Josiah C. Vilas Residence

The blocks between Clark and Calender streets were known as Banker’s Row because three prominent bankers lived there, including Josiah C. Vilas, who was directly involved in Livingston’s financial welfare. Vilas came to Montana in 1881 and was the first postmaster at Gardiner appointed under President Grover Cleveland. He later settled in Livingston, entered the banking business in 1893, and served as president of the National Park Bank of Livingston from 1908 to 1929. When he died at 83 in 1937, he was still president of the bank’s board of directors. By 1904, this two-story residence was home to Vilas and his wife, Ida. One of seven homes in Livingston built of locally quarried stone, it features a fashionable façade and fine details created by skilled local craftsmen, including classical columns, windows with diamond muntins and stained glass, eyebrow windows with intricate leaded glass, fluted interior columns, decorative wood finishing, and original light fixtures.

Livingston, Montana · United States