Samuel Lewis: Showman, Musician, Businessman, Barber

Crystal Alegria

Samuel Lewis came to Bozeman, Montana Territory in 1868 or 1869 and set up a barber’s chair in the Northern Pacific Hotel, where he waited on tables to pay his board, and worked behind his barber’s chair between meals. He eventually…

Rosa Beall: A Founding Mother of Bozeman

Crystal Alegria

Rosa Beall is remembered as the first non-native woman to settle in the fledgling town of Bozeman, in 1864, but we would do Rosa a great disservice if we let her story end there. Contemporaries of Rosa’s urged her to write her life story…

The Stories Buildings Tell: The Tilton

Crystal Alegria

A building holds many stories. Whether it’s a residence or a commercial building, people live their lives inside these places, giving life to the structure. That is certainly the case for the Tilton Building, a monumental commercial building…

Women of Bozeman’s Historic Northside

Crystal Alegria

Bozeman’s north side has historically been the working-class side of town where the laborers and service workers lived, while the south side of Bozeman housed the capitalists, bankers, and business owners. The houses built on the north side…

Breaking Down Barriers: Lizzie Williams A Black Entrepreneur of Early Bozeman

Crystal Alegria

An early Bozeman resident who should have a place in our local historical narrative but does not is Lizzie Williams, a Black woman who lived in Bozeman from 1869 to 1875. Though tragic, her story tragic is at times heart-warming, and always…

Christmas Day 1866

Crystal Alegria

You Are Cordially Invited to the Opening of Bozeman's New City Hotel

Julia Martin And Her Generosity of Spirit

Crystal Alegria

Whenever the Thanksgiving holiday comes around, Julia Martin and her famous Thanksgiving dinners are brought to mind. One of Bozeman’s early matriarchs and community caretakers, Julia Martin holds an honored place in our historical memory as…

Bozeman’s Historic African American Community

Crystal Alegria

At the time of Bozeman’s founding in 1864, the United States was in the throes of the Civil War. Due to the war and the discovery of gold, people were fleeing the States and looking for refuge and fortune in the Territories, including Montana…

Our Historic Neighbors The McDonald Family Let’s Get to Know Them

Crystal Alegria

Isabel Wilkerson, the author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, speaks about the importance of humanizing history and recognizing historical figures as our neighbors. I love this idea and think it would go…