Reid Residence

William and Eliza Reid built this elegant home around 1890. Primarily used as a rental, the house began as a much simpler ell-shaped residence. Widow Jennie Thompson, who rented the home in 1900, lived here with her three grown children, one of whom worked as a photographer. A remodel between 1902 and 1912 added hallmark Queen Anne features, including a full-length porch with a spindlework frieze and delicately turned porch supports, an east bay window, and a square tower, which housed the newly plumbed indoor bathroom.

It also expanded the rear addition. Even as the Reids converted their vernacular home into a fashionable Queen Anne, mainstream taste had already begun to turn away from the style. The Reids, who lived here between 1910 and 1913, shared their home with their twenty-five-year-old son, fourteen-year-old nephew, and two roomers.

A “tinner,” William managed the tin and sheet iron department for Missoula Mercantile between 1887 and 1910, when he opened his own shop. In 1920, the Reids sold the property, which changed hands several times before printer Fred Zeh purchased it in 1924. Zeh, who worked for the Missoulian for forty-six years, served fourteen years as president of the Missoula Typographical Union No. 277 and one term in the state legislature.

He and his wife, Mabel, had five children. Their three daughters worked in Germany as civilian employees of the occupying forces after World War II. After their father’s death in 1948, two of the daughters moved back home. They continued to live here until 1984.