One of the most notable examples from this period [1900-1930] is the glazed brick Hotel Baxter (105 W. Main), an eclectic Art Deco form which dominates the western end of the district by its sheer size.
While no buildings in the district were built during the ten year period between
1930 and 1940, a number experienced significant facade modifications. Two gained
wholly new facades, 9 and 219 E. Main, while three I others 118 E. Main, 20 W. Main, and the Hotel Baxter gained Art Deco style storefronts...
The city offered three hotels, the Hotel Bozemar? (321 E. Main), built in 1891,
the Baltimore (222-224 E. Main), built in 1918 and expanded in 1925, and the
Fechter (128-130 E. Main), also built in 1918, until a group of local businessmen
pooled their resources to construct a new, large and modern hotel, which was
intended to meet the first class standards of the 1920's. The resulting Hotel
Baxter rose at the eastern end of the district in 1928, and remains today one of
Bozeman's two major city landmarks.
The Baxter was designed by local architect, Fred F. Willson, whose work presently
comprises about fifteen percent of the buildings in the district (including both
new construction and visible alterations to existing ones). Two very large
buildings designed by Willson, 2-12 E. Main and 104 E. Main, were completely
covered in 1983 and 1972, respectively, and are not included in the above
percentage. Willson's diverse, although very typical work - in the context of
American architecture of the period - testifies to the increasing role of the
architect of the early 20th century, whose principal task was often to match an
appropriate design with the needs of a particular client. While the beginning of
Willson's career in 1910 coincided with the commencement of about two decades of
rapid growth in the district, the Depression and the post-Depression periods left
little significant physical evidence.
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet
See Section number 8, Page 18.