Link & Haire

The Link & Haire Firm was formed by Charles Haire and J. G. Link in 1906. Link & Haire architects planned both public and private premises. Thomas Haire, who succeeded Charles S. Haire, retired in 1926. E.B. Benson, an employee, took the place of Thomas Haire.

John Gustave Link was born in Bavaria on May 13, 1870, emigrating to the United States in 1887.[3] He practiced architecture in Denver and St. Louis before relocating to Butte in 1896.[4] He soon formed the partnership of Link & Donovan with William E. Donovan, which was dissolved in 1900. He then formed Link & Carter, with Joseph T. Carter. In 1902 Link went to Billings, a city 228 miles east of Butte, where he established the firm's second office,[5] leaving the Butte office under Carter's supervision. After Carter departed in 1905, Link had to find a new architect to manage the Butte office. He found his man in the form of the older Charles S. Haire, a prominent Helena architect. The two men formally established their partnership on January 1, 1906, with Link in Billings and Haire in Butte.

Upon Haire's death in 1925, his place was taken by his son, Thomas. Link departed soon after, relocating to Spokane, Washington, where he established Link & Rasque with George M. Rasque.[6] He returned to Billings in 1926, and his firm became J. G. Link, Inc. In 1935 Link's son John G. Link, Jr. was admitted to the firm. He retired in 1936,[3] handing the firm over fully to his sons, John and Elmer F. Link. John G. Link, Sr. died in Billings in January 1954.[7]

Charles Sidney Haire was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, on June 4, 1857. He attended Hughes High School in Cincinnati, graduating in 1876. It was in Ohio that he studied architecture, from 1879 to 1886. He then worked as a draftsman for the Union Pacific Railroad at Pocatello, Idaho, and the Great Northern Railway in Butte, ultimately relocating to Helena in 1893, where he established his own office.[8] Haire practiced alone until he formed a partnership with J. G. Link in January 1906.

Haire was elected to the American Institute of Architects in 1921, and died February 3, 1925, in Olympia, Washington, while en route to Montana from California. At the time of his death, his last completed work, the Montana Life Insurance Building at Helena, was regarded as his greatest.[8]