Bozeman's historic Federal Building officially became a bookcrossing zone on November 18, 2003 with the release of
Reader's Digest Condensed Books - Volume 2 1997 into the wild. The volume contains four books - The Third Twin by Ken Follett, To the Hilt by Dick Francis, Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer and The Burning Man by Phillip Margolin. What became of the book we have no idea.
Opened in April 1916, the Bozeman Federal Building served as the community's post office until the mid-1960s, when it was replaced by a new federal building across Babcock Street. It then was occupied by Army Reservists for a while, after which it sat empty for several years. Later, the Human Resource Development Council, (HRDC) and a pastor simultaneously envisioned new uses for the building; the HRDC as their headquarters and the pastor as a soup kitchen and homeless shelter. After a bit of a tussle, the HRDC won out and remains in the building today. When the movie "A River Runs Through It" was shot in Montana, the building served as backdrop for certain scenes.
The building was restored by the HRDC in 1999, to the tune of $1 million plus and is in excellent condition today. They even staged an
open house to mark the building's centennial.
HRDC to mark building centennial
with open house
By Eric Dietrich Chronicle Staff Writer | Mar 23, 2016
It has been, at various points over the past century, a post office, an Army Reserve center, a set piece for Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It” and a proposed soup kitchen.
Bozeman’s first federal building, now the headquarters of social service agency HRDC at 32 S. Tracy Ave., has stood for 100 years since it first opened to the public — a milestone the nonprofit will mark Thursday with an open house from 4:30 to 6 p.m., featuring tours and talks by local historian John Russell.
The historic building, which opened in April 1916, spent its first half-century as a post office, before being preempted in the mid-1960s by the new federal building across Babcock Street. The building was then used as by reservists before sitting empty for some time.
Both HRDC and Baptist Pastor Jerry Bonnell’s Bread of Life Soup Kitchen applied for the space, the latter seeking to transform the building into a “full fledged rescue mission.” According to the Chronicle’s coverage, the rescue mission proposition attracted private concern from some business owners about the impact its transient clientele could have on downtown tourism, as well as a public rally in support of the plan.
As HRDC CEO Jeff Rupp remembers it, his nonprofit had previously applied to use the space, but had been told by federal authorities it didn’t qualify because it didn’t focus exclusively on serving the homeless. The second go-around, assistance from then-U.S. Sen. Max Baucus helped HRDC’s application go through, Rupp said (a Chronicle article at the time quoted a Baucus staffer swearing the office hadn’t played favorites).
“We were first in line,” Rupp said.
HRDC, which today runs Bozeman’s seasonal warming center in north Bozeman and a wide array of other social service programs, has maintained a small carriage-house style apartment on the Tracy Avenue property, with two units providing emergency housing for local families.
From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle