Historic Name:
Mills-Durant-Star Auto Sales
Current Name:
vacant

Builder:
Unknown

Original Use:
Auto Sales
Current Use:
Storage

Physical Description:
The Mills-Durant-Star Building is a two-story warehouse building of heavy brick construction, and stands between Billings' Northern Pacific railroad tracks and Montana Avenue. The primary façade faces north onto Montana Avenue, the rear is outfitted with loading dock and faces the tracks.

On the north, this primary elevation is finished with dark brown brick trimmed with red brick. A storefront in the east portion of the first floor is balanced by a garage door in a separate bay to the west. These openings tie in across the heads to a decorative band of vertically laid red brick. Fenestration on the storefront is boarded over; garage door appears to be a newer roll-up door. On the second floor, red brick banding surrounds original window openings and above each, a decorative panel is outlined with red brick. Original glazing has been replaced by fixed and new double-hung glass. A stepped, raised-center parapet completes the front.

On the south, two wide bays spanned by a wooden lintel originally opened toward the railroad tracks. These are now infilled with cinderblock, and have an upper banding of glass block. At the west end, a metal garage door provides access. On the second story, red brick masonry is finished across the top with brick coping. Original design included 4 double-hung windows with brick sills and flat brick heads. Two original units remain, 1 is replace by a metal door with metal stairs to the ground, and the last is filled with a newer glass panel. A single story storage wing with roll-up garage doors was added to the east. Above that original windows remain visible.

Historical Associations:
From Billings' earliest days, warehouses were located in the area around the railroad tracks at the heart of downtown. This warehouse district grew and became denser as the town became larger and the business base expanded. By the early 20th century, there was a whole array of warehouses holding all the goods that the growing city's population demanded. The available lots in the vicinity of the tracks were filled with a wide variety of retail and wholesale businesses. During the 1910s, the railroad added to the available space in the warehouse district by leasing their property along the south side of Montana Avenue to several business houses. In the years that followed, several warehouses were added to the heart of the commercial district.

Mills-Durant-Star Co was one of numerous automotive-related businesses that came onto the downtown scene in the early 20th century. With the advent of automobile transportation, dealers and services catering to the increasingly mobile public became commonplace. They remained here through the mid-1930s. During the 1940s Billings Grocery Co wholesale business moved in, joining other grocery and produce wholesalers in this warehouse area.

Photo Courtesy of Paul Whiting