Livingston in Park County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Danforth Block
Livingston Commercial Historic District
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 24, 2021
1. Danforth Block Marker
Inscription.
Danforth Block. Livingston Commercial Historic District. A wood-frame cigar factory and shooting gallery stood here in 1884. After fire destroyed the buildings in 1886, owner J. A. Danforth quickly rebuilt in brick. Four years later, he added a second story, but the addition was so heavy it damaged the first floor. In 1891, he remodeled, adding iron support columns to carry the weight. The flamboyant Gilded Age business block features a distinctively corbelled (projecting) brick cornice that evokes the top of a fortress. For much of the building’s history, the second floor housed club and card rooms while a saloon filled the first floor. Bar owners included Democratic political “boss” John Hogan, who came to Livingston as a Northern Pacific “road master” and then went into sheep ranching. Hogan purchased the building in 1914, and his ghost sign still marks the north façade’s second story. In 1927, during Prohibition, Herman Bauer, a union activist blackballed by the railroad as an “agitator,” opened a soft drink parlor. Antlers Bar opened in 1937, four years after Prohibition’s repeal. It operated until 1967.
A wood-frame cigar factory and shooting gallery stood here in 1884. After fire destroyed the buildings in 1886, owner J. A. Danforth quickly rebuilt in brick. Four years later, he added a second story, but the addition was so heavy it damaged the first floor. In 1891, he remodeled, adding iron support columns to carry the weight. The flamboyant Gilded Age business block features a distinctively corbelled (projecting) brick cornice that evokes the top of a fortress. For much of the building’s history, the second floor housed club and card rooms while a saloon filled the first floor. Bar owners included Democratic political “boss” John Hogan, who came to Livingston as a Northern Pacific “road master” and then went into sheep ranching. Hogan purchased the building in 1914, and his ghost sign still marks the north façade’s second story. In 1927, during Prohibition, Herman Bauer, a union activist blackballed by the railroad as an “agitator,” opened a soft drink parlor. Antlers Bar opened in 1937, four years after Prohibition’s repeal. It operated until 1967.
Location. 45° 39.701′ N, 110° 33.612′ W. Marker is in Livingston, Montana, in Park County. It is on North Main Street near East Callender Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 106 North Main Street, Livingston MT 59047, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Yellowstone Country and in Greater Bozeman. It is also in the American Mountain West and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, 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.
4. East side of the 100 block of North Main Street.
Note the ghost signs.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 31, 2022. It was originally submitted on January 31, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 235 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on January 31, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
