Appreciating art and architecture requires perspective. Sometimes, it helps to take a step back (literally and figuratively). And the landmark house at 504 Fourth Ave. E. in Kalispell can be better appreciated stepping back, some 120 years.
As the 1890s emerged, Kalispell was hardly an idea, while the now-almost-forgotten town of Demersville – the “Queen City” of Northwest Montana – could tout a racetrack for both sport and wager. She could boast nearly 100 saloons for nearly 1,000 residents and could easily flaunt her importance as a navigation point along the Flathead River.
Yet Demersville was just that: an already established place. Its populace was its problem. In contrast, the land that would become Kalispell was little more than a handful of land grants and cattle pasture in the early 1890s.
So for railroad magnate James J. Hill and his cronies (including Charles E. Conrad), establishing a division point along the Great Northern Railway at an existing town meant more competition with existing landowners and less profit. Establishing a division point at a new town meant no competition and much greater potential for profit. Thus, Demersville and Columbia Falls were overlooked and the Kalispel (later Kalispell) townsite company was established. Charles Conrad was appointed to oversee development of the town (and the profits thereof).
Kalispell was formed amid the optimism and caution of the early 1890s. And John Lundberg seemed to have regarded both. He purchased one of the first city lots offered by the townsite company and also built one of the first brick homes in Kalispell (if not the first).
Sure, Lundberg was a bricklayer, and a bricklayer would likely build a brick house. But brick bespeaks commitment. A brick house cannot be moved as easily as a wooden-frame house – like the ones that were literally rolled on logs to Kalispell as people deserted Demersville in droves, taking their houses with them. Some unlucky folks saw things the other way around, and moved their houses from Kalispell to Demersville (only to woefully move them back again several months later).
Indeed, Lundberg likely saw great opportunity to build an attractive, brick rental house as people were flocking to Kalispell at the time. Yet he also seemed practical, or at least practical-minded enough to heed caution, as the design of the house reveals.
Brick is quite permanent – and quite fireproof. Lundberg seemed keen on building a home to last – and withstand a fire, which was quite a danger back then. The location of the kitchen (at the back of the house, in a separate structure under its own roof) reveals Lundberg’s likely aversion to fire and risk. If the kitchen caught fire, the main part of the house could likely be spared by the time the fire brigade arrived.
In taking a step back, Lundberg’s optimism and precaution seem to have prevailed. The bricks he laid have served as a home for many tenants and owners over the years. And while their occupations may seem like things of the past – saloonkeeper (George Hodgson), watchman (Clarence Fairbanks) and dairy owner (Earl Hilton) – the brick house they once called home still remains (and offering an altogether different perspective of “progress”).