The Nathan Rental Property at 204 Fifth Ave. E. in Kalispell is a fine example of “untouched” historic preservation. Save for repairs and a few minor improvements, this two-story, brick American Foursquare looks much like it did in 1900.
The term “Foursquare” may seem like a misnomer; however, the term refers to a home with four rooms (not four corners). So technically speaking, this house is very much a Foursquare as it was originally designed with two floors, with four rooms on each floor.
The original stained-glass windows, original door frames, and the original, locally fired bricks reveal how little has been altered – and how much attention has been given to maintaining the home in the last century.
And the house still sports one of the hallmarks of the American Foursquare style: a hipped, pyramid-shaped roof (known as a “pyramidal roof”). All too often such unique roofs (with their unique leaking problems) were replaced over time – but this one has been left intact.
The house was originally built by James Eckleberry in 1900. Eckleberry was a farmer and had intended to use the property as a rental from the start. Eckleberry was like many early farmers in the Flathead Valley who were keen to keep a “rent house in town” to supplement or support their earnings, have a place for their children to attend school, or have a place to live “off the farm” during the winter.
While the name “Eckleberry” may seem familiar to some (there are a few places in the valley bearing the name of Eckleberry kin), the house was home to many other prominent residents as well.
For example, Lafayette Tinkel, who founded the hydro-electric power plant along the Swan River known as the “Bigfork Plant,” resided here while he was president of the Big Fork Electric Power and Light Company.
Charles I. O’Neil also rented here. O’Neil and his brother Clinton came to the Flathead Valley in 1902 and established the O’Neil Lumber Company – the largest operation of its kind in Northwest Montana (and throughout the state for a while). The O’Neils operated lumber yards, a planing mill, a sash and door factory and a box factory as well. Some may recall the O’Neils also owned some 5,000 acres of timberland adjoining the town of Kalispell.
In 1912, Eckleberry sold the property to its namesake: Abraham Nathan. Nathan had retired from the clothing business, which he began in Montana at Fort Benton in the 1870s. Nathan himself was cut from a unique cloth of men, and preferred a lifestyle that appealed to more than a few gentlemen of the Flathead Valley during the era.
Nathan rented the home to others while he lived in hotel rooms and boarding houses – an arrangement that allowed bachelors such as he and other industrious men to free themselves from the burden of housekeeping while earning an income. Nathan kept such a lifestyle and this rental house until he died in 1940.
Fortunately, Nathan had kept the property in good repair, as did many of the homeowners since. And while a few improvements have been made (such as the painting of the brick, and the altering of the front porch), the house fortunately remains a fine example of a brick, two-story American Foursquare – one that has been cared for impeccably.
Jaix Chaix is a writer who appreciates history and architecture. You can share ideas and historical facts with him at [email protected] or at facebook.com/flatheadvalleylandmarks.??He is also the author of “Death in the Valley: Odd Tragedies in the Flathead Valley, Montana 1887-1917” available at DeathInTheValley.com.