Wellman Block - White Sulphur Springs, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 46° 32.890 W 110° 54.053
12T E 507599 N 5154960
A landmark building in White Sulphur Springs for many years, the Wellman Block was nearly lost to the world in a 1911 fire.
Waymark Code: WMWMKK
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/18/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member bluesnote
Views: 0
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Built probably in 1880, the Wellman block may be the first large commercial block to have been built in White Sulphur Springs. The original occupant of the lower floor was a leather and saddlery shop, and when the building was listed in the National Register in 1994, it still housed a saddlery shop, though an entirely different enterprise. In the intervening years the building had housed a restaurant, an antique shop and, from 1938 until 1950 (or 1954, depending on the source), the White Sulphur Springs Post Office. Its history is not well documented so there may have been other businesses here through the years, as well. The upper floor was apartments until 1891, when it was converted to offices.

Certainly no longer a saddlery, the Wellman Block now appears to be the home of Red Ants Pants, founded in 2006, the "first company dedicated to making work clothes for women".

It was in 1911 that William Wellman, who had purchased the building in 1904, renovated the building, adding the present pressed metal cornice and the decorative parapet. From that time on the building was known as the Wellman Block, as that's what it read on the parapet.
Wellman Block The Wellman Block stands on property originally platted by Dr. Parberry and Robert N. Sutherlin. Parberry sold the lots for the building to William H. and Robert N. Sutherlin, early White Sulphur businessmen, founders and operators of the Rocky Mountain Husbandman newspaper which moved its offices from a waning Diamond City mining camp to the emerging town of White Sulphur Springs in 1880.4 That year, White Sulphur Springs replaced Diamond City as the county seat. From that time on, while the nearby mining districts played out, farming and ranching took over the surrounding rural area. White Sulphur Springs became a commercial and financial hub for the surrounding agricultural ventures and remains so to the present day.

The Sutherlin brothers appear to have built the building ca. 1880; by 1884, Sanborn maps depict the two-story brick building which became known as the Wellman Block on this site. The earliest known use of the building was as a harness and saddle makers shop, James MacDonald proprietor. MacDonald came to White Sulphur Springs via Fort Benton in 1882 to "engage in the leather business." He purchased this building two years later for "the sum of eight hundred dollars, lawful money of the United States of America."

MacDonald operated his shop on the ground floor, and through the 1880s the second story offered lodgings. By 1891, the second story was converted to offices.7 The shop remained with MacDonald until 1907, when William Wellman purchased the building.

In June of 1905, fire broke out in the Red Barn across the street from the Wellman Block. Windows were reported to have broken out across from the blaze and this building may possibly have been damaged. It was reported that the Chinese owners of a laundry next door worked to save their building by throwing water on it.

Fire damage, or perhaps simply the desire to update the business, led William Wellman to remodel the facade of the building in 1911. The original brick facade was replaced with a more open storefront and a more ornate appearance due in large measure to the pressed metal cornice added to the front and bearing the name of the owner. The Wellman Block as it was known from that time on took on a more established presence in the fabric of downtown White Sulphur Springs.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
WELLMAN BLOCK

The local hot springs had been a business enterprise for almost a decade when in 1880 brothers William H. and Robert N. Sutherlin moved their newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, from the waning gold camp at Diamond City to the promising town of White Sulphur Springs. The brothers purchased property from Dr. William Parberry, built this combination business and residential block as an investment, and the commercial district quickly grew around it. Soon the town boasted daily stages to Helena, two doctors, a school, and some twenty businesses.

James MacDonald set up a harness shop and saddlery here, purchasing the building in 1884 for eight hundred dollars. After the turn of the twentieth century, harness maker William Wellman continued the leather business, buying the building in 1907. Wellman, a longtime resident who settled here in the mid 1880s, remodeled the building’s façade in 1911 after a disastrous downtown fire.

A fashionable pressed metal cornice with nameplate and spacious display windows added new vitality to the town landmark.

In 1936, Robert Gordon, son of African-American parents who settled here in the 1880s, inherited the building. Robert’s brother, noted gospel singer and author Immanuel “Taylor” Gordon, operated an antique store and managed the second-floor apartments. Between 1938 and 1954 the building also housed the local post office. Now returned to its former use as a saddlery and beautifully refurbished, the Wellman Block, with its arched windows and decorative false front, is a stylish example of small-town Western Commercial architecture.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Artist: Unknown

Address:
206 East Main Street White Sulphur Springs, MT United States 59645

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