Montana Historic Preservation Review Board to Meet in Big Timber

• September 04 2025

Montana's State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and State Historic Preservation Review Board will hold their tri-annual public meeting on September 18 at the Big Timber Carnegie Library. The Board will review and forward National Register nominations to the Keeper of the National Register at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Board will consider nominations for six historic properties across Montana:

Shy Brothers Mercantile, Ashland – This 1910 commercial building represents the longest-operating business in Ashland, serving the community for over a century during the homesteading boom and continued commercial development.

Goughnour Lumber Company Office, Livingston – Built in 1891 by lumber businessman Emanuel Goughnour, this Western Commercial style brick building was incorrectly deemed ineligible in 1979. New documentation corrects this error.

Carpenter Paper Company, Billings – Designed by prominent Billings architect Curtis Oehme in 1917, this massive warehouse housed Western Newspaper Union and later Carpenter Paper Company, which supplied paper products throughout Montana, northern Wyoming, and western North Dakota until 1994.

First Congregational Church, Billings – Founded in 1882 as Billings' first house of worship, this church played a pivotal role in transforming the frontier railroad town into a thriving city through community solidarity and social action.

Musselshell River Bridge, Golden Valley County – This 1916 Warren through truss bridge represents Montana's transition to standardized state highway bridge design and construction, marking a significant shift from chaotic county-managed systems to organized state oversight.

Milk River Bridge, Phillips County – Constructed in 1911 by Illinois Steel Bridge Company, this Parker through truss bridge served the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway (later U.S. Highway 2) and facilitated critical access to Malta during Montana's homestead boom.

The board chose to hold its meeting in Big Timber this year due to the city’s strong community support for establishing a downtown National Register Historic District.

For more information on the upcoming meeting, contact Melissa Munson at (406) 444-7715 or melissa.munson@mt.gov.