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 Laux Building - 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: WMXTFT
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 02/24/2018
Views: 0
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.
Philip Laux was born in Germany and lived in the old country till he was 24. He came to Montana in 1885, and the first year worked in a stone quarry near Helena. For four years following 1886 he worked for Charles Lehman, at Cottonwood, blacksmithing. In 1890 he went back to Germany, and when he returned he brought back Miss Katie Abel, of Oberdeifenbach, as his bride. They have five children. Mr. Laux located in Lewistown in 1890. He owns considerable of the best business property in Lewistown and residence property. He and his brother, John Laux, built the stone brewery, near Lewistown, and subsequently sold it. They built and own the business block occupied by the Power Mercantile Company.
Bertrand & Laux, merchants of Lewistown, occupy a handsome store and hold a large local and country trade. They carry a fine stock of well-selected goods, including dry goods, groceries, men's furnishings, clothing, boots and shoes, hats and caps, etc. The business was started in 1887, and the firm moved into their present commodious quarters last year. The building they occupy was erected especially by Mr. Laux at a cost of between $4,000 and $5,000.
From 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
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More vintage buildings, nothing but vintage buildings on this block.
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