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 Suddenly Dropped Into Ditch That Is Six Feet Deep Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 46° 00.814 W 112° 32.340
12T E 380861 N 5096706
Unusually in a commercial district, this building was, apparently, originally built as a residential structure.
Waymark Code: WMXQGA
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 02/13/2018
Views: 0
It wasn't long, though, in fact just three years passed before it was renovated, becoming a mixed commercial/residential building, with a grocery store on the ground floor and the store owner's residence upstairs. The building was design by the locally prominent architect, H. M. Patterson, exhibiting his creative style in the oriel windows, the heavy arched stone window lintels and a preponderance of corbelling at the cornice. Quite innovative, the features of that corbelling result in several rows of various sized dentils, with straighter lines of corbelling below. Just above, centered in the building, is a tiny squared parapet with one step, on the face of which is a rectangular stone plaque bearing the name of the original owner of the building, J.L. Morris. The ground floor commercial space was framed with cast iron pilasters, some of which remain. Another slightly unusual feature of the design is a corner entrance to one of the commercial spaces.
This building being on a corner lot, all the design features, including another oriel window, wrap around the building to include the street facing side wall.
While construction on the Morris Building was taking place an unusual occurrence took place at the building site - one that could, because it didn't result in any injury, be almost considered humorous. See below.
Suddenly Dropped Into Ditch
That Is Six Feet Deep
The Anaconda Standard August 23, 1898, Morning, Page 5
John Wright, collector for Passmore & Co., had rather a strange and startling experience last evening. While riding horseback, he rode at a rapid gait, right into a six foot ditch that had been dug by plumbers to make a sewer connection, yet strange to say, neither rider nor horse was injured in the least. At the corner of Broadway and Montana street, J. L. Morris is building a business block. It is supposed the ditch had been dug to make the sewer connection for this building. Who the plumber was could not be learned, but at all events a ditch just about the length of an ordinary horse, six feet deep and two or two and a half feet wide, had been dug in the street and left for the night without any light being placed as a warning to people who might ride or drive that way.
Soon after dark Wright came riding down the street at a gallop and never saw the ditch till his horse landed in it with all four feet. Wright was thrown off, but was not injured, which he accounts as pretty fortunate under the circumstances. The police station was notified by telephone and Sergeant Leyden hunted the street commissioner, who sent a squad of men to extricate the animal from his singular predicament. The horse fitted the hole to a nicety, but by the adoption of a novel expedient, he was taken out without much difficulty. The dirt that had been taken from the hole was shoveled in and the horse made to tread on it. being raised by degrees till he was finally able to step out, and it was then found he had escaped as fortunately as his rider.
From The Anaconda Standard
J.L. MORRIS BUILDING
Henry M. Patterson designed this residential building for J. L. Morris in 1898, replacing an earlier dwelling. A year later, Morris commissioned J. A. Riddell to add a storefront to the east at a cost of $9,000. Danish immigrant L. M. Brobeck rented the building in 1900, opened a grocery business on the ground floor, and lived upstairs with his family. The first floor, with its cast-iron storefront, reflects the 1899 commercial addition, while the upper floor displays Patterson’s lively creativity. Arches of quarry-faced stone, oriel windows, and decorative brickwork distinguish this pleasing building, which today continues its commercial function.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Type of publication: Newspaper
When was the article reported?: 08/23/1898
Publication: The Anaconda Standard
Article Url: [Web Link]
Is Registration Required?: no
How widespread was the article reported?: regional
News Category: Society/People
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