Historical Buildings of Bozeman

Story Mansion

Everyone who has lived in Bozeman knows of the Story Mansion. I recently discovered that they constructed a parking lot and added benches to the park around the Mansion to encourage everyone and anyone to come and enjoy the Mansion yard as if it's their own estate. Visitors can sunbath, read, throw a frisbee, learn to ride a bike; the possibilities are endless! Not only that but you can even rent out the Story Mansion to host a party of your own.

Story Mill

Story Mill is probably my favorite structure in and around Bozeman. I love how strange it looks with one rectangle building connected to a round building. I know this form follows its function but now that it's no longer in function it seems like a giant piece of art that has been carefully detailed through use and abuse over its 100 year existence. Once slated to be part of a new neighborhood and business development, financial problems kept that plan from ever progressing past inception. It has even been named one of the most endangered historic sites in Montana by the Montana Preservation Alliance.

Roskie Hall

Roskie hall, one of the three high rise dorms on the Montana Statue University Campus (the other two are below), is very distinct looking. Yes, very distinct looking. I like to refer to it as the honeycomb building. The residents of Roskie Hall hold up a reputation of being very outdoorsy, relaxed and happy people. In other words - hippies. I know I can't classify them all as such but for the most part it was true when I attended MSU. Of the many exceptions to this hippy classification is our very own legendary Travis Lulay. My brother actually lived on the same floor as the star quarterback for MSU during his freshman year. That's not Roskie Hall's only claim to fame. It's rumored that High Times magazine once featured Roskie Hall as one of the top college dorms in the country to score pot. Whether Roskie Hall wants this reputation or not, it will probably always be stuck with it.

North and South Hedges

Once the tallest buildings in Montana, I had to mention these. They are still the tallest buildings in Southwest Montana. The only way to get higher around here is to go climb a mountain (or see above paragraph.) Besides their obvious height, the hedges are well storied buildings in that they house hundreds of new students every fall and spring.

F & H Building

This building albeit only a few months old, has much history already. That is because it is the reconstruction of the same building that was destroyed in a gas explosion over two years ago. Destroyed in that explosion was the famous Rocking R Bar. As of July 26, 2011 the R Bar is back in business. It was a long 2 year wait for Bozeman to have its beloved bar back and when that day came it was almost hard to believe. The photos above are construction photos of the upper floors of the building.