1040 N 31 St

Dubbed one of Billings’ “pioneer building contractors,” Emanuel Lindstrom waited until age thirty-eight to marry twenty-two-year-old Radina Holen, a fellow immigrant from Norway. In 1913, the Lindstroms moved into this Prairie style residence, where they raised three children. The two-story American Foursquare home features restrained geometric ornamentation, a hipped roof with extended eaves and a central attic dormer, and a wraparound front porch, enclosed sometime after 1958.

Between 1912 and 1923, the Lindstroms added a two-car garage, a reflection of the growing importance of automobiles to North Elevation homeowners. Home prices suffered during the Great Depression and the residence, valued at $10,000 in 1930, was worth only $6,500 in 1940. Benjamin Harwood purchased the residence from the Lindstroms in 1937, just a year after Benjamin was first elected district judge.

A dedicated jurist, Ben was also interested in aviation. A World War I pilot wounded in France, he was instrumental in developing the Billings airport as chairman of the airport commission. He and his wife Nina lived here until 1971.