Roysdon House

Roysdon House. Red Lodge Hi Bug Historic District. Real estate speculation abounded after the Northern Pacific Railroad constructed a branch line to Red Lodge to take advantage of the area's rich coal deposits. In 1891 Nathan Smethurst purchased this lot for $36, selling it for a profit the same day. The lot sold again in 1896, and a fourth time in 1899, this time to Andrew Chapman, who constructed this one-and-one-half-story duplex as an investment property. Two front dormers and a full-length front porch distinguish the façade of the hipped roofed residence. The current porch was added in the extensive renovation completed in 2009. Builders placed the kitchens at the back of the house under a separate, single-story roof, a common nineteenth-century practice to minimize fire risk. Bucket brigades could more easily reach a one-story roof, perhaps saving the main house in case of a kitchen fire. Morris and Keziah Roysdon purchased the home in 1909, only a year before Keziah died, leaving eight children between the ages of five and twenty. The owner of a livery stable and then a lumberyard, Morris lived here until 1931.