The Martin Barrett House, built in 1912, was the in-town retirement home of prominent pioneer rancher, politician, and philanthropist Martin Barrett and his wife Alice. One of the finest examples of early-twentieth-century architecture in Dillon, it combines the grace and symmetry of the Colonial Revival style with the horizontal rooflines of the Prairie style. Born in Ireland, Martin Barrett arrived in Montana Territory in 1863 and made his fortune in the goldfields by raising stock at Horse Prairie. By 1871, he ran 2,000 head of shorthorn cattle on 4,500 acres. He was elected to two terms in the territorial legislature, served as Beaverhead County Stock Commissioner for six years in the early 1900s, sat on the Dillon School Board, and was defeated there by his wife, who then served as a board member for the next twenty-two years. Barrett was also a founding member and vice president of the Dillon State Bank, and in 1921 he donated $100,000 toward construction of a new Dillon hospital that was named for him as its major benefactor.