Lindley Place Historic District

Lindley Place Historic District. . This diminutive neighborly district of thirty-four rather modest, early homes was surveyed and platted as Lindley and Guy’s Addition in anticipation of the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad. A lumber planing operation occupied the northwest section of the new district in the early 1880s, while newly sawn lumber stored on some of its lots awaited use. Two “shotgun” houses that likely accommodated mill workers at 207 and 211 Lindley Place were among the first residences, built in 1880 and 1883. Houses were soon scattered along both sides of the street, and by the late 1880s, blacksmith William Highsmith’s ornate Queen Anne style residence at 317 Lindley Place added a fashionable touch. Joseph Lindley’s own home with its cast iron hitching post, built in 1892, anchors the district at the head of the street. Many residents, like Lindley himself, pursued diverse and numerous occupations. One worked as a saloon keeper, grocer, farmer, and rancher; another was proprietor of a bowling alley, city water works superintendent, and an electrician. A series of bungalows, most built by carpenter J. H. Mimmack, filled out the neighborhood between 1912 and 1922. Today Lindley Place offers an excellent assortment of some of Bozeman’s earliest working- and middle-class architecture. The ever present sound of Bozeman Creek, sidewalks proclaiming “Lindley Place – 1906,” and pleasant shade trees enhance the unique character of this vintage neighborhood that has changed very little since the 1920s.