Railroad Houses
500 block of North Second Street West

Simple to build, easy to maintain, these hipped-roof railroad workers cottages are located in the Northside Railroad Historic District—which runs from B Street on the east, Worden Avenue to the west, the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks on the south, and Sixth Street on the north. The district contains some of the oldest housing in Missoula—developed after the arrival of the Northern Pacific in 1883. Many of the first houses were efficiently designed with pyramidal roofs, small and open front porches, and shed-roofed rear additions. Workers who who arrived first to build the railroad were mainly Chinese and Japanese. Other foreign workers followed when the railroad expanded between 1906 and 1916. Greek and Italian workers were in the majority. They often arrived alone and sent for their families. These groups often settled by nationality, as indicated by many Northside street names. Many of the basic house patterns were expanded and personalized with dormers and columned porches.