North Side Historic Walking Tour
Bell Street Bridge
Dawson County built the first bridge over the Yellowstone in 1895. It was destroyed by flooding and ice jams that also took 11 lives in 1899, but rebuilt in 1902. The present Bell Street Bridge was built in 1926 for approximately $300,000 ($4.2 million in today's dollars). It was able to accommodate automobile traffic, and the old bridge was torn down soon after. The Bell Street Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today is one of only three pedestrian-only bridges across the Yellowstone River. When this bridge was built, Bell Street provided an impressive entry into Glendive. Many leading citizens had homes on Bell and Towne Streets. This route runs through early Glendive's most distinguished neighborhood. The building cost of a number of the structures illustrates early Glendive's wealth and success, as well as its citizens' business acumen. The bridge is 1//4 mile, end to end.
103 North Douglas:
The Krug Mansion
Now known as the Charlie Montana, this three-story, 25 room, home was constructed of glazed Hebron brick and limestone in 1907 for Charles and Annie Krug. At one time, Mr. Krug, Glendive's first millionaire, owned 54 sections of land and the largest sheep herd in eastern Montana. When the Krug children started school, it was time for the family to move from their ranch southwest of Glendive, so this neoclassical mansion was built to accommodate them. The interior includes ornately carved woodwork and decorative porcelain tiles. There was also a merry-go-round in the basement for the children. Except for the addition of bathrooms, electricity, and plumbing, the house retains the aura of its original charm and elegance.
201 N River
Hollecker Home
The Reynolds/McGovern Home. The Hollecker home sits across Towne Street from the site of the Gilmore home near the end of the Towne Street Bridge. When George and Sallie Hollecker and daughters arrived in Glendive in 1894, conditions were so rough that Mrs. Hollecker took her daughters back to her mother’s home in more civilized country until George could secure suitable housing. Due to a prosperous store, he was eventually able to build the Victorian era home you see here. Rita Reynolds McGovern (whose family owned Reynold's Market), later lived in the home for 74 years until 2018. As a child, Rita played on the carousel in the Krug’s home down the block.
314 West Towne
The Ed & Mabel Haskell Home. Ed Haskell started life in Montana on a sheep ranch, and the lack of civilization was not to his first wife’s liking. When it was time for their children to start school, she took them back to Massachusetts. Although she wrote to her husband that they would return if he built a house in Glendive so the children could go to school there. However, she did not return even when he built a house on Kendrick; perhaps she would have liked this American Foursquare boxy home better. Ed lived here with his second wife Mabel. In 1914, Ed acquired the Buick distributorship for eastern Montana. He sold those cars and several other brands for many years. Note the dormer roof is centered over the full-width porch and each side is identical.
301 West Towne
Glendive's Episcopal church was built circa 1884 and is one of Glendive's oldest churches. In 2014 it was converted to a retail space, Enchanted Living, but still boasts the original tin ceilings, hardwood floors, and stained glass windows. Check out the upstairs if open.
222 West Towne
Now a retail space, the Enchanted Room, the house at 222 West Towne Street was once the home of Betty Babcock, Montana's First Lady from 1962 to 1969
217 West Towne
The Blackstock Home. This home was built between 1905 and 1910 for Sam Blackstock. It stayed in the Blackstock family until the 1950s. The house's boxy shape, large front porch, and side-by-side windows are common elements in Prairie School homes constructed from pattern book plans like Sears and Roebuck. The Blackstock home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
211 West Towne
The J. Harley Miskimen Home. Brynjulf Rivenes of Miles City designed this home for J. Harley Miskimen , Glendive’s first mayor. This architect was known for his neoclassical style like the Methodist Church across the street but this shows he could design other styles as well. According to family members, Mr. Miskimen sent his wife Nellie and their children on an extended vacation in 1909 and had the house built as a surprise for them when they returned. Nellie was the daughter of Billy and May Jordan, prominent early Glendive citizens.
Kendrick & Towne
First Methodist Church
The First Methodist Church (now Glendive United Methodist Church) was designed by Brynjulf Rivenes and built by Wallace Perham (namesake of Dawson County High's Perham Field). Completed in 1909, the church is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Its impressive design includes pointed window arches and a crenelated bell tower.
209 North Kendrick
The First Methodist Parsonage. Built in 1913, the parsonage is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a companion to the Methodist church. Craftsman Bungalow style homes like this one were the preferred middleclass house style from 1910 to 1930. Some of their popular characteristics include wide eaves with exposed rafters, heavy squared columns, flared roof and natural colors.
221North Kendrick
Glendive's post office was financed by the Public Works Administration and completed in 1936. The colonial design was modeled after designs from the United States Treasury and built with materials common to Depression-era federal building projects. Shortly after the $70,000 ($1.27 million today) building opened, a natural gas explosion destroyed much of it. It was rebuilt in the same manner as the original and opened later that year. The post office is another of Glendive's buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
515 North Kendrick
The home of John Sorenson, who served as postmaster. His daughter Etta Sorenson lived there for many years. This cube-shaped 2 1/2 story building is called American foursquare for its simple clean lines making it economical to build and a popular choice for kit houses offered by Sears and Montgomery Wards.
610 North Kendrick
The Ray Lowe Home. Ray ran an early hardware store in Glendive.
714 North Kendrick
This two-story hip-roofed home was built in 1917. It is now owned by Ray & Laura Gluekert who have remodeled it enclosing the front porch and adding a large deck in the back with creative landscaping. Laura is the original and still active co-owner of the Enchanted Room and Enchanted Living business on Towne Street, also on this trail.
720 North Kendrick
803 North Kendrick
1.5 story Victorian home was built in 1900. It was the home of Frank C. Hughes, manager of Glendive Heat Light & Power Co. Sina Rostad, domestic help also lived there with the family. It wasn’t until a decade later that homes here in Glendive had street numbers. You would find it listed as the corner of Kendrick & Relf. Note the many roof lines and wraparound porch. The remodeling over the years has done away with the gingerbread. They added aluminum siding in 1988.
812 North Kendrick
The Perham Home. Wallace T. and Kathryn Perham built this gem of a house in 1909.. He was a contractor who was very active in civic affairs, and she served as a public speaker and active member of the influential Women’s Club. They traveled extensively and furnished their home with items purchased during their travels. Perham field is named after them. The similar craftman home next door was built in 1916.
821 North Kendrick
Round the corner to 821 N Kendrick. This colonial style with shutters was built in 1939. Shutters and dormer windows and narrow wooden slat boards were common in colonial Early American homes.
822 North Kendrick
The David Leadal Home. This craftman style bungalow home was built in 1912 and owned by David Leadal, a Norwegian tavern owner who managed to stay prosperous during prohibition. When Teresa Hathaway remodeled the basement, they found evidence of a speakeasy. The house has stained glass imported from Norway. The living room walls are painted but look like leather. The porch was enclosed later.
Horse Thief Row
Continue walking on Kendrick to Slocum Street, where you will take a left turn and then another left turn onto Meade Avenue, often referred to as “Horse Thief Row” in the old days. Apparently, the former Attorney General Henri Haskell (no relation to the Haskells previously mentioned) owned land on the south side of town that he thought would be ideal for the well-to-do ranchers who now desired to build large homes in town. When they chose to build on Meade Avenue instead, he called the street “Horse Thief Row,” saying that side of town was set aside for horse thieves. Indeed, a number of these ranchers raised horses, but this designation was probably made out of spite.
820 North Meade
803 North Meade
This two-story early American home was built in 1910. Note the leaded glass windows and the symmetry make it a fitting home for a large lot. This currently belongs to the Nissleys.
720 North Meade
Original home of George and Emma Beasley and daughter May. George seems to have had his hand in many endeavors, ranging from sheep ranching to wool-buying to serving as manager of the Horse Sales Yard. He also had a real estate business, specializing in handling large tracts of land. Brubaker Brothers poured much of the cement in early Glendive, and you may see their name imprinted on the sidewalk leading to the front door along with owner G.M Beasley. This 1 1/2 story frame home was built with a gracious encircling veranda which complimented the corner lot.
719 North Meade
The Elmer & Eloise Herrick Home. Elmer started as a ranch hand and Eloise clerked at the Douglas-Meade store. The infamous winter of 1886-87 ended Elmer's first attempt at sheep ranching, but he rebounded by hauling freight in the summer of 1887. He then formed a partnership to raise horses and gradually added cattle and sheep to the ranch, eventually shipping cattle to Chicago. The Herrick property ran to the river when they built their home. The apartment building that sits across the alley from the home once served as a stable and carriage house.
710 North Meade
707 North Meade
The William & May Jordan Home. Billy Jordan was a cowboy in Texas who helped drive cattle on the Chisholm Trail and then into Montana. Unlike a lot of these cowboys, Billy saved the money he earned and used it to get into the ranching business near Terry. May Jordan, then May Miller, reportedly brought her three daughters west in search of her first husband in 1876. She was running a hotel in Miles City when she met and married Billy. The couple bought the Yellowstone Hotel in Glendive in 1896 and then built the Jordan Hotel. Billy continued to run his cattle business, shipping cattle to Chicago, which led to his friendship with Eddie Swift (of Swift Meatpacking). Their Queen Anne Victorian style home was the first built on Meade Avenue. Construction was completed in 1901.
621 North Meade
The Tom & Mary Hagen Home. This home was designed by the St. Paul architect who designed the Montana state capitol. Tom Hagen was one of the few early day prominent citizens who possessed a college degree. He worked as an Northern Pacific brakeman for his first six years in the area and then acquired the Pabst Brewing distributorship for Glendive. He also raised horses and cattle, helped form the First National Bank, was part of a company that ran the Jordan Hotel, and served as Glendive's mayor from 1909-1915. This Neoclassical-style house (one of two in Glendive) was built with a “widow’s walk” that enabled the Hagens a good view of the Yellowstone via a staircase in the attic.
620 North Meade
The Lovell & Clara Farnum Home. Lovell moved from Michigan to partner with his brother-in-law Hope Davis in an early-day Glendive drug store. The former F&G Drug Store bears his name. When Lovell and his wife married, they lived in a house on Glendive’s south side. Mrs. Farnum became friends with the Jordans, but visiting them involved pushing a baby carriage across town in the days before sidewalks were common. Rather than making the walk back home in the dark, she sometimes stayed with the Jordans. Her father, a lumberman back in Michigan, though she deserved a better home and sent the materials to build this Victorian home with a wraparound porch built in 1910, only a half a block from the Jordans.
505 North Meade
If these walls could talk, they could tell many stories of the youth of Glendive getting an education from books and from life in eastern MT. Washington School was constructed in 1914, and has been an education center for over 100 years. Now known as Washington Middle School, this three-story brick building cost approximately $50,000 ($1.25 million today) to build.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Sacred Heart was built between 1925 and 1926 for approximately $50,000 ($1.25 million in today's dollars). Another of Brynjulf Rivenes' Glendive designs, the church was built by local contractor John Holm using Hebron, North Dakota brick. It's Early Italian Christian and Romanesque style boasts detailed brickwork and a rose window above the main entrance. Note the mural on the garage done by Charity Schreibeis, DCHS Art Teacher and her students. In the alley, see the mural on Our Savior Lutheran Church Education Building a half also was under the direction of Charity Schreibeis.
Continue south on Meade to the Episcopal Church, now Enchanted Living and to the Gusthauf, former location of the Dion home which is now the Victorian home facing the Yellowstone, seen off the right side of the Towne Street Bridge. Turn right at the GustHaul and continue to the Bell Street Bridge to end your 2.5 mile historic home trail.