Miles City in Custer County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Cresap ⎯⎯⎯ Smart House
East Main Street Residential Historic District
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, September 11, 2020
1. Cresap/Smart House Marker
Inscription.
Cresap, also, Smart House. East Main Street Residential Historic District. Hardware store owner, banker, and real estate developer George Miles, nephew of Colonel Nelson A. Miles, hired a contractor to build this hipped-roof cottage around 1910. Following completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1908 and passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act in 1909, newcomers flooded into Miles City and demand for housing soared. Developers focused attention on the spacious lots east of the Northern Pacific tracks. Families and wealthier landowners located away from the tracks, while investors like Miles built small rental cottages and apartment buildings near the tracks. Beulah Cresap and her husband William, the manager of the Golden Rule department store on Main Street, rented this Craftsman style home from 1912 to 1924. The homes side bay window, exposed rafter tails in the eaves, and front porch (now enclosed) were common architectural elements found on the many Miles City houses built from pattern book plans. Dentist Dr. William Smart and wife Lydia bought the home in 1924. Dr. Smart was a state dental examiner and President of the Montana State Dental Association in 1932-33.
Hardware store owner, banker, and real estate developer George Miles, nephew of Colonel Nelson A. Miles, hired a contractor to build this hipped-roof cottage around 1910. Following completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1908 and passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act in 1909, newcomers flooded into Miles City and demand for housing soared. Developers focused attention on the spacious lots east of the Northern Pacific tracks. Families and wealthier landowners located away from the tracks, while investors like Miles built small rental cottages and apartment buildings near the tracks. Beulah Cresap and her husband William, the manager of the Golden Rule department store on Main Street, rented this Craftsman style home from 1912 to 1924. The homes side bay window, exposed rafter tails in the eaves, and front porch (now enclosed) were common architectural elements found on the many Miles City houses built from pattern book plans. Dentist Dr. William Smart and wife Lydia bought the home in 1924. Dr. Smart was a state dental examiner and President of the Montana State Dental Association in 1932-33.
Location. 46° 24.496′ N, 105° 50.37′ W. Marker is in Miles City, Montana, in Custer County. It is on Main Street near North Cottage Avenue, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1700 Main Street, Miles City MT 59301, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Montana, in Custer Country and in the Powder River Basin. It is also in the American Mountain West, in the Lewis & Clark Corridor, on the prairies, on the Great Plains, and specifically on the Northern Plains. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land and also the Louisiana Purchase.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Kelly Residence
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, September 11, 2020
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, September 11, 2020
3. Cresap/Smart House
Credits. This page was last revised on July 23, 2021. It was originally submitted on January 8, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 220 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on January 8, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
