The Christmas Gift Evans House, also known as "Myhre House", is a house built in the Queen Anne and Second Empire styles in 1877 in

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would ...

, United States, that was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1980. Named for his birth date, Christmas Gift Evans was born in 1840, in Deerfield in

Oneida County, New York Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or ''Haudenos ...

. He was known as "Chris". In 1862 he made his first trip west, via

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, but he returned home after only a year of

placer mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (Alluvium, alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining, open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer minin ...

. He made his second trip west in April 1864 and settled in Helena in 1865. Along the way he met John B. Sanford, born to a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The two become lifelong friends and business partners. They started out by mining along Ten Mile Creek and Nelson Gulch, then became involved in business activities including lumber, hay, grist mills, flour mills, coal, feed, farm implements, sawmills, and real estate under the business name Sanford and Evans. Their Helena office was on the corner of Fuller and Lawrence Streets. After they died the firm became Sanford-Evans Inc. Sanford built the house for his wife, Eva in 1877. About 1883, Sanford moved and Evans bought the house. A plaque beside the building stated "The home is a grand expression of the flamboyant Second Empire style whose brief popularity during the 1870s coincided with the construction of Helena’s first substantial residences. The bell-cast mansard roof, decorative bracketing and exquisite ornamental iron cresting are noteworthy features of this beautiful, exceptionally well-preserved home." In 2010, the historical marker and post, valued at about $1,000, were stolen from the house, the first such occurrence in Helena. Evans married Margaret Graham in 1880; she died in 1894. Evans married Bertha Bellis, of Liverpool, England, on May 23, 1896. Bertha Evans became involved in many of her husband's business activities after he died. Chris and Bertha Evans died in 1915 and 1940, respectively.

References

External links

Christmas Gift Evans House (404 North Benton) montanahistorywiki.pbworks.com
National Register of Historic Places Sign Text /

Lewis and Clark County, Montana Lewis and Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 70,973. Its county seat is Helena, the state capital. The numerical designation for Lewis and Clark County (used in the issuance ...

, specific about John B. Sanford and the inhabitants of the house from 1940 to 1970 {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Christmas Gift, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana Houses in Lewis and Clark County, Montana 1877 establishments in Montana Territory National Register of Historic Places in Helena, Montana Houses completed in 1877 Queen Anne architecture in Montana Second Empire architecture in Montana

See also

References

External links