Link and Haire, Architects, records, 1904-1926

Link and Haire, Architects, was formed in 1906, when Charles Haire joined with J. G. Link to create the firm. Link was born in Bavaria on May 13, 1870, and attended the Royal Academy at Landau before immigrating to the United States. He taught for three years before going to work for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1886, and for the Great Northern Railroad the following year. While working for these railroads he studied architecture, and was later hired by the firm of Wallace and Thornburn, a real estate and building company.

Link and Haire, Architects, provided the plans for a variety of Montana jails, court houses, schools, and state buildings, in addition to designing buildings for Yellowstone Park Hotel Company and Yellowstone Park Transportation Company. Their buildings include dormitories at Montana State University in Missoula and Montana State College in Bozeman, the Kline Hotel in Livingston, the Post Office Block in Miles City, St. Mary's Academy in Deer Lodge, a gymnasium for Mount St. Charles [Carroll] College in Helena, the Usuline Convent in Great Falls, and the Methodist Episcopalian Church in Bozeman. They also designed private homes and businesses.

Charles S. Haire died in 1925, and was succeeded in the firm by his son Thomas Haire. J.G. Link retired in 1926, and E.B. Benson, an employee, became a partner. The firm became Haire and Benson, Architects.

J. G. Link was head of the Montana Board of Architectural Examiners, and a member of the Silver Bow and Montana Clubs, and the Scottish Rite in which he attained the thirty third degree honorary.