Built in 1936, still in use and still in excellent condition, the Gallatin County Courthouse, if not as exuberant as earlier Renaissance style courthouses, is an excellent example of Art Deco architecture.
Fred Fielding Willson(1877 – 1956) was an architect who definitely left his mark in Montana. Exhibiting an eclectic style as the result of studying the architecture of Europe, he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1902 and then spent two years traveling throughout Europe and taking classes in Paris at Ecole des Beaux Arts. From Georgian and Mission Revival to Art Deco and Craftsman, Willson was involved with more than 1,050 projects, from elaborate homes, modest bungalows and efficient apartment buildings to all of Bozeman’s older schools (Emerson, Willson (named in his honour), Longfellow, Hawthorne, Irving and the original part of the high school. Willson also had a hand in the Armory, Baxter Hotel, County Courthouse, Pioneer Museum (formerly the jail), Ellen Theatre and several dorms, student union building and fieldhouse on MSU’s campus.
Further afield, he designed buildings in West Yellowstone and Anaconda that we know of, and certainly many more.
Most information gleaned from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Gallatin County Courthouse
Bozeman's most notable example of the Art Deco style, this monumental regional landmark is also one of the most significant examples of the work of local architect Fred F. Willson. The building bears hallmarks of the style such as a large central pavilion, a compositional emphasis on vertical bay divisions, lettering and other designs cast in the concrete walls and ornamental, metal spandrels. Willson, whose practice in Bozeman lasted from 1900 to 1956, designed the majority of architect-designed buildings in the city during that time, and many in the surrounding region as well. The new Courthouse was built between 1935 and 1936, although the design probably dates to 1933, when this project was listed on the Fred Willson Job List. Across the street stands the Willson School, originally the Gallatin County High School, to which was built a large addition also designed by Willson. That
addition is of equal impact, and was built one year later than the Courthouse.
The Gallatin County Courthouse, as well as many of Bozeman's public schools, was built with PWA assistance during the Great Depression to replace an earlier, 19th century building on the same site. Although the previous brick Gallatin County Courthouse, which was designed by architect Byron Vreeland, was only 55 years old, the sponsors of the new building had the old one condemned in order to justify the cost of new construction. A powerful group of Bozeman businessmen had formed to promote the city's interests and their attempts to attract federal money to Bozeman during the Depression met with considerable success. Prominent names such as Graf, Kenyon, and Chambers dominated the group.
The building remains very well preserved, inside and out, with the exception of some window replacement that has been accomplished with modern casement units that fit well into the original window openings.
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet
Gallatin County Jail
Bozeman became the seat of Gallatin County in 1867 and by 1869 felt the need for a jail, which was built at a cost of $487.50. In 1878 the construction of a new $25,000 courthouse with a basement jail was begun, the project being completed in July of 1881. By 1910 crowding in the courthouse basement jail prompted the Commissioners to proceed with plans for a new jail to be built in the lot immediately west of the courthouse at 317 West Main Street. With a budget of $35,000 the county employed prolific local architect, Fred F. Willson to draw the plans for the building. Though not quite completed by December 2, 1911, the prisoners moved in, some staying longer than 20 days. Though the commissioners described the facilities with pride as “one of the best in the West”, it was only 20 days later that six of the prisoners made an escape, four being caught later, the other two having made good their escape. Rather than continue with the search, the townsfolk instead chalked it up to “good riddance”.
Standing beside the Gallatin County Courthouse, this one time jail was initially linked to the courthouse by an underground tunnel, allowing movement of prisoners between the two in a secure fashion. Architect Willson, never a slave to convention, designed the building in an eclectic style, with battlemented parapets as well as Romanesque arches in the portico. Corbeled bricks are used to accentuate the battlements but otherwise the building is rather austere, save for sandstone lintels and sills at all the windows and sandstone highlights and battlement caps in the portico.
In 1979 the Gallatin Historical Society, founded in 1977, moved into two rooms of the building. With the construction of the new Law and Justice Building in January 1982, the entire building was turned over to the Society to become the Pioneer Museum, renamed the Gallatin County Museum in 2014. Along with jail cells and other "punitive paraphernalia", the original gallows still stands in the museum, used but once, on July 18, 1924, for the
execution of Seth Orrin Danner.