The Adams Hotel, built in 1908 within a year of the Milwaukee Road's arrival, is a huge two-story Colonial Revival style building seemingly standing in the middle of nowhere. While the hotel survived, on and off, for many years, it was simply too ambitious an establishment for the size of town that Lavina grew to be. Early hopes were that the town would grow to be a major supply centre in the area, given that it was on the Milwaukee Road. Though early success inspired the owner to expand in 1911, by the 1920s drought descended on Montana, quickly reversing any growth experienced. As a result Lavina became a minor supply centre, never again growing sufficiently to require a hotel as grand and as large as The Adams.
Sometime after 1984 a first restoration was begun which apparently did not get far. This clock was mounted at that time, covering the date on the building, November 6, 1908. For all we know the owner at the time (and there have been a handful over time) took a clock previously mounted in the lobby and mounted it on the face of the parapet over the entrance. He must have thought that knowing the time was more important than knowing the date the building came into existence. Or possibly he was trying to sell the hotel as a viable business and didn't want prospective buyers to be aware of the building's age. ☺ In any event the round faced clock, with Roman Numeral lettering, is mounted askew, leaning a bit to the right. Possibly a windstorm had recently passed through town, wreaking havoc up and down main street. The wrought iron flourishes at the top of the clock and the fact that water had gotten in and stained the face leads us to believe that this particular clock was never intended to be mounted outdoors. We'll be generous and postulate that this was intended to be a temporary installation, awaiting the arrival of the "Real" clock, an event which never came to pass.
Again today the hotel is undergoing another restoration that has, to our knowledge, been ongoing for quite a few years.
THE ADAMS HOTEL
Rancher Ludwig C. Lehfeldt sold 33,000 acres of ranch land to the Milwaukee Road in 1907 prompting the relocation of the Lavina townsite. Realizing the need for a hotel, Lehfeldt hired architects Link and Haire—who drew the plans for the 1910 additions to the Montana State Capitol—to design the impressive Colonial Revival style building. Lehfeldt named the hotel, completed for $20,000 in fall 1908, after his friend, Milwaukee Road vice president John Q. Adams. The Adams' main entrance faced Main Street with a secondary north entrance facing the railroad tracks and depot. It was a first-class establishment offering steam heat, gas lighting, a bar generously stocked with the finest liquors and cigars, an elegant dining room serving fine meals, and a ladies’ withdrawing room on the second floor. Each guest room was beautifully appointed with carpeting, fine furnishings, and a matching china washbowl and pitcher set. Pure linen sheets and down comforters promised a good night's rest even in the coldest winter weather. The grand two-story hostelry hosted dances and social events in its spacious dining room and lobby and thus became the center of local hospitality. Lavina flourished with the homestead boom but drought, crop failures, and bank closures took their toll. The Adams declined, few guests stayed in its once-opulent rooms, and by the mid-1920s the hotel closed. From the 1930s through the 1970s, the Lutheran Church used the bar area as its chapel. After changing hands several times, restoration began in 2000.
From the NRHP plaque at the building