The Hub - Lewistown, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 47° 03.950 W 109° 25.525
12T E 619560 N 5213682
Fully completed in early 1909, this sandstone faced building provided Lewistown with its third post office location.
Waymark Code: WMXT2F
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 02/22/2018
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member ZenPanda
Views: 0

Lewistown's first post office, not counting the log Reed's Fort post office, established in 1881, was established about 1887, the second in 1903 and this one in 1909. The post office would remain here until again moving on June 28, 1914.

The building was one of three built by the Brooks Brothers, side by side along Main Street. For many years the building housed "The Hub", a clothing store operated by Joe Alweis, an early resident of Lewistown and early land owner. The sign for "Ullr's" still hangs from the face of the building, indicating that it would have been a more recent tenant of the building.
The Hub Brooks Brothers were just completing their three connecting business buildings in December 1908, It was a "year of unprecedented growth in the Queen City of the Judith Basin". Lewistown was fast becoming a "city of stone". This portion of the building provided Lewistown with a Post Office and Albert Pfaus served as Postmaster.

Early photographs indicate that the structure is a good example of the stone masonry building tradition that characterizes the early structures of Lewistown.

This commercial structure is one story high with an exaggerated parapet and flat roof. The parapet is covered with a corrugated vertical rib metal siding that is also used as an "advertising" band. It is colored and terminates in a metal coping. The street level storefront is constructed of large pane display glazing set in natural colored aluminum frames and is flanked at each side of the building by aluminum clad pilasters. The storefront is splayed in (recessed) to provide a canopy for window shoppers and to optimize display area. The back of the building is rubble stone.
From the NRHP Nomination Form, Site# 142
THE HUB

Lewistown’s population tripled between 1900 and 1910 and the booming building trade attracted stonemasons and craftsmen, many of them Croatian immigrants, who settled here. The upper façade of this 1908 one-story commercial building, revealed during restoration in 1990, exemplifies the fine stonework of these Old World artisans. Also uncovered was the original sign for The Hub clothing store, located here for many years, and the motto (which is repeated on the sidewalk) of proprietor Joe Alweis. A respected early day resident and local property owner, Alweis is fondly remembered by “old timers” for his big-hearted generosity during the hard times of drought and depression. If a customer couldn’t afford clothing, he had to “just pay the freight.”
From the NRHP plaque at the building
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