Lewistown in Fergus County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)

Lehman Bunkhouse

Courthouse Historic District

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 18, 2019

1. Lehman Bunkhouse Marker

Inscription. Two distinct buildings of different origins but with a shared purpose rest companionably side by side on this site today. Pioneer merchant Charles Lehman constructed the handsome stone segment in the 1890s as a rooming house for his unmarried male employees. By 1908, a rubblestone addition had doubled the size of the original cut stone building. The residence also served rural students who boarded in town while attending the county high school. The old Lehman property was purchased by the Lewistown branch of the Montana Institute for the Arts in 1970. When the new art center needed additional space, the turn-of-the-twentieth-century two-story frame building was literally rescued from the bulldozer and moved here in 1977. Large doors reveal its former function as the carriage house of local district judge Rudolph Von Tobel. The few exterior alterations, including beautiful stained glass from St. Joseph’s Hospital incorporated into a window and a main entry linking the two buildings together, have little altered the original appearances. The complex now serves the community as an art center and as an inspirational model of

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adaptive reuse.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Arts, Letters, Music • Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the Montana National Register Sign Program series list.

Location. 47° 3.735′ N, 109° 25.933′ W. Marker is in Lewistown, Montana, in Fergus County. It is at the intersection of West Broadway Street and 8th Avenue North, on the right when traveling east on West Broadway Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 801 West Broadway Street, Lewistown MT 59457, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in andspecifically entral Montana in Russell Country. It is also in the American Mountain West

and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At

Lehman Bunkhouse and Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 18, 2019

2. Lehman Bunkhouse and Marker

least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Carnegie Library (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Courthouse Historic District (about 500 feet away); Attix Clinic (about 700 feet away); Thompson-Lewis House (about 800 feet away); 521 West Main (approx. 0.2 miles away); Abraham and Mary Walton Hogeland House (approx. 0.2 miles away); McDonald and Charters Block (approx. ¼ mile away); Phillips Drug Company (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lewistown.

Lehman Bunkhouse image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 18, 2019

3. Lehman Bunkhouse

Credits. This page was last revised on December 19, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 13, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 210 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on December 13, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.