Abel Brothers - Lewistown Central Business Historic District - Lewistown, MT - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

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Abel Brothers - Lewistown Central Business Historic District - Lewistown, MT

in NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 619344 N 5213441

One of many sandstone and rubblestone buildings in the downtown Lewistown area, this building continues to add to the Main Street streetscape.

Quite possibly the only building in Lewistown designed by the Madison Cooper Co. of Watertown, N.Y., this sandstone faced block was built in 1909 by the Abel brothers, William and John, as the home of their meat and sausage factory and retail outlet. The Madison Cooper Co., incidentally, were also mechanical engineers who designed the refrigeration plant for the building, explaining their being retained as architects as well. The building stands on a long, narrow building lot, 30 X 200 feet. Faced with sandstone on the street side façade, with a wood storefront on the ground floor, the sides and rear of the building are faced with rubblestone, a common practice until about 1910.

The Abels were initially stock raisers who went into the wholesale and retail meat business, at least in part, to maximize the profit to be had from ranching. Further maximizing their profit, they constructed the building to be larger than required for their meat business, allowing them to rent space in the building to other businesses and services.

Today an antique shop occupies at least part of the ground floor, while the upper floor may be vacant.

Abel Brothers

This property is significant because of its association with persons important in local history and it stands as a fine example of the stone building tradition that characterized the early permanent architecture of Lewistown.

William M. Abel, a "pioneer market man" of Lewistown, was president of the Abel Brothers firm, "extensive ranch proprietors and stock raisers, in addition to their retail meat business". John F. Abel was secretary-treasurer and manager of the firm, and Charles J. Marshall was vice president. Marshall, who was County Attorney, and Stewart McConochie, Assistant County Attorney, maintained their law offices in the Able Bros. Building, as did W. A. Gribble, the Lewistown representative of the Collection Agency of Montana, "Accounts collected anywhere in Montana".

Madison Cooper Co., refrigeration engineers and architects of Watertown, New York, designed the Abel Brothers Building.

A simple and forthright cut stone facade graces this two-story flat roof commercial structure. A cut stone corbeled coping extends across the top of the parapet and a large dressed stone cornice mold trim wraps around the façade at roof line height. Four rectangular double hung 1/1 wood windows are regularly placed in the second floor of the façade. A dressed stone string course extends across the sills of the windows. Dressed stone pilasters flank the façade on the first floor level and terminate in an articulated dressed stone belt course above the storefront construction. The words "Abel Bros. - 1909" are carved in relief in the center of the upper part of the elevation. The wooden storefront has a recessed double door entry slightly left of center and is flanked by large pane glazing to either side. The transom area of the storefront has been filled in with masonite siding. Rubble stone can be seen on the southwest sidewall; some brick is evident at the southeast end of the building.
From the NRHP Nomination Form, Site# 180