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The Arvon Block is a historic building located at 114-116 First Avenue South in Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. Constructed from 1889 to 1890 by wealthy rancher and city booster Robert Vaughn in the Western Commercial architectural style, the buildings are some of the oldest in the city of Great Falls. They originally functioned as a hotel, and served passengers arriving in the city via train on the Montana Central Railway. The single structure was later divided internally into three buildings. The Arvon Block was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1991. Geographically, the Arvon Block is within the Great Falls Railroad Historic District but is not a contributing property to it. The Arvon Block is adjacent to the Great Falls Central Business Historic District. ==Overview== The Arvon Block building was constructed by Robert Vaughn. Born in Wales in 1836, he emigrated to the United States in 1858. After some years spent with relatives, he arrived in the Montana Territory (which had been carved out of the Idaho Territory on May 28, 1864, while he was journeying there). He was the first homesteader in what was then Chouteau County (one of the nine original counties of Montana, which at the time covered about a sixth of the state), where he established a large farm and cattle and horse ranch on the Sun River near what is now the town of Vaughn, Montana. He built a luxurious two-story, sandstone mansion on the site of his homestead. He married 31-year-old Elizabeth Donahue, on August 26, 1886. She died on January 13, 1888, just 13 days after giving birth to the couple's first daughter and only child, Arvonia. Vaughn sold his ranch to "Captain" Thomas Couch, a Cornish immigrant and expert miner who managed the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company.〔Walters, p. 1-4.〕 The city of Great Falls was founded in 1883. Businessman Paris Gibson visited the Great Falls of the Missouri River in 1880, and was deeply impressed by the possibilities for building a major industrial city near the falls with power provided by hydroelectricity.〔"Great Falls, Montana", in ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', p. 169.〕 He returned in 1883 with Vaughn and several surveyors, and platted a permanent settlement the south side of the river.〔Federal Writers Project, p. 150.〕 The city's first citizen, Silas Beachley, arrived later that year.〔 With investments from railroad owner James J. Hill and Helena businessman Charles Arthur Broadwater, houses, a store, and a flour mill were established in 1884.〔〔〔Malone, p. 116.〕 By 1887 the town had 1,200 citizens, and in October of that year the Great Northern Railway arrived in the city.〔Malone, p. 117.〕 Great Falls was incorporated on November 28, 1888.〔 Beginning in 1889, Vaughn began construction on two major developments in the new city of Great Falls. One was the "Vaughn Block", an apartment building at the corner of Central Avenue and Third Street South. The other was the "Arvon Block". Both were completed in 1890.〔(Vaughn, p. 77. ) Accessed 2013-01-16.〕 Robert Vaughn died in 1918. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arvon Block」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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