{"id":1857,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:58:02","latitude":46.00549380000000354584699380211532115936279296875,"longitude":-112.52254199999998718340066261589527130126953125,"title":"Bowen Block","subtitle":"Butte National Historic Landmark District","fullsize":"https://storyofbutte.org/files/fullsize/9f92ace34c14af80f3987da555bc0f91.jpg","address":"1144 East 2nd Street, Butte, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":16,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"The inscription in the corbelled cornice of this two-story residential/commercial block identifies its first owner, William Bowen, and declares its construction date as 1907. By 1909, the Eagle Saloon occupied one of the two storefronts while proprietor John Skubitz lived upstairs with his wife and three children. Bowen opened his own retail grocery in the second storefront in 1910, stocking both “staple and fancy goods,” and moved his family into the other second-floor apartment. While Bowen’s business operated only until 1912, a grocery and saloon under various proprietors long served this South Butte neighborhood. The saloon became a soft drink parlor during Prohibition and Paul Dosen, who lived upstairs, reopened it as a beer parlor in the 1930s. Living above one’s business was a convenience prized by most neighborhood shopkeepers like Dosen, Skubitz, and Bowen. The Bowen Block, with its original pent-roofed double storefront and upstairs apartments, is an excellent example of this tradition.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/b2694698-4c33-4e3d-b1f9-d8b8740bf6dc/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the Butte National Historic Landmark District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/9ecb5fd7-e392-42a7-a16e-94df0f020422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the Butte National Historic Landmark District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://storyofbutte.org/files/fullsize/9f92ace34c14af80f3987da555bc0f91.jpg":{"id":2378,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Bowen Block","description":"Bowen Block (PAc 91-51 B4 RollMM04 F27). Front to side view of the building, facing southwest on the corner of East 2nd Street and Emma Street. B&amp;W. | Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society | 1984 | Michael Koop","thumbnail":"https://storyofbutte.org/files/square_thumbnails/9f92ace34c14af80f3987da555bc0f91.jpg"}}}