Brewery Historic District - Bozeman, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 45° 41.256 W 111° 01.706
12T E 497786 N 5059339
At the end of the nineteenth century one of the first businesses to be created in every town was a brewery. Bozeman's Lehrkind Brewery and its historic district makes a nice compact Lucky 7, except for a benchmark borrowed from the railway depot.
Waymark Code: WMWZ6E
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 11/03/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member veritas vita
Views: 1
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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. Sometime after that the brewery building was partially demolished and, sometime between 2014 and 2017 the job was completed, the remainder of the building torn down, leaving only a grassy field where it stood. A photo of the brewery building circa 2014 follows.

Photo goes Here

In 1925, Julius' grandson Carl built the bottling plant across the street from the brewery, bottling soft drinks. When prohibition was repealed in 1932, Edwin Lehrkind revived the brewery business for a short time under the label of "Old Faithful". This attempt was short lived, the brewery facility then continuing in use as an ice plant, warehouse, creamery and other enterprises. After the bottling plant was closed 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".

The historic district, originally consisting of five buildings, all contributing, with the loss of the brewery building it now has four, the Lehrkind Bottling Plant, the Julius Lehrkind House, the Henry Lehrkind House and the Edwin Lehrkind House. The three houses, in a line south of East Aspen Street, were built on the same side of Wallace Avenue as the brewery building, with the bottling plant across Wallace Avenue on the east side.
Bozeman Brewery Historic District The Bozeman Brewery Historic District is composed of five historic buildings that are directly associated with the Julius Lehrkind family and the family-owned and -operated Bozeman Brewery business. The remains of the brewery, a four-story brick structure, stand at the north end of the district. Across the street is the one-story, brick bottling plant. To the south of these two industrial buildings is the Lehrkind family compound, consisting of the large, Queen Anne style Julius Lehrkind House, and the more modest houses of Henry Lehrkind and Edwin Lehrkind, which were built a decade later, the district is located in the northeastern corner of the city near the Northern pacific Railroad depot.

The Bozeman Brewery building, built in 1895 at 803 N. Wallace, was the largest building in Bozeman until the construction of the Montana State University Field House in 1957. Since the closure of the brewery after the passage of prohibition in Montana in 1919, the three-bay, eastern portion of the building with the attached malting house has been demolished, and new entrances have been cut into the remaining bays.

The Julius Lehrkind House, a two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne residence, built in 1898 at 710 N. Wallace, forms the central focus of the district today. This well preserved, large, irregular plan, brick house responds to its corner lot location with a wrap-around porch set at the base of an octagonal corner turret and a corner, etched glass front entrance. The porch has arched wooden detailing and a decorative balustrade.

To the south of the Julius Lehrkind House are the residences constructed by Lehrkind's nephew, Henry, and son, Edwin. The Henry Lehrkind House, built ca. 1908 at 707 N. Wallace, is a one-and-one-half- story, clapboard-sided residence of an irregular plan with a cut-away corner entry.

The Edwin Lehrkind House, at 701 N. Wallace, was constructed in 1912. This one and-one-half-story, gable-front, Bungalow style residence has a rectangular plan with a recessed stone porch across the front.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
BREWERY HISTORIC DISTRICT

Seventeen-year-old Julius Lehrkind fled compulsory service in the German militia by stowing away on a ship bound for America in 1860. Already having served as a brewmaster's apprentice, Lehrkind easily found employment. Eight years later, a sizable inheritance enabled Julius and his brother, Fred, to establish their own brewery in Davenport, Iowa. When both Fred and his wife died unexpectedly, Julius added their four children to his own six, sold the Iowa brewery, and headed for Montana. High quality water and plentiful barley grown by Dutch settlers near Manhattan brought his large extended family and crew of brewery workers to Bozeman in 1895. Under Julius' direction, the brewery was operating by the end of the year. Julius built his Queen Anne style residence in 1898, and his nephew and son followed suit building their own modest homes adjacent to the family mansion in 1908 and 1912. As brewing technology improved and world lager production tripled, the Bozeman Brewery prospered turning out 40,000 barrels of beer annually and distributing malted barley to breweries statewide. Prohibition, however, curtailed brewing operations in 1919 and was said to have broken Julius' heart. He died several years later. In 1925, grandson Carl Lehrkind opened a bottling plant for soft drink production across the street. The brewery then served as an ice plant and warehouse, and later as a creamery. Despite removal of the malt house and an addition built in 1948, the original function of the main building remains obvious. The brewery, bottling plant, and attendant residences recall the Old World family business traditions Julius Lehrkind carried to Montana and passed to two generations.
From the NRHP plaque at the district
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Department Number, Category Name, and Waymark Code:
2-Buildings • Victorian Houses • Julius Lehrkind House • WMWYJ4 3-Business • Bed and Breakfast • Lehrkind Mansion Bed and Breakfast • WMWYJ7 6-History • Montana Historical Markers • Brewery Historic District • WMWYFB 7-Measurement • U.S. Benchmarks • P 492 - Bozeman, MT • WMWGGF 12-Signs • Ghost Signs • Pure Ice Co. Coal Wood - Coca Cola • WMWYZM 14-Technology • Wikipedia Entries • Bozeman Brewery Historic District • WMWYC1 15-Multifarious • News Article Locations • Historic District Spotlight: Bozeman’s Brewery District • WMWYFE

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