Set behind Missoula’s Hip Strip commercial district on the south end of the Higgins Avenue Bridge, it’s hard to miss the Babs building. Built in 1905 and designed by Missoula architect A. J. Gibson, this Queen Anne-style Victorian landmark features twin towers keeping watch over the bustling city below.

The building initially housed both commercial and residential tenants. Shortly after its completion, the Garden City Commercial College relocated there. Later renamed the Garden City Business College, the school offered a variety of business classes before closing its doors in 1930.

As a south Missoula fixture, much lore is attached to the Babs Building. During the Roaring Twenties, it purportedly housed a speakeasy in its attic. After World War II, Jerry Aasheim bought the building, converted it entirely into apartments, and named it after his daughter. For over half a century ‘Babs” has housed countless tenants, mostly students from the University of Montana located just blocks away. In the late 2000s, the Babs Building was restored and converted to a condominium building. It remains in residential use to this day.

Credits and Sources:

The Babs Project. “History of Babs.” http://thebabsproject.com, accessed August 18, 2014.

Cohen, Stan. Missoula County Images, volume II. Missoula: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1993.

Koelbel, Lenora. Missoula, The Way It Was: A Portrait of an Early Western Town.Missoula: Gateway Publishing and Printing, 1972.

Mathews, Allan James.  “A Guide to Historic Missoula,” Montana Mainstreets, vol. 6. Helena: Montana Historical Society, 2003.

National Park Service. “National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Missoula Southside Historic District,” February 19, 1991.

Photographs courtesy of Archives & Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.