Armor Cold Storage, 2723 Minnesota Avenue

Increasing numbers of wholesale warehouses such as this one were constructed near the tracks as the town and its agricultural markets grew and diversified. This warehouse was built around 1920 to house cold meat and dairy storage. The building is centered around a poured concrete refrigeration shaft with cold rooms on each level including the daylight basement. Armour Wholesale Meats and Armour Creamery remained in the building through the mid-1930s.

Historic Name:
Armour Cold Storage
Current Name:
Graf & Kuchera

Builder:
Unknown

Original Use:
cold storage
Current Use:
furniture store

Physical Description:
This is a two story brick warehouse building, set on a corner next to the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks. The building is a heavy, rectangular massing, with finished facades facing west onto 28th Street and south onto Minnesota Ave. Built to house sold meat and dairy storage, the building is centered around a poured concrete refrigeration shaft, with cold rooms on each level, including in the daylight basement. The mass rests on a parged stone foundation, and a loading dock extends from the north side of the building.

Primary entrance is on the west. The entry is framed with cast stone and includes a newer glass door set into historic wooden framing with an original transom. Fenestration is all original and features flat brick heads and cast stone sills. On west and south, there are double-hung horizontal 1-over-1windows on the first and second floors, fixed three pane units on the ground level.

On the north elevation, the loading dock has a shed enclosure of corrugated metal. The loading bay was spanned by a segmental brick arch, and has been infilled with brick to match the walls. Brick supports for the historic dock roof remain; the roofing is long gone. On the second floor, three double-hung windows are set toward the west. They house a narrow pair of double-hung 1-over-1 windows, and one similar, wider unit. Painted sign panels remain on the masonry, in yellow and black. They advertise Kuchera Furniture and their many stock items.

The interior reveals the building's heavy post and massive beam construction. Brick masonry was exposed on the interior and is painted white. Floors are finished with wood tongue and groove, covered with carpet. A brick shaft houses an old elevator accessing all three floors.

Historical Associations:
The Armour Cold Storage Building stands near to the railroad tracks on railroad lease land. The property remained vacant until ca. 1900, when the Yegen Brothers had a small cold storage building erected here. Surrounding the tracks, a large warehouse district emerged over the years. Increasing numbers of wholesale warehouses such as this one were constructed near the tracks as the town and its agricultural markets grew and diversified.

In 1912, a large brick warehouse occupying much of the block to the east was built. Armour & Co Meats occupied the west portion of that warehouse (no longer extant). It appears that this building was constructed a short time later, and that Armour & Co moved in when construction was completed around 1920. Armour Wholesale Meats and Armour Creamery remained in the building through the mid-1930s, after which it was converted to Kelley-How-Thomson Co wholesale hardware store (1940-1955). In recent history, the building held a furniture warehouse and showroom for Graf Furniture & Appliance Company.

Historical and Architectural Significance:
The Armour Meat Warehouse & Creamery at 2723 Minnesota is a significant building, both for its historical associations and its architectural significance. Historically, it is an integral part of warehouse district which grew up around the railroad tracks near to the commercial heart of town. Vast buildings of wood, and later brick, came to typify the lots surrounding the tracks. Many warehouses were constructed on the railroad reserve land over the years, representing numerous manufacturing and production activities.

As the agricultural base surrounding Billings grew, these warehouses proliferated. Many of the prominent business houses in town stored goods in the warehouse district. Maps from the early 20th century show everything from meats, wool, produce, and groceries to furniture, hardware and agricultural implements housed in these buildings.

The Armour Meat Warehouse & Creamery's high level of integrity enables it to illustrate warehouse design and construction ideas of the period, heavy timber and beam building, and cold storage design. These associations and the building's high level of integrity in this historic area make it an important early 20th century component of Billing's warehouse district.

Photograph Courtesy of Paul Whiting