing a flooring business and upstairs apartments. C.E. Simpson was a well-known rancher in Joliet, Montana purchased the lots for $1,000.00 to erect the building for his wife’s business, the Enterprise Millinery Store.

Original rusticated and ashlar concrete blocks and the 1935 ROMAN marquee distinguish the façade of this early movie theater.

Austrian immigrant Steve Roman built the theater in 1917. One of fourteen sons, nineteen-year-old Roman came to Red Lodge in 1897 to work in the mines. He launched into the theater business, operating several local theaters before he built the Roman.

Roman’s wife, Librera, ran the upstairs Hotel Isabella, and at various times Roman’s six children took tickets, performed on the theater’s stage, accompanied silent movies on the organ, operated the projector, and ran the box office.

In 1935, Roman extensively remodeled the theater adding air conditioning, new seats, draperies, lighting, and the eight-foot Art Deco-style neon marquee. The remodel, by architect Bjarne Moe and contractor C. W. Hamrick, both of Seattle, caused considerable local excitement.  

The opening gala featured special appearances by the nationally renowned Crockett Family. Admission cost 35 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. Daughter Mary managed the theater until 1977.

The Roman retains much of its 1935 façade and is Montana’s oldest, continuously running moving picture theater.

Information sourced from application.

Fanshawe Lodge stands within the national, state and locally significant Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association (YBRA) camp historic district, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. YBRA, a not-for-profit geological teaching and research organization, has hosted thousands of students, faculty and researchers since its initial construction in 1936. It is the first permanent geological field station in Montana. Fanshawe Lodge is the primary contributing building within the historic district but could easily stand on its own merits as an individually eligible property. The lodge is considered eligible under Criterion A for its national, state and local significance for its direct historic association with the YBRA camp. Since 1936, Fanshawe Lodge has served as the epicenter for all YBRA activities and is the heart of this unique mountain geology summer field camp. Fanshawe Lodge is the communal gathering and meeting space and most importantly dining facility for students, faculty and visitors. For the first 20 years of the YBRA camp, the lodge functioned as the sole location for lectures and studies prior to other buildings being constructed for such purposes. Then, as now, Fanshawe Lodge provides the setting for YBRA participants to contribute to the advancement of geological knowledge of the region. The lodge also is an integral component of the cultural and economic history of Red Lodge since the camp opened in 1936.     Fanshawe Lodge is also eligible under Criterion C as representative of vernacular rustic architecture influenced by locally available native materials of log and stone. The lodge exhibits a simple, modest, unpretentious rustic style and displays the workmanship of local craftsman Roy Wadsworth who constructed the lodge during the winter of 1935-1936.  

Information sourced from application.

Built in 1909 and remodeled to its existing appearance in the early 1960s, the Yodeler initially functioned as an apartment building until adapted for use as a motel in the early 1960s. The Yodeler looks much as it did when remodeled into a motel in the early 1960s.

Never a franchise operation, its current design reflects its origin as a privately owned "mom and pop" operation. It serves as a good example of adaptive reuse as Red Lodge's economy transitioned from its origins as a coal mining camp to a largely resort community beginning in the 1930s. The Yodeler Motel represented one of ten motels and cabin camps in Red Lodge in 1964. The present incarnation of the Yodeler Motel, remodeled to provide the appearance and feel of a Bavarian ski chalet, intended to capitalize on the alpine beauty of the nearby Beartooth Mountains, tourism, and the ski resort.

The Yodeler Motel is an important example of merging two distinct architectural styles into a cohesive unit that makes the best use of both styles to advertise it as a motel geared to the area's scenic and recreational opportunities. Details associated with its earlier function as an apartment building (brick walls, entry-window-entry pattern, simple rectangular plan, rough concrete foundation) meld with the current function (Chalet-style office, exposed timbering, scrolled barge boards, neon and free-standing signage). No significant changes have occurred to the exterior of the motel since the early 1960s and it remains a unique example of a stylized Bavarian chateau motel in Red Lodge. In fact, the Yodeler is the only example of a "theme" motel in the community.

The motel is a unique representative of a time of significant economic growth for Red Lodge as its economy became firmly reliant on the Beartooth Highway, and the tourism and resort business in the post-World War II years.

Information sourced from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form:  https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/b29958cb-40e1-48e3-a2e2-fa244e1a085a 

The old Farmers Trading Company building was built in 1905 during a phase when Bridger’s businesses replaced the older wooden structures with brick or stone structures. It was the most modern of Bridger’s three mercantile stores, boasting a refrigerated section in the grocery department. The builder, Eric Forsman, (1849-1929) was a Swedish stone mason and had a Swedish carpenter, Marice Levander, for a boarder who undoubtedly worked together on this building, as well as the Eric Forsman cottage in 1907, the only stone cottage in Bridger.

Stone for the building was quarried by Bridger men. Historian Roly Reamy tells of his uncle Jim and his son Alex Stephens quarrying the stone from the sandstone rock rims west of Bridger. Eric Forsman also laid the stone for the Bridger Coal and Improvement Company machine shop in 1911. In 1913 he laid stone walls for the foundation of the new Methodist parsonage and replaced the 1910 sidewalks around the Glidden Mercantile.

At some point in time, the Farmers Trading Company became Vaughn Ragsdales, possibly in the late 19-teens, doing business into the 1950s. They sold clothing, and shoes, and even sold and stored fancy fur coats. Anthony’s eventually moved into the building and did business into the 1970s. Following Anthony’s, it became Coast to Coast Hardware, then NAPA automotive, then Valley Printers, and finally in 2014 the Zier Gallery.

Eric Forsman moved to Billings in the late teens and was employed at the Billings Poly Technic Institute. You can see some of his work in the old stone buildings at Rocky Mountain College. Forsman’s daughters, Berthina and Olga ran the Forsman Sisters Millinery Shop (directly across Mainstreet from the Farmers Trading Company) from about 1909 to 1918, and in 1923 they had a clothing shop. In 1911 Bertina married Maurity (Morris the boarder) Levander, and in 1918 Olga married Ole P. Overly the photographer who shared space with the sisters in the Frates & Levander building. John Forsman, Eric's brother, had J. Forsman General Merchandise store across the main street and by 1902 had a stone warehouse built by stonemason J.A. Johnson. Likely Eric did not move to Bridger until after his brother’s buildings were constructed.

Information sourced from application.