1125 N 31 St

This classic example of an American Foursquare house with Prairie style details was completed by 1916 when photographer Frank Crosby was hired to capture the fashionable new North Elevation subdivision. The term Foursquare describes the house’s floorplan, which featured a central hall and four equal-size rooms on each floor.

The house’s graceful curvilinear rafter tails supporting the wide overhangs and its full-width front porch are its strongest Prairie style elements. While most of the houses in the neighborhood were built with open front porches, 1125’s porch was originally screened. Tailor Frank Burns and his wife Annie, an organist, lived here a short time, followed in 1925 by pharmacist Frank V. Patterson and his wife, Minnie.

Frank and Minnie lived here for twenty years and ran two locations of the Patterson Pharmacy, one in the Hart-Albin building and one on Minnesota Avenue. Frank served three terms on the Montana Board of Pharmacy, which was created by the legislature in 1905 to regulate the profession. Socially, he was active in the Knights of Columbus, while Minnie was a member of the Rebekah Lodge.