The Olsen House is a historic house in

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat, seat of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold ...

. It has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since March 22, 1991. It stands opposite St. Peter's Cathedral.

History

The plot of land was purchased in 1874 by Amelia Dissa, and her husband Louis Derrick built a one and a half-story cottage facing Park Avenue. It was built with wood and designed in the Gothic Revival architectural style. After he died in the late 1870s, she married Ingethen Olsen, an

American pioneer American pioneers, also known as American settlers, were European American,Asian American, and African American settlers who migrated westward from the British Thirteen Colonies and later the United States of America to settle and develop areas ...

who owned a ranch in

Fergus County, Montana Fergus County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 11,446. Its county seat is Lewistown, Montana, Lewistown. The county was founded in 1885 and na ...

, but the house remained in her name. By 1884–1885, they built a two-story rectangular addition and a gable. After Olsen died in 1904, his wife replaced the wooden cottage frame with a two-story front built with

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension stone, dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * diabase, dolerites in Tasmania, ...

; it was completed in 1908–1909. When she died in 1918, the house was inherited by her daughter Amelia M. Olsen, who lived there until 1946. Four years later, in 1950, the house was purchased by John Conway Harrison, who was elected as a justice of the

Montana Supreme Court The Montana Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court of the state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court w ...

in 1961. He lived in the house until 1988, and he sold it to Robert Haseman in 1989. The house was later used as offices.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana Italianate architecture in Montana Houses completed in 1885 Houses in Lewis and Clark County, Montana National Register of Historic Places in Helena, Montana 1885 establishments in Montana Territory {{Montana-NRHP-stub