Central Meat Market - Lewistown, MT
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 47° 03.944 W 109° 25.531
12T E 619552 N 5213672
Built by a German immigrant stone mason, the Laux Building, strangely, is faced with brick.
Waymark Code: WMXTFQ
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 02/24/2018
Views: 1
This may not seem quite as strange when one discovers that the remainder of the building is build of rubble sandstone, a very common practice in Lewistown in 1905, the year the Laux Building was erected, given the ready availability of native sandstone barely a stone's throw away.
Built as an income property by Philip Laux, the first business to move into the new building was the Central Meat Market, operated by the Abel Brothers who would go on to build a large butcher shop and refrigeration plant three blocks west on Main Street. The upper floor was built as residences, the Acme Rooming House.
This is one of the ads placed by the Abel brothers while they were in the Laux Building, placed on Page 2 of the April 24, 1906 edition of the Fergus County Argus.
LAUX BUILDING
Philip Laux came to Montana in 1885 from Germany and worked in a Helena stone quarry until he relocated to Lewistown in 1890. Two of the earliest stone builders in Lewistown, brothers John and Philip Laux built many local buildings. This 1905 building illustrates the use of mixed architectural styles along Lewistown’s Main Street. The building functioned primarily as a saloon in its early years. Henry Osmers operated the Blue Goose Saloon at 216 West Main from 1910 until 1918 when Montana officially went dry. When Prohibition forced the closure of all saloons, the Laux building served as a billiards parlor, clothing store, and rooming house until the end of Prohibition in 1933. The Acme Rooming House, boasting “Baths, Steam Heat, thoroughly Modern and Convenient,” operated upstairs from 1916 until 1975. The Empire Café opened in the mid-1940s.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Name of publication (required): Fergus County Argus
Date of Publication (required): April 24, 1906
Does the ad identify the location of the company?: no
Web URL to additional proof of location or additional information.: [Web Link]
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