Now somewhat less of a historic district, the Bozeman Brewery Historic District has recently lost its brewery building, or what was left of it. Built by Julius Lehrkind in 1895 across the street from the still standing bottling plant, the brewery was in operation until the passage of prohibition in Montana in 1919.
In 1925, Julius' grandson Carl built the bottling plant across the street from the brewery, bottling soft drinks. Carl had Fred Willson design the building.
Fred Fielding Willson(1877 – 1956) was an architect who definitely left his mark in Montana. Exhibiting an eclectic style as the result of studying the architecture of Europe, he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1902 and then spent two years traveling throughout Europe and taking classes in Paris at Ecole des Beaux Arts. From Georgian and Mission Revival to Art Deco and Craftsman, Wilsson was involved with more than 1,050 projects, from elaborate homes, modest bungalows and efficient apartment buildings to all of Bozeman’s older schools (Emerson, Willson (named in his honor), Longfellow, Hawthorne, Irving and the original part of the high school. Willson also had a hand in the Armory, Baxter Hotel, County Courthouse, Pioneer Museum (formerly the jail), Ellen Theatre and several dorms, student union building and fieldhouse on MSU’s campus.
After the bottling plant was closed following the repeal of prohibition in 1932 the business was used as a retail outlet, selling ice, coal and wood. On the west side of the building remains an old painted sign advertising "
Pure Ice Co. Coal Wood", the sign partially overwritten by "
Coca Cola".