The Extreme History Project

Do you support maintaining and celebrating the rich heritage of Bozeman, Montana’s historic buildings, districts and neighborhoods? Then you’ve come to the right place. Check here for updates on events, meetings, and resources to join your voice with ours and ensure that Bozeman’s historic integrity is preserved for generations to come!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS

First Friday: Sack Lunch Series: 

October 7th – Fred Willson For Real – Historian Richard Brown will discuss Fred Willson, Bozeman’s beloved architect. Bozeman Public Library Large Community Room. 12-1pm. Co-sponsored by The Extreme History Project and the Bozeman Preservation Advocacy Group (BPAG)

November 4th – What IS the NCOD? – Come for information and discussion on the importance of the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) to preservation. Location to be announced. 12-1pm Co-sponsored by The Extreme History Project and the Bozeman Advocacy Group (BPAG)

Tea and Revolution Dialogue Series: Building Community through Historic Preservation
September 11-17th, 2016
Join us for a week-long series of events highlighting Historic Preservation in Bozeman! All events are free and open to the public! We would like to thank our partners who helped make this week happen including The Western lands and Peoples Initiative of Montana State University, The National Humanities Alliance, Townshend’s Tea House, The Gallatin History Museum and the Museum of the Rockies!

September 11th – Online Book Club. A Guide to Historic Bozeman by Jim Jenks. Join the conversation here: https://extremehistoryproject.org/extreme-history-online-book-club/

September 12th – “Building Community through Historic Preservation” Lecture with Janet Ore, 6 PM, Museum of the Rockies

Historic preservation arose as a movement to protect built environments that provided the tangible expressions of identity.  Americans realized that in times of rapid change, places invested with history, memory, and emotion gave them a sense of history that could be lost when the physical markers of the past were eradicated. For many today, their multicentered lives have impelled them to seek places where the symbols of a more rooted, seemingly less complex, past remain. Bozeman now stands at this juxtaposition.  The city’s historic neighborhoods and setting attract mobile Americans desiring the charm of an idyllic small-town past.  Yet the changes these new arrivals make threaten the historic environment that gives Bozeman and its residents their identity. Historic preservation provides a way to manage this tension.  Its job is to articulate the histories that define the place, to identify the historic buildings and landscapes that represent these histories, and to find ways to accommodate for change while keeping the city’s distinct character.  The goal must be to conserve what David Glassberg calls “a sense of history”—unique places where personal and public histories have interacted over the decades to produce communities rich in stories of change and belonging.

September 15th – Community Dialogue and Panel Discussion. Join us for a community dialogue surrounding historic preservation in Bozeman. Townsend’s Tea House, 402 E Main, 7 pm.

On Thursday, September 15, we will gather the community to discuss our shared ideas, concerns and suggestions about historic preservation in Bozeman at Townshend’s Tea House, 402 E. Main St. at 7 pm. A panel of representatives from a broad spectrum of the community will answer questions and provide guidance and expertise. Marsha Fulton and Crystal Alegria of the Extreme History Project will host the event. The panel will consist of: Pat Jacobs, architect and member of the Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board, Community Development Planning Interim Director, Chris Saunders, Brian Popiel of Arete Builders and Chairman of the Southwest Montana Building Industry Association and Jeanne Wilkerson, a Bozeman historic home owner.

September 17th – “Historic Preservation for Dummies” Want to learn more about how to get involved with Historic Preservation in Bozeman? Join us for our workshop at the Gallatin History Museum from 9am – 5pm. Registration is limited so please register below to secure a spot.

This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of historic preservation and why it’s important to communities like Bozeman. You will also learn how to research and document a historic property!

Kate Hampton of the Montana State Historic Preservation Office will be the workshop instructor. Kate is the Community Preservation Officer at the Montana Historical Society’s State Historic Preservation Office, where she works directly with local community preservation programs to document and preserve their cultural resources. Her past work includes several years with the Montana Preservation Alliance as the Director of the Most Endangered Places Program, coordinating Montana’s National Register of Historic Places Program, and working throughout the West as a Research Historian with Historic Research Associates, Inc. She also secured funding and directs the “Identifying African-American Heritage Resources in Montana,” projects, which identify, research & document resources and places throughout the state associated with African-American history in Montana.

Hope you can join us for a day learning and doing historic preservation!

 

RESOURCES:

“Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District Talking Points” by Derek Strahn

(Cick “in” on bottom right corner to download)

 

Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District Report for Bozeman, Montana

 

ARTICLES

“Live Up to your License Plate, Bozeman” by Courtney Kramer in the December, 2015 Bozeman Magazine

“City Shouldn’t Turn its Back on Historic Preservation” by Derek Strahn, Bozeman Chronicle, December 3, 2015

“10 Benefits of Establishing a Local Historic District” National Trust for Historic Preservation.