Mendenhall Residence

The design for this two-and-one-half-story home came from architect D. S. Hopkins, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who published numerous “pattern books” of architectural plans. The Queen Anne style defines the residence, which features an asymmetrical façade, steep gables, a projecting bay, a two-story porch, and expressive spindlework.

Outbuildings include a barn and carriage house. John and Mary Susan Mendenhall constructed the home in 1886. A merchant and unsuccessful gold-seeker, John arrived in Bozeman in 1864, where he and partner Achilles Lamme ran a successful mercantile. He was the county’s first elected sheriff. Mary Susan was Lamme’s sister-in-law.

A Civil War widow, she moved to Bozeman in 1869; she and John married the following year. Mary Susan continued in residence with her son Sam after John died in 1896. Sam, who became Bozeman’s first city manager in 1922, also owned and operated Bozeman’s electric company and street railway. In 1933, chemistry professor O. E. Sheppard and his wife Dorothy owned the distinctive residence, where they lived with their ten children.

In 1946, the home was purchased by Malcolm Story, grandson of Bozeman founder Nelson Story. MT NATIONAL REGISTER SIGN TEXT 1990 TO APRIL 2019