The Mansion was built in 1895 as the home of Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Conrad. E.C. Conrad was a prominent Missouri River freighter, trader and pioneer during the Gold Rush and Indian Wars and later founded the city of Kalispell. The mansion has 23 rooms and was designed by Kirtland Cutter, foremost Spokane architect of the time. In 1975 it was donated to the City of Kalispell (by daughter Alicia Campbell and has been restored in all its Victorian elegance and opened to public tours. Directly across Woodland Avenue once stood the magnificent stables, removed in 1926. Only the stone wall remains.

Hamilton was born of the Anaconda Company’s voracious appetite for lumber, nurtured on the Bitterroot apple boom, and sustained by medical research. Copper King Marcus Daly—whose Big Mill cut millions of board feet annually to feed his mines and smelter—created this timber town after coming to the area to raise race horses. Working as Daly’s front man, engineer James Hamilton quietly bought 160 acres from area farmers. He platted the townsite in 1890, with Main Street running between the Big Mill on the west and the railroad on the east. By 1893, over forty businesses had opened downtown, catering to the mill workers whose heavy boots resounded on the wooden boardwalks that lined Main Street. Fearful of fire, downtown merchants steadily replaced many of Hamilton’s earliest false-front wooden buildings with buildings constructed from locally manufactured brick or blue-gray stone quarried in nearby Corvallis. New money arrived in Hamilton after 1907 with the Bitterroot apple boom. Hamilton’s population burgeoned to three thousand, and its downtown gained several stylish architect-designed buildings, identifiable by their high-fire brick, metal mullion storefronts, and leaded glass transoms. In the 1920s and 1930s the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, founded to combat spotted fever, sustained Hamilton’s economy, and up-to-date business owners introduced a sleeker architectural style to downtown. Designed by Missoula architect H. E. Kirkemo, the Bower Building at South Second and West Main typifies the smooth lines fashionable in the 1930s, while the wood-frame false-front building at 411 West Main reflects the community’s earliest history.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Hamilton’s Ministerial Association opened the first free library in Ravalli County in April 1903 in a room donated by the Ravalli County Bank. Three months later, Hamilton voters levied a one mill tax to support the library, and the enterprise passed into public hands. In 1907, the library moved to the newly constructed city hall. When that space became inadequate, the community approached steel magnate Andrew Carnegie for money for a new building. The process stalled because Carnegie, who helped finance over 1,600 library buildings across the country, required towns to provide a building site. The Hamilton Woman’s Club revived the campaign in 1914 by procuring the necessary gift of land from Margaret Daly, widow of copper king Marcus Daly. On July 8, 1916, the new building opened to the public. The $9,000 structure’s symmetrical façade, daylight basement, and classical detailing are characteristic of Carnegie libraries. The front portico was added later. Community support led to construction of an addition in 1988, which has allowed the Bitterroot Public Library to meet the growing needs of its patrons

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Full-length Doric columns make a bold architectural statement, drawing the eye to this imposing neoclassical style home. Butte architect J. F. Everett drew upon the style popularized following the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. The 1902 residence, built for industrialist John R. Toole, retains its original symmetry and classical ornamentation despite three additions. Fanlights above the main entry, a three-part “Palladian” window, and a covered colonnaded terrace recall the time when this was the gracious home of a prominent family. John Toole served in the territorial and state legislatures and was later president of copper king Marcus Daly’s bank and his Missoula-based milling company. But home was the center of Toole’s affections and a grand one it was. Twelve- foot ceilings, pocket doors, oak columns, and seven fireplaces of imported tile support the notion, according to Toole’s biography, that “there was not a more attractive fireside in Montana.” In 1931 Toole’s widow, Anna, sold the home to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association. A number of the Tooles’ descendants are among the Kappas who have subsequently called this house their college home.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

A beautifully embellished pedimented gable and open porch with spindled balustrade, turned columns, and decorative details highlight this splendid two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne style residence of salmon-colored brick. Mary Schuh, a longtime pioneer homesteader and reputedly the first white woman to settle locally in nearby Cable, owned the property in 1894. The home was built in the mid-1890s. Mary’s daughter and son-in-law, Emma and Frank Nowak, raised their children here and sold the home shortly after Mary’s death in 1918. New cedar roof shingling of the original type and restoration of the unusual handcut metal ridge trim atop the roof return this charming home to its nineteenth-century likeness.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Reverend Milton Cook organized Philipsburg’s first Presbyterian congregation in 1877 and Reverend George Edwards came from Missoula to preach once a month. But it was not until 1891 that Reverend Samuel Wishard established a permanent Presbyterian congregation in Philipsburg. Services and Sunday school were held in the schoolhouse until summer 1893 when the present building welcomed its first worshippers. An early cold snap, however, forced the congregation to move services to the Methodist Church until heating stoves could be installed. The building’s unusual hexagonal copper dome and intricate scrollwork make its steeple the most distinctive among Philipsburg’s churches. A Gothic window with tracery, lancet openings, and a round window embellish the simple frame façade. Fondly known as the “White Church,” the building takes its place along “church row” on the north side of Broadway. The local watering holes are all on the opposite side of the street, maintaining the historic separation of secular and spiritual. Presbyterians held services here until 1990 when they joined with the Methodists to share their facility.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Charles A. and Frank J. Wilson, brothers from Wisconsin, built and established their businesses in this building by 1888. The building originally housed a furniture store on one side, a feed store on the other and a miners' boarding house/living quarters upstairs. Later in the 1890s, the businesses changed to hardware and groceries while the boarding house continued to operate upstairs. Inside, a hand-over-hand hoist that is still in use and tongue-and-groove maple flooring confirm the success of the brothers' businesses. Although the building has been remodeled several times and the interior stairs moved to the outside, rehabilitation of the facade has restored the exterior to its 1887 appearance.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The excellent design and spacious interior of this two-story commercial building represents Philipsburg’s prosperity and substantial population during the 1890s. Constructed for J.K. Merrill and Sons between 1892 and 1894, Freyschlag Huffman and Company took this location for its general merchandise emporium in 1893. Dry goods, clothing, groceries, hardware and wholesale liquors were displayed in the 12,000 feet of floor space. By 1897, it had become BiMetallic Mining’s company store. A three-bay facade and second-story pressed metal colonnade visually reinforced the structure’s ample proportions.

This property contributes to the Philipsburg Historic District • Listed in the Nation l Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior • In cooperation with the Montana Historical Society

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Brothers Morris and Humphery Courtney built this multi-purpose building in 1918 with the profits from manganese mining acquired during World War I. The building speaks to the coming of the automobile as the basement housed the Granite County Garage and the first floor was a dealership and showroom for Overland automobiles. The wide door in the center made the interior showroom accessible. The upper two floors accommodated offices and hotel rooms, often occupied by schoolteachers.

This property contributes to the Philipsburg Historic District • Listed in the Nation l Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior • In cooperation with the Montana Historical Society

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

First known as the Hyde Block, this building was constructed by banker Joseph Hyde and his wife, Mary, in 1888. It housed the First National Bank until the silver crash of 1893. In 1904, Frank Sayrs purchased the building and it has since held a number of businesses including a tailor's shop, drug stores and a recreation center. The fine design of this two-story commercial structure features a chamfered, or beveled, corner with a modillioned metal cornice and pediment.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Philipsburg's early-day fortunes ebbed and flowed with mining. Today, its historic district is one of Montana's best preserved late-19th-century mining towns, with commercial, public and private buildings dating from the boom period of silver mining. Silver was discovered south of here in 1864, and only three years later Philipsburg (at elevation 5,270 feet) was growing at the “rate of one house per day,” an area newspaper reported. That same year, the St.Louis and Montana Mining Company sent Philip Deideshimer (for whom the town was named) to Philipsburg to help develop and manage its mines and stamp mills. Only two years later, the nearby Hope Mill shut down and Philipsburg was largely deserted. A revival of mining activities from the mid-1880s to mid-1890s led to Philipsburg's greatest growth, when tens of millions of dollars worth of silver bullion, ore and slag were shipped to out-of-state markets. The wooden, false-front buildings on Broadway were replaced with masonry structures. When silver mining was curtailed in 1893, recently discovered sapphire deposits helped stabilize the local economy. That year also saw the creation of Granite County, with Philipsburg as county seat. During World War I, Philipsburg was the largest supplier of domestic manganese, which led to another boom for the area. After that boom, Philipsburg has slipped into a stable existence based on agriculture, government, logging, limited mining and tourism.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

In July 1878, a band of Nez Perce Indians returning south from Canada after eluding U.S. Cavalry, crossed what is now Granite County. While passing through they attacked a small mining camp located on a tributary of Rock Creek at McKay Gulch. Three miners were killed. A fourth miner, James Jones, escaped in a hail of gunfire. Although wounded, Jones managed to out-maneuver his pursuers by climbing Mt. Emerine. He then struggled cross-country 25 miles back to Philipsburg to alert the town about the Indian danger. From that day forward Jones was known as “Nez Perce” Jones. He died in 1926 at the age of 82.

Sculptor: Benge Elliott, San Marcos, Texas

Donated by Granite County Historical Society

Erected by Granite County Historical Society.

Philipsburg's early-day fortunes ebbed and flowed with mining. Today, its historic district is one of Montana's best preserved late-19th-century mining towns, with commercial, public and private buildings dating from the boom period of silver mining. Silver was discovered south of here in 1864, and only three years later Philipsburg (at elevation 5,270 feet) was growing at the “rate of one house per day,” an area newspaper reported. That same year, the St.Louis and Montana Mining Company sent Philip Deideshimer (for whom the town was named) to Philipsburg to help develop and manage its mines and stamp mills. Only two years later, the nearby Hope Mill shut down and Philipsburg was largely deserted. A revival of mining activities from the mid-1880s to mid-1890s led to Philipsburg's greatest growth, when tens of millions of dollars worth of silver bullion, ore and slag were shipped to out-of-state markets. The wooden, false-front buildings on Broadway were replaced with masonry structures. When silver mining was curtailed in 1893, recently discovered sapphire deposits helped stabilize the local economy. That year also saw the creation of Granite County, with Philipsburg as county seat. During World War I, Philipsburg was the largest supplier of domestic manganese, which led to another boom for the area. After that boom, Philipsburg has slipped into a stable existence based on agriculture, government, logging, limited mining and tourism.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Before his death in 1896, pioneering Jewish businessman William Weinstein owned many lots, including this one, in Philipsburg. By 1902, his daughter Alice Weinstein Hannah owned the property and the one-story wooden dwelling that stood on the site, which she undoubtedly rented to local miners and their families. She sold the home in 1913 to Missoula resident Leanorah Damuth. Damuth lost the property for back taxes in 1923, and in 1927 Louada Smith purchased the lots and all improvements for $248.75. A divorced mother of four, Louada married miner John Flascher the following year. Soon thereafter, the family built this one-and-one-half-story, gable-front home, valued in 1930 at $2,400. The home originally sported full-width front and rear porches, both of which were later enclosed.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

During the 1880s masonry structures began to replace wood-framed buildings from the mining camp days to form the present town. George H. Harn, who at that time ran one of two local brickyards, probably built this fine residence with his own bricks. James Patten Sr. came to Philipsburg from Illinois and purchased the home from Harn in 1887. Patten was a prominent businessman involved in the operation of the nearby Trout and Sweet Home Mines. The one-and-one-half-story home features a hipped roof, bay window with wood paneled spandrels, and porches with slender turned columns, decorative brackets, spindled balustrades, and scrolled friezes.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Built circa 1887, Lutey's Grocery and the Barrett and Jacky Harness Shop originally shared occupancy of this one-story commercial building. By the 1890s, Valentine Jacky shared this building with C. T. Huffman who supplied groceries to Philpsburg and the nearby town of Granite. C. T. and A. S. Huffman eventually expanded their store into both sides of the building. Operated by A. S. Huffman's sons until the 1970s, the business was the state's oldest family-owned grocery. Meticulous reconstruction of the 1890s facade and restoration of the tin-ceilinged interior was completed in 1992-1993 by owner Dale Siegford and woodwright Barry Carnahan.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

In the 1880s and 1890s, masonry structures gradually replaced the frame buildings left from Philipsburg’s mining camp days. Doe and Hoyer constructed this commercial brick building in 1887. Modini’s Grand Hotel and Restaurant was located in the west half. M. E. Doe and his sons owned and managed the drug store on the east half of the ground floor until 1969. Doe’s Drug Store even sold the town’s first gasoline, hand pumped from barrels out front.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The Granite County Jail was constructed in 1896, three years after Granite County was carved from two adjacent counties and Philipsburg made the county seat. The town served as a hub to extensive area mining and, later, ranching. The jail was the first major public building constructed for county use, reflecting early desire for law and order. This stately building contains jail space, the sheriff's office, and the sheriff's residence. It was constructed for an estimated $8,000 using features from several architectural styles. The jail's dominant feature is a medieval tower above the arched portico. Its bricked-over windows, intriguingly, were part of the original creation. The dark brick was locally fired and the rough-cut granite locally quarried. Renovated successfully to current standards, this remains one of Montana's oldest jails still serving its original function.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

One of a network of Jewish merchants who supplied miners in the Rocky Mountain West, nineteen-year-old Benjamin Pizer arrived in Helena from Poland with his wife Jessie Silverman and their newborn son David in 1869. With limited capital, he purchased fifty pounds of dry goods, which he peddled to area miners. After seven years, he bought a wagon and expanded his territory. In 1878 he purchased a dry goods business in Philipsburg. A building boom fueled by Philipsburg-area silver mining and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad prompted Pizer to invest in this one-story brick vernacular style building in 1887. Pizer sold furniture, notions, and tobacco from this shop, while a saloon operated on the building's east side. Well integrated into the Philipsburg community, Pizer served as a Republican county commissioner and was a member of both the Knights of Pythias and the Oddfellows. A founding member of the Helena Hebrew Benevolent Society, Pizer also retained ties to Helena, where the family returned in 1896. He died there in 1921 and was buried in the Home of Peace Jewish cemetery.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Around the mountain from the mining camp of Cable in 1866 came Polish-born merchant William Weinstein with a wagon-load of goods to sell. He became Philipsburg's first general merchant, constructing the eastern half of this building in the late 1870s or early 1880s to house his business. Ike Sparey located his restaurant and hotel in the western half, completed circa 1887. The structure has since served as a bank, a mortuary, and since 1950 as mining company offices for the current owner, the Taylor-Knapp Company. Second-story balconies, ornamental brickwork and battlements complement this well-preserved example of 1880s commercial architecture.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Colonel J.W. Morse built Morse Hall in 1887. This elaborately detailed public lecture hall also served as county courthouse after 1893, an opera house, town hall, library and general community center. Its splendid second story dance floor was the scene of many gala community dances as well as basketball games. The pressed metal cornice, hood moldings and full storefront supported by cast iron columns make this building a fine example of commercial vernacular architecture.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The tramway was constructed in 1889 to carry ore from the Blaine Shaft in Granite to the Bi-Metallic Mill in Kirkville, near Philipsburg. The Bi-Metallic aerial tramway was 9750 feet long with a vertical drop of 1225 feet, and was the longest aerial tramway in the United States at that time. The tramline consisted of wooden tower with rollers and guides on the ends of both arms. These rollers supported a very large moving cable that the tram cars were attached to. The Granite Mountain Mining Company constructed a similar aerial tramway about the same time. This conveyance was 8750 feet long and carried ore from the Ruby Shaft in Granite to the Rumsey Mill (Mill C) to the east.

Built in 1890 at a cost of $23,000, this three-story building was once the social center of a bustling mining town. The first floor was constructed of native granite. The cast iron front held 6 large windows and small colored glass panes. The upper stories were brick, and the roof was covered with sheet metal. Interior walls and ceilings were plastered, and elaborate molded pine trim was artificially grained to look like hardwood. Lighting was by oil lamps, one of which weighed 400 lbs.

The second floor housed union offices, a library, and a large hall with an 18ft. ceiling, wallpaper and a special maple “spring floor” for dancing. At the back was a stage. 500 folding chairs provided seating for concerts, operas and theatricals. The first floor was a recreation hall for miners, with billiards and card tables. On the third floor was a meeting room used by clubs and secret orders.

In the 1890s. buildings along Main Street included saloons, rooming houses and restaurants. Across the street from the Union Hall was the newspaper office, and in the gully below was Chinatown and the red light district.

STAY OFF AND AWAY

Walls are unstable

Granite Mtn. Mine located July 6, 1875 and operated by the Granite Mtn. Company.

A rich silver bonanza shoot was discovered in Nov. 1882. The mine closed in 1893 and reopened again in 1911 and 1912 and operated for a brief time.

Erected by National Forest Service, Deerlodge National Forest.

By 1899, this house stood at the head of Magnolia Avenue, or “Silk Stocking Row,” where the elite of Granite lived. The first floor housed the living quarters for the Superintendent of the Granite Mountain Mining Co. The second floor may have originally housed the mine office, accessed through a door in the back reached by a plank bridgeway from the hillside. No inside connection has ever existed between the two floors.

From 1889 to 1893, Superintendent Thomas Weir lived in this house. A capable manager, Weir did much to improve living and working conditions for the miners. Sweat soaked miners would emerge from the 1,000 ft shaft into winter’s bitter cold, prime candidates for pneumonia. Without antibiotics, the death rate was high. Weir built a “drying house” and a hospital, had bunkhouses cleaned and fumigated, and gave his men one day off a week and good wages--$3.50 a day.

“Silver Queen City”

The Granite Mountain Lode claim was recorded in 1875, and in 1879 a piece of high-grade “ruby” silver was found. With financial backing from St. Louis investors, exploration efforts increased, without a lot of success. In 1882, the investors sent word to stop work—they would put no more money into the mine. One story goes that the pony express messenger was delayed by a blizzard and during this reprieve the big strike was made. The boom was on and before long, three mills were built to handle the flood of ore. In 1889, the Granite Mountain and Bi-Metallic Mines produced $250,000 - $275,000 a month. One mine alone produced 6,000 lbs of silver and 13.3 lbs of gold a week.

In 1892, 3,200 people lived in Granite, with another 2,000 or so at the mills nearby. Repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which had guaranteed government purchase of silver resulted in the Silver Panic of 1893. Mines and mills closed and 3,000 people left in 24 hours. The mines later reopened but never again held the distinction they once had. The last of Granite’s residents left in the 1930s

This two-story building, constructed in about 1885, was one of the first structures in Granite, and housed the brick vault that is seen here. The mining office handled the payroll for the men who worked at the Ruby Shaft and the two mills on the hill across the road to your north. Newspapers articles of the day told of men being paid entirely in silver coins, and of merchants threatening to burn any paper money they encountered.

The first three Superintendents of the Granite Mountain works were Charles D. Mclure, Frank L. Perkins and Captain John L. Plummer. The first dividend from the mine was paid shortly after Mr. Plummer became Superintendent in 1885. Later, Superintendent Thomas Weir had a 16-foot by 16-foot hot water plunge, drying room and reading room built for the workers of the Ruby Shaft Mine. This helped prevent miners from contracting pneumonia caused by leaving the mine in wet work clothes.

Just to the right (north) of the brick vault is a large shallow hole that was the site of the Buskett Mercantile Co. General Store. This was a major business in Granite, owned by the Granite Mountain Mining Company.

The Granite Mountain Mining Company constructed two mills adjoining the mining operation know[n] as the Ruby Shaft. These structures, Mill A and Mill B, housed a total of 70 stamp mills which processed ore. Stamp mills were used to crush the ore so the metal could be separated from the base material by amalgamation of mercury. The stamp mills were very noisy and produced a great deal of dust. The mines and mills all operated six days a week.

When the production of the Ruby Shaft exceeded the capacity of Mills A and B in 1889, the Granite Mountain Mining Company built a mill in Rumsey to handle the additional ore. They named this new operation Mill C.

Most of the ore that brought tremendous riches and fame to Granite was brought out of the Ruby Shaft, operated by the Granite Mountain Mining Company. Several tunnels outside the Ruby Shaft were also important in producing the silver (and some gold) ore that went to the mills and became ingots. The shaft work began in about 1880 when Mr. McIntyre was contracted to “sink a 50-foot shaft upon the ledge” in return for a one-quarter interest in the mine. The shaft that Mr. McIntyre sank, however, was one foot short. He decided not to finish the task and surrendered his share in the mine. This one-quarter share was eventually worth over $3,000,000 in dividends. In 1885, a new shaft, the Ruby Shaft, was started and was driven to a depth of 1550 feet. Soon several hundred miners were working three eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week.

The headframe of the Ruby Shaft, which has since fallen into the shaft, was contained in a building as shown. Power for the hoist was provided by steam engines that burned wood and coal. In the early years, ore was crushed in Mills A and B which were adjacent to the mine.

In 1888, the Granite

Mountain Mining Company began construction of a large mill called the Rumsey Mill or Mill C in a valley to the east on Fred Burr Creek. The mill was completed in 1889 and was connected to the mining complex by an 8750-foot aerial tramway.

In June 1867, Alexander Aiken, John Person, and Jonas Stough located a rich gold quartz lode near here, the name commemorating the recent laying to the second transatlantic telegraph cable.

Like many fabulously rich mining properties in Montana, this one was found by accident. Camped on nearby Flint Creek, the men's horses drifted off. In tracking them to this vicinity the men found not only good placer gold in Warm Springs Creek, but also promising gold quartz prospects on Cable Mountain. Within a short time, a small mining camp, called Cable City, grew up around the mines. In 1868, the Helena Weekly Herald found the miner "of this extraordinary camp … to be men of intelligence, of extended experience, good hard sense and big hearts."

The Atlantic Cable Mine operated with indifferent success until about 1880 when miners struck extremely rich ore dead under the mountain. A 500 ft. piece of ground produced over $151 million in 21st century dollars! Butte copper king William A. Clark paid $10,000 for one chunk of ore taken from this mine in 1889 and claimed it was the largest gold nugget ever found in Montana.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

In midsummer, 1862, John White and party discovered gold on this creek several miles down stream. The first major gold rush to what is now Montana resulted.

Erected by Montana State Parks.

Bannack epitomizes the tough, primitive towns that sprang up with gold discoveries. Its story also illustrates a century of survival, through boom and bust periods associated with resource extraction and technological advances. On July 28, 1862, prospectors John White and company made a lucky strike, triggering Montana’s first major gold rush. Miners—many from Idaho’s crowded Salmon River diggings—swarmed over the Continental Divide. By spring 1863, Bannack had 3,000 inhabitants. The town saw six vigilante hangings, including that of its infamous sheriff, Henry Plummer. Briefly designated capital of the new Montana Territory in 1864, the first legislature met here in a crude log cabin. While other gold strikes stole Bannack’s initial population, the town rebounded in the 1870s and served as the Beaverhead County seat until 1881. The Masonic Lodge Hall/School (1874), Methodist Church (1877), and the Hotel Meade built as the Beaverhead County courthouse (1875) reflect this period. Evidence of hydraulic, dredge, and hard rock mining interrupt the landscape. Montana’s first quartz claims initiated hard rock mining here in 1862 and stamp mills soon operated alongside placer mining. Changing technologies produced new boom periods and other changes to Bannack. Electrification of the mines in 1930 brought electricity to the town. Despite its varied fortunes, the community held together while local mills operated sporadically until World War II. The State of Montana acquired most of the town in 1954, and a few residents remained until the early 1970s. Bannack features multi-period buildings spanning the primitive 1860s, urbanized 1870s-1880s, and early twentieth century. In 1961, Bannack earned status as a National Historic Landmark.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

New residents flooded the housing market as Anaconda’s smelter works expanded into the twentieth century and the town began to outgrow its original perimeters. The City Council approved several new additions including this area, annexed as the First Western Addition in 1916. Guidelines to encourage orderly development called for a minimum dwelling value of $2,500 and a frontage of at least twenty-five feet. Prominent Willow Creek rancher/dairy farmer John Furst purchased two adjoining lots for $875 and built this home during the winter of 1917-1918. Furst came to the United States from Alsace-Lorraine, France, in 1870, learned the trade of shoe cobbling, and came to Butte in 1878. He operated a shoe store there until 1881 when he went into ranching. Furst also had a local contracting business and developed commercial and residential real estate. This residence, initially built as an investment on the west end of the addition, for many years had few neighbors. After Furst died in 1927, his wife, Theresa, moved into town from the ranch and made her home here until 1949. The beautifully maintained residence is an outstanding example of the Craftsman

Bungalow, a style that emerged in California and was widely promoted in the first decades of the twentieth century. Square tapered columns, wide bracketed eaves with exposed rafter ends, triangular braced roof supports, heavy window trim and a front-gabled dormer are defining stylistic elements. Multi-paned windows enclosing the porch, added in the 1930s, and a slightly flared roof line enhance the cottage-like appearance of this charming home.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Anaconda’s elite began to build homes on the West Side in the 1890s, and this Queen Anne style mansion was one of the first to grace upper Locust Street. Built in 1894 for Fred Clark, librarian at the Hearst Free Public Library, the elegant residence boasted all the latest conveniences including steam heat and electric lights. Classical elements such as Tuscan columns and a gabled portico enrich the Queen Anne style so favored during the Victorian era. An octagonal tower, gabled dormers, and wraparound veranda with balconette above heighten the characteristic Queen Anne asymmetry, while granite-capped windows and decorative shingles add varied textures to the wall surfaces. Arched doors and windows showcase the skills of builder/contractor J. P. Dolan. Dolan, who was also a skilled mason, and his partner John Hamill were Anaconda’s leading contractors in the 1890s. Except for a 1990 addition sensitively designed to blend with the historic appearance, this West Side residence is a district centerpiece and one of Anaconda’s many well-preserved period homes.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Anaconda’s business leaders located on the town’s west side beginning in the 1890s. The idyllic neighborhood was far from the smelter and close to commerce on Main and Park streets. Tree-lined sidewalks with street lamps, a large public park, and a new library attracted Anaconda’s upper- and middle-class families. The Kretzer family home, built in 1913, incorporates typical Craftsman elements in its side gable roof with prominent knee braces, an integrated full-width porch, and a gabled dormer. Triple, battered (tapered) porch columns with stepped capitals, arched moldings, and leaded glass windows further distinguish the home’s high-style Craftsman character. German butcher Otto Kretzer and wife Esther owned the Washoe Market, raised five children, and were energetic community boosters. Otto was a charter member of the local Kiwanis Club, and a singer in the Kiwanis Quartet. Esther was active with the Methodist Episcopal Church and Ladies Home Missionary Society. They lost their oldest son to appendicitis in 1920, another son to illness in 1941, and their youngest son, Jack, died a war hero in Japan in 1945. The Kretzers left Third Street after 1940.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Mass production of decorative details allowed even modest houses to partake of architectural fashion. In the case of this one-and-one-half-story home, stained glass, gingerbread and latticework, turned porch supports, and fish-scale shingles in the gable end visually reference the popular Queen Anne style. Although Charles Tuttle did not formally acquire the land on which this home was built until 1897, he had contractors Smith and Gilmour construct the wood frame residence in 1892, making this one of the oldest homes on Hickory. Tuttle owned the City Drug Co., where he sold pharmaceuticals, hardware, and furniture. In the 1890s, a large furniture warehouse stood behind the home. In 1898, Tuttle expanded his business to include a funeral parlor, selling the drug store in 1900 to focus on undertaking. He later added a livery, creating Tuttle’s Livery and Undertaking. Longtime resident Joseph Malloy, a foreman at the converter plant, and his wife, Sarah, purchased the residence in 1915. More recently, James Milo and Lenore Manning undid alterations from the 1950s and 1960s, restoring the front façade to its original appearance.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Tired of exorbitant freight rates, copper king Marcus Daly decided to build his own railroad in 1892 to haul ore from the Butte mines to his Anaconda smelter. Daly envisioned the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway extending to the Pacific Ocean. Instead the railroad ran twenty-six miles between Anaconda and Butte. With construction expertise from the Great Northern Railway, the railroad was built with seventy-five-pound steel rails in anticipation of heavy freight traffic. By 1900, the BA&P was said to carry “more tonnage to the mile the year around than any other railroad in the country.” This earned it the moniker “The Biggest Little Railroad in the Nation.” Most of the freight was copper ore from the Butte mines with a destination of the Anaconda smelter. Finished copper from the smelter was then transported across the nation. In 1913, the BA&P converted from steam to electric-powered engines, becoming the first electrified railroad in the country to haul heavy freight. Two factors allowed the BA&P to electrify affordably: access to inexpensive hydroelectric power and the fact that the Anaconda Company supplied the necessary copper wire from its own mines. The BA&P’s early success in electrification became a model for other railroads, most notably the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. The modern age of electricity fueled demand for copper from 1892 through the 1920s. Notably, the BA&P transported more than half of the nation’s supply during this era.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The valley known by Native Americans as “Lodge of the White Tailed Deer” officially became Deer Lodge County when this area was part of the Territory of Idaho. After the creation of the Territory of Montana in 1864, the first territorial legislature named Deer Lodge one of Montana's original nine counties. The town seat, first located at Silver Bow and then Deer Lodge, moved to Anaconda in 1896. A bond election in 1898 assured funding for the construction of a county courthouse. County Clerk Martin Martin suggested placing the building at the head of Main Street rather than in the middle of the block so that “A stranger visiting Anaconda has no need to ask where the court house is.” Architects Charles F. Bell and John N. Kent, who also drew the plans for the State Capitol in Helena, were commissioned to design the building. Deer Lodge County officials moved from Anaconda's City Hall into the new facility in the spring of 1900. The grand Neo-classical style building, constructed of buff-colored dressed sandstone, features a central two-tiered, domed tower. On the interior, the dome's painted ribs dramatically simulate structural members. Frescoes and county seals by Consolidated Artists of Milwaukee, Wisconsin adorn the panels between the “ribs.” Other interior appointments include an ornate spiral staircase of oak with marble treads, oak bannisters and cast iron risers. Decorative square cast iron newel posts, originally capped with electric lights, are especially noteworthy.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

It took millions of miles of copper to build the telegraph, telephone, and electrical lines that transformed the United States from a collection of small, isolated communities to a cohesive, industrialized nation. Looming gallows frames and the towering Anaconda Company smokestack recall the industrial roots of these sister cities, the source of much of that copper. Extracting the metal was hazardous work, and the danger bred solidarity among miners and smelterworkers. Two of the nation's most radical unions had their roots in Butte and Walkerville, “The Gibraltar of Unionism.” They were the Western Federation of Miners and the Industrial Workers of the World, whose rhetoric opposing “wage slavery” challenged the foundations of American capitalism. Clashes between capital and labor marked the district, especially after the 1917 Butte Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine fire, the worst hard-rock mining disaster in the nation's history. Labor unrest and years under martial law followed in Butte, while in Anaconda, the Company fired suspected Socialists and agitators, devastating the unions. Butte and Anaconda workers reorganized during the New Deal after the federal government guaranteed the right of workers to unionize. Their four-month industry-wide strike in 1934 precipitated the birth of the CIO, an organization that helped rejuvenate the labor movement nationwide. In 2006, the National Park Service recognized Butte, Anaconda, and Walkerville's significance to the intertwined histories of mining and labor by declaring the district a National Historic Landmark. It is the largest NHL in the West, covering the period 1876-1934 and encompassing nearly 10,000 acres with over 6,000 contributing resources.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Anaconda grew quickly after Copper King Marcus Daly established it as his smelter town in 1883, but the community’s Episcopalians needed to wait seven years before they could lay the cornerstone for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on October 21, 1890. Before then, they had depended on priests from Deer Lodge and Butte, or on visits of Bishop Richmond Leigh Brewer from Helena. Services were held in the Methodist Episcopal Church South building and later above Foskett’s saloon. At the latter site, water for a baptism by the Rev. A. B. Howard of Deer Lodge once was supplied from downstairs, and in a beer mug. Even after having their own building, the congregation was dependent on the smelter’s fortunes, and St. Mark’s closed for some months in 1892 when the smelter was shut down. The buff sandstone for this Romanesque Revival church was quarried near Garrison. The original floor plan was that of a Latin cross except for the square entrance bell tower; and a brick one-story addition has squared off the space between transept and apse.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Intricate ornamental cresting caps the dome on the octagonal tower of this handsome residence. Its eclectic architecture combines elements of the Queen Anne and French Second Empire styles. A partial Mansard roof at the northeast corner and a front window with unusual stone and brick surrounds reflect the flamboyant tastes of the late Victorian era. The tower retains its original, charming multi-paned cottage window. Grocer Albert MacCallum built the residence in 1895 and sold it in 1904 to miner, politician, and businessman Dennis Roach. The firm of Roach and Smith offered billiard parlors, a confectionery, flowers, fishing tackle, sporting goods, cigars, and sundries. Roach and Smith, one of Anaconda’s longest established businesses, still exists as a wholesale distribution firm. Dennis Roach served as county commissioner and as a representative in the Montana legislature. After Roach’s death in 1925, his widow Maude remained at home here for more than thirty years. The Roaches’ daughter, Katherine “Kash” Felt, a prominent and well-loved Anaconda matron, converted the residence into classrooms where she taught kindergarten. The family retained ownership of the property into the twenty-first century.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.