File:000 block of S Tracy Avenue - Bozeman Montana - 2013-07-09.jpg

English: The west side of the 000 block of South Tracy Avenue in Bozeman, Montana.

In the first decade of Bozeman's existence, Main Street began to take shape as Bozeman's commercial strip. In 1871, South Tracy and South Black avenues were both platted, extending part of the commercial district two blocks south from Main Street to Olive Street. Although only one of the buildings in these two blocks of South Tracy Avenue is historic, many of them are a century old and a few retain their historic features.

The yellow and red building in the center of the block is 17-19 South Tracy. Omnipresent Bozeman architect Fred Willson designed it, and it was constructed in 1928. It's a single building but with a double-storefront, and Willson's design had apartments on the second floors. The building is in the Spanish Revival style, and has molded window hoods, ornamental rosettes, stucco siding, a decorative parapet, and a Mediterranean-style tiled roof that breaks through the parapet. Ornamental wrought iron beneath the second-story windows evokes the idea of balconies. The structure was financed by B.A. Dixon and Bernal Alexander, who owned Dixon’s Painters and Decorators and Alexander Art Co.

In 1940, Dixon and Alexander again hired Willson -- this time to replace the original marquee with a Streamline Moderne design. In 2010, the building's new owners replaced the 1940 marquee with one that matched the 1928 original.

17-19 S. Tracy is a contributing property to the Main Street Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 21, 1987.

One block south of the 000 block is the South Tracy-South Black Historic District, which occupies the 200-600 blocks of S. Tracy and S. Black avenues and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 21, 1987.