Hotel / Depot District, 1919

On March 24, 1909, a new downtown "Union Depot" serving the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Burlington lines. That same year, Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead Act, allowing people to lay claim to 320-acre farms (double the previous amount of 160). And Billings was the hub of three major rail networks bringing newcomers and then providing them with goods and supplies. At the height of the railroad and homestead era, more than 20 trains per day stopped in Billings. No wonder that the area surrounding the depot became filled with hotels. The area fell into disuse in the latter half of the century as air travel took over the passenger transportation market. Many of the hotels in this area closed during that time. The area has seen a recent revival with designation of a historic district and renovation of many of the historic buildings in the 1990s.

According to the 1914 Polk's City Directory, "Trains departing each morning for the terminus of these branches and returning each evening give Billings a constant transient population probably numbering 1,000 or more."

Imagine yourself debarking the train one late winter afternoon in 1919. Perhaps you are here to take care of your aunt's estate, as she died recently in the influenza epidemic that swept across the country in the Fall/Winter of 1918-1919, killing 500,000 people nationwide, nearly four times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in World War I. The epidemic hit Billings and for a time schools were closed and all public meetings canceled. The Great War had ended just months before with the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918 an event celebrated wildly in Billings with sky rockets and spur-of-the-moment serpentine processions through the streets. You're hungry after your train ride so you grab a quick bite to eat at the "Beanery," the restaurant just west of the depot building. Then you head across the street, which was paved with wood bricks in 1909, the same year the depot was built. Along this side of the street you have your choice of hotels, most built within the last few years. Or you could stay at the Grand Hotel or the Northern Hotel at the corner of Broadway and 1st Avenue, both top-notch hotels. (The Northern had just put on new additions in 1914 and 1916, but was later burned to the ground in 1940.)

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