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.
Lehman Bunkhouse. Courthouse Historic District. 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 adaptive reuse.
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 adaptive reuse.
Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed
Location. 47° 3.735′ N, 109° 25.933′ W. Marker is in Lewistown, Montana, in Fergus County. Marker 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.
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 111 times since then and 5 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on December 13, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.