Rouse House

In 1861, Daniel E. Rouse moved from Minnesota to what would become Montana. He joined John Bozeman and W. J. Beall three years later in laying out the original townsite of Bozeman. At that time, his own residence was a simple log cabin. Rouse’s Additions were among the first extensions of the town and, in the second of these, Rouse reserved a large corner lot for his own family home.

It was constructed in 1881, during the building boom initiated by the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad. At that time, Bozeman residents favored brick as a building material of permanence, and so it was in scarce supply. But Daniel Rouse owned a brickyard. Architecturally, the house is an excellent example of the I-House building type that is common in Bozeman, and is notable for the stone springers and keystones that ornament the segmental arches of all its windows and doors.