B Street District - Livingston, MT - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

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B Street District - Livingston, MT

in U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 534613 N 5056284

One of the smallest historic districts in all of Montana, consisting of just four small houses, the character of the B Street District would be recognizable by most under another name.

Being quite literal in the naming of this district, the National Register has referred to it as the B Street District, though the name could as well have been the less politically correct Red Light District, for that is exactly what it was for over a half century. The district remained a red light district until the 1940s, when the houses were forced to close and the ladies "encouraged" to move on - not out of town mind you, just to the edge of town.

Though the district was about a block and a half in length, comprised of about nine houses, only four are nominated as contributing for their "architectural quality and unity".

B Street District

In a settlement with a large transient population of single men, particularly a railroad town, the red-light district was inevitable. Hordes of "camp followers" came west, following the railroad construction crews. As the crews moved on, so did most of the ladies, But not all of them. Apparently the "B Street" district was established early in Livingston, just outside the commercial district, situated a convenient but respectable distance from the town's railroad hub and blue collar neighborhoods. In later years, taxi service ran between the train depot and the district, and of course not all the patrons were transients. Livingston's red-light district was comprised of about nine houses along a block and a half. Pressures in the 1940s finally forced the "girls" to move out to the town's fringes.

These four houses in the district were built between 1896 and 1907, probably as duplexes intended to house working families. This particular design is unique in Livingston except for one house at the end of the block (301), which has been greatly altered and is not in the District. The houses are unusual in that they look like fragments — the gables and porches — of much larger houses. Of the nine former "houses of ill repute" in the neighborhood only these four are being nominated because of their architectural quality and unity.
From the NRHP Nomination Form