The sunburst motif on the front gable end of this single-story, hipped-roof residence signals the builder’s debt to the Queen Anne style. Havre pioneer Daniel H. Boone and his wife, Elizabeth, owned the four-square residence. Built before 1903 and perhaps as early as 1892, it is among Havre’s older homes. The technologically advanced Boones installed a telephone in 1903 and indoor plumbing in 1906. Boone owned a drug store on Third Avenue, an easy three-block walk from here. The store burned in the devastating 1904 fire that destroyed over 90 percent of downtown. Boone’s fortunes, like those of most Havre businessmen, rose from the ashes. By 1910, he was selling prescriptions and sundries from a brick business block that graced the same corner as his old wooden store. The home’s longest-term residents were dentist Sidney Dalrymple and his wife, Alma, who purchased the property in 1929. Likely responsible for updating the exterior by enclosing and adding Craftsman-style windows to the original front porch, the Dalrymples lived here until their deaths, Sidney’s in 1983 and Alma’s in 1995.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

A row of thirteen mansard-roofed officer's quarters, flanked by two flat-roofed apartment buildings, defined the north east side of the parade grounds. Ten of the buildings were duplexes, most like this one, designed to house married officers and their families. At the center of the row were three single-family homes, intended for the post commander and his field staff. The last remaining duplex was likely the first one built in 1879-80 from brick manufactured on site, with "fire brick" for the chimneys and fireplaces imported from Helena. Steamboats brought the woodwork upriver to Coal Banks, before freighters hauled it forty miles north by wagon. Each unit contained two identical apartments with mirrored floor plans. Local stories recount that the thin walls between apartments led couples to take their arguments outside. Nevertheless, an 1889 Helena Independent article described these homes as the "center of a little world of charming society," enlivened by whist parties and formal dinners. Officers' wives "guided by excellent taste" adorned their parlor walls "with costly and well-selected etchings" and furnished the duplexes with "all the dainty luxuries ... found in the city homes."

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

A battlement-topped octagonal turret—a traditional military architectural symbol—distinguishes Fort Assinniboine’s Company Officers’ Quarters. Built in 1880 under supervision of Major J. C. C. Lee, the six-unit building asserted permanency and sophistication despite geographic isolation. The architecture particularly impressed a reporter visiting from Fort Benton in 1881, who called the buildings “strikingly handsome.” Usually, two unmarried junior infantry officers resided in each apartment. Unmarried junior cavalry officers lived in a second apartment building that once flanked the northeast end of officer’s row. The first floors of the almost identical apartments feature a vestibule, a parlor with a brick fireplace and decorative wooden mantel, a dining room, and a kitchen. A staircase with a turned wooden banister leads to the second-floor bedrooms. The officers occupied the two front bedrooms; their servants lived in the two rear bedrooms, accessed by a separate staircase. A senior officer lived in the apartment with the tower, which had two additional rooms. The apartments’ spacious and well-appointed interiors reflect the relative luxury that surrounded even the fort’s junior officers when not on patrol.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Prominent builder Abe Crosson acquired this property in 1911. By 1916, a booster brochure proclaimed the frame Colonial Revival residence one of Havre’s beautiful homes. In 1936, Great Northern Railroad conductor Ray VanBuskirk and his Irish-born wife, Marie, purchased the residence, establishing a home that has since spanned three generations. Their son, Warren, a railroad dispatcher, brought his Italian-American wife, Edith, to live here in 1948. Warren and Edith, offspring of Havre’s rich ethnic population and railroading tradition, together raised five children in the home.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Fort Assiniboine, guardian of Montana's frontier, was established by act of Congress in May, 1878. Lt. Colonel Brooks selected this high site on Beaver Creek and superintended the million-dollar construction of the fort, which took its name from the neighboring Assiniboine (sic) Indians tribe. The infantry and cavalry detachments stationed here to hold off marauding Indians, including Sitting Bull's hostile Sioux, never actually took part in a single engagement after Fort Assiniboine (sic) was completed. But this new post became one of four important forts nominally guarding the border. General Pershing, then a young lieutenant, served here in the"nineties." After the tenth cavalry was ordered to Cuba in 1898, Fort Assiniboine was practically abandoned, and in 1911 President Taft signed the bill which abolished the largest military reservation in the United States.

Erected by Daughters of the American Revolution.

Established in 1879, Fort Assinniboine was one of the most strategically-placed U.S. Army posts in the northwest. Headquarters for the District of Montana, the fort and military reserve encompassed the entire Bears Paw mountain range. The 18th U.S. Infantry under the command of Colonel Thomas Ruger constructed the post with brick manufactured nearby. When completed, the fort's substantial brick buildings included officer's quarters, barracks, a large hospital, chapel, gymnasium, officer's club, stables, and warehouses. The U.S. Army intended the fort to protect settlers to the south from possible raids by Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa Sioux, who fled to Canada after Custer's defeat on the Little Big Horn in 1876. The military's fears proved groundless, however, as no serious Indian disturbance occurred in the area.

General John J. Pershing served here in the 1890s, earning his nickname "Black Jack" because of his association with the Afro-American 10th Cavalry - the famed "Buffalo Soldiers." For many years, Fort Assinniboine soldiers worked with the Canadian Mounties to control smuggling across the border.

The War Department abandoned the post in 1911. A few years later, the landless Chippewa and Cree Indians found a home on the southern part of the military reserve when it was set aside as Rocky Boy's Reservation. The State of Montana purchased the fort's remaining buildings and 2,000 acres for use as the Northern Agricultural Research Center of Montana State University - Bozeman.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

With its graceful dormer and full-length front porch supported by Tuscan columns, the front of this one-story, hipped-roof building looks like an attractive and comfortable residence. The back of the building, with its small, arched barred windows and nineteen-inch-thick exterior walls, reveals its true purpose: to house the fort’s prisoners. Completed in 1905 by contractors Frank Coombs and Duncan Brothers of Great Falls for $23,555, this well-detailed, state-of-the-art building replaced a smaller guard house. Its large cellblock could hold up to fifty prisoners, usually serving thirty-day sentences for such crimes as drunken behavior, insubordination, and going AWOL (absent without leave). During the day, the prisoners worked outside in chain gangs. At night they slept on the floor: the guardhouse did not provide beds or mattresses, but prisoners were permitted to bring blankets. When the fort closed, the Army donated the guardhouse to Havre for a jail. Distance made transporting the building impractical, but the city did recycle the cell bars, only to return them years later after construction of Havre’s current correctional facility.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Cowpunchers, miners, and soldiers are tolerably virile person as a rule. When the went to town in the frontier days seeking surcease from vocational cares and solace in the cup that cheers it was just a well for the urbanites to either brace themselves or take to cover. The citizens of any town willing and able to he host city for a combination of the above diamonds in the rough had to be quick in the draw and use to inhaling powder smoke.

Havre came into existence as a division point when the Great Northern Railroad was built and purveyed pastime to cowboys, doughboys and miners on the side. It is hard to believe now, but as a frontier camp, she was will and hard to curry.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Red brick, finely crafted stonework, and a colonnade reminiscent of a Greek temple brought an imposing federal symbol to Havre in the 1930s. Securing state and federal funds for this post office was an expression of optimism during economic depression. It was also remarkable as one of only three post offices its size constructed in towns of population less than 10,000. The standard federal blueprints called for two stories in the Neoclassical style. Begun in 1930, the building was nearly complete in June 1931 at the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone. Officials placed a box crafted of Butte copper, smelted at Anaconda, rolled into sheets at Great Falls, and formed by Montana workmen within the massive block. The box, containing local memorabilia, was a gift of the Montana Power Company. Construction halted temporarily to secure funding for a third-story federal court, needed to prosecute bootleggers bringing liquor down from Canada during Prohibition. Altering the standardized blueprints made Havre’s post office unique. Used as a post office until 1995, the building remains an important anchor to the historic district.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Born: Fort Assiniboine March 30, 1904

Architect of Hawaii Statehood

Governor of Hawaii 1962-1974

Died: April 5, 1975

The post’s first library was relegated to a small space at the back of the Signal Corps office, but in 1888-89 the military spent $1,409.13 to build a one-story, brick, hipped-roof library with multiple wings. A visiting Helena reporter called the resulting structure “not especially artistic without, but very comfortable within.” Between 1892 and 1911 the library doubled as a post office. Mail arrived via stagecoach from Fort Benton tri-weekly, providing a tangible connection to family and friends. In combination with the chapel/school, officers encouraged (and later required) unschooled enlisted men to attend classes and to visit the library after their work was done. Officers also spent time in the library studying military manuals as they upgraded their training through a program coordinated by Fort Leavenworth. In addition, the library carried thirty-three newspapers and fifteen magazines. When officers were transferred from the fort, they typically donated books and even furniture to the library, whose collection eventually contained over a thousand volumes. Checkers and chess sets were also available. In 1941, the building’s interior was completely remodeled, removing all signs of its former use.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

The quintessential businessman, Lou Lucke arrived in Havre in 1903, where he founded a shoe repair and later a clothing store and a dry cleaning business. He also speculated in real estate. When the homestead boom in turn boomed Havre, Lou and local contractor Cassius Taylor developed Havre’s Lucke-Taylor Addition, where Lou and his wife, Harriet, lived in this 1914 Craftsman style bungalow. Designed by Havre architect Frank Bossout, who also designed Hill County Courthouse, the home cost approximately $5,000 to build. The interior features Italian marble and oak woodwork. The Luckes raised five children here, surrounded by family. Harriet’s mother lived two doors down, and Lou’s brother lived next door to her. When they came of age, Lucke sons Alvin, Louis, and Neal also built homes in the neighborhood on lots given them by their father. Harriet lived in this house into the 1970s, when she sold the home to a grandson and moved next door to the smaller, more manageable house originally built by her son Neal. She lived there until her death in 1981.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

In its final years as a military outpost in 1904 and 1905, Fort Assinniboine underwent an extensive effort to expand and modernize its facilities. Great Falls contractors Frank Coombs and Duncan Brothers built this residential duplex in 1905 for non-commissioned officers (NCO’s) and their families. It was the second and smaller of two residential buildings primarily designed for NCO’s not attached to a specific company. This could include Headquarters, Signal Corps, or Quartermaster staff. The first residential building—which no longer stands—was built in 1881 with four three-room apartments. The fort typically had many NCO’s, most of whom probably lived in barracks with their men, but a few had their wives and families with them. This second housing facility, constructed of red brick framed in wood typical of the fort’s architecture, included two mirror image apartments with a parlor and kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The two apartments were later connected to serve as housing for Experiment Station personnel.

Erected by Montana Historical Society;

Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

In its final years as a military outpost in 1904 and 1905, Fort Assinniboine underwent an extensive effort to expand and modernize its facilities. Great Falls contractors Frank Coombs and Duncan Brothers built this residential duplex in 1905 for non-commissioned officers (NCO’s) and their families. It was the second and smaller of two residential buildings primarily designed for NCO’s not attached to a specific company. This could include Headquarters, Signal Corps, or Quartermaster staff. The first residential building—which no longer stands—was built in 1881 with four three-room apartments. The fort typically had many NCO’s, most of whom probably lived in barracks with their men, but a few had their wives and families with them. This second housing facility, constructed of red brick framed in wood typical of the fort’s architecture, included two mirror image apartments with a parlor and kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The two apartments were later connected to serve as housing for Experiment Station personnel.

Erected by Montana Historical Society;

Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Frontier capitalist C. A. Broadwater received the contract to provide locally manufactured bricks and timber, hauled from the Bear’s Paw Mountains, to construct Fort Assinniboine. He hired five hundred Métis (mixed-blood Chippewa-Cree) from the Upper Red River Valley to make bricks using a machine that could manufacture up to 25,000 a day. As post trader, Broadwater also received the stage and freight contracts and the franchise to operate the post store. He used his own brick to build one of the largest structures at the fort. With its character- defining parapet, this building is only a remnant of Broadwater’s 1879 trading post, which ultimately included a large general store, two large warehouses, a photography studio, barbershop, saloon, attached officer’s club and hotel/restaurant. Here military families could purchase such luxuries as smoked oysters, hair brushes, and silk handkerchiefs. The store soon became a center of trade for the surrounding territory. Broadwater also built an Indian trading hut, for taking in furs from the Métis and other Indian peoples. Around 1892, the army bought out Broadwater. The post quartermaster ran the operation until the army abandoned the fort in 1911.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Before refrigeration, rural Americans preserved perishables in root cellars. The fort’s first root cellar, a 100-by-20- foot structure, was built in 1879-80. In 1902 the government invested $3,900 (about $237,000 in 2011 dollars) to replace the original root cellar with three identical structures at the southeast end of the parade ground. Only the southernmost wood, cement, and sod building remains intact. Built into the hillside, the 25-by-75-foot structure has walls 18-by-24-inch thick. To take advantage of dirt’s insulating qualities, only the entry is aboveground and the center section’s arched top is covered with sod. Three small wood-framed ventilation shafts circulate enough air to keep produce fresh. Hinged double-entry doors open onto a small vestibule, further protecting the main storage area from temperature extremes. The cellar stored the fort’s garden bounty as well as purchased provisions. Each infantry and cavalry company had its own gardeners. In large irrigated fields bordering Beaver Creek, they grew thirty different crops. Troop-grown potatoes, turnips, corn, onions, carrots, squash, apples, garlic, and rutabagas all wintered well in the root cellars, improving the health and quality of meals at the fort.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

Havre's first Episcopal church service was held in 1900 at Fort Assinniboine, south of Havre. After the arrival of the Reverend Leonard J. Christler in 1907, regular services were conducted in town. The Reverend Christler immediately began plans for a permanent church, and groundbreaking took place the following year. Distinguished Kalispell architect Marion B. Riffo drew the blueprints for this beautiful Gothic style building. Constructed of donated granite from Helena, shipped by rail free of charge, the church was finally completed in 1918. Its elegant and distinctive features include a crenellated tower and carillon, graceful arched windows, and stained glass.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Havre's first Episcopal church service was held in 1900 at Fort Assiniboine, south of Havre. After the arrival of the Reverend Leonard J. Christler in 1907, regular services were conducted in town. The Reverend Christler immediately began plans for a permanent church, and groundbreaking took place the following year. Distinguished Kalispell architect Marion B. Riffo drew the blueprints for this beautiful Gothic style building. Constructed of donated granite from Helena, shipped by rail free of charge, the church was finally completed in 1918. Its elegant and distinctive features include a crenellated tower and carillon, graceful arched windows, and stained glass.

Erected by Montana Historical Society; Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places.

This building once stood as home for the famed Buttrey retail store. This store brought shoppers from all over Montana and Canada to the area. Created by Frank Buttrey, the store began as a small shop called "The Fair" in 1902. The store, which first stood on First Street was destroyed in the fire of 1904. That same year, Frank Buttrey planned to build a 50 x 85 foot brick building on the corner of 2nd street and 3rd Avenue. That building would eventually become a three story 150 x 140 foot structure. It would come to house a number of new technologies to Montana. The store had the first automatic fire sprinkler system in the state. KFBB was aired from the Buttrey's. It was the first radio station in Montana and the second station in the nation. The call sign stood for Frank Buttrey Broadcast Inc. but Frank Buttrey joked that it stood for "Keep Frank Buttrey Broke." Frank Buttrey was a creative and ingenious businessman and used his innovative ideas to attract shoppers from all over the state. He offered a free bus ride that would pick shoppers up from Chinook in the morning and stop at his store. This provided a customer base not just for his store but for all of Havre's businesses. Buttrey would grow to become Montana's largest independent retail operation with 29 stores in the 1950's.

In 1978 the building saw massive change when then-owner Don Vaupelle remodeled. Three full floors that were initially individually enclosed were opened in the center providing the open plan we see today.

The Atrium as it is known today is owned by David and Kris Shaw.

Erected by The Atrium.

African American soldiers serve in the Revolutionary War, and fought for the Union in the American Civil War. Six black cavalry-infantry units were officially organized on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. These men saw service throughout the West from Kansas and Oklahoma to Texas and Arizona earning a formidable reputation as first class soldiers. The 9th and 10th Cavalry and the consolidated 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments were active until 1952 when black troops were integrated into the regular Army. The men of the 9th and 10th were the first "Buffalo Soldiers," so named by Cheyenne and other tribal adversaries. The troopers accepted this name for the honor that it was.

In 1892, the black cavalry-infantry units were transferred from Fort Grant, Arizona to Fort Custer in Montana under the command of celebrated Civil War veteran Colonel J.K. Mizner. Troops were stationed at Forts Custer, Keogh and Assiniboine in Montana and Fort Buford in North Dakota. Fort Assiniboine became regimental headquarters in 1896.

One of the regiment's white officers was Lieutenant John J. Pershing, later brigadier general of international renown. In 1898, Pershing was recalled from West Point at his own request to rejoin Fort Assinniboine's 10th Cavalry on assignment to Cuba during the Spanish American War/Philippine Insurrection. The future general and his men fought valiantly alongside Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the famous battle at San Juan Hill. One eyewitness reported, "If it had not been for the Negro cavalry the Rough Riders would have been exterminated."

Horace W. Bivens was among the 10th Cavalry's non-commissioned black officers at Fort Assinniboine. During a career spanning more than thirty years, Bivens received 32 medals including the Silver Star for valor at San Juan Hill. One of the nation's most highly decorated African American soldiers, his army record in marksmanship is still one of the highest on record.

An 1897 regimental history of the 10th Cavalry observed. "The settlement and civilization of the Great West is due to no small degree to the veterans of the Tenth Cavalry. The regular soldier's sufferings have been lightly regarded; his valor has only occasionally received suitable reward; his life has not been valued at its true worth. The mountains and plains know the story of his devotion to duty, and his toils. Many a hero sleeps in an unknown grave whose life was offered as a sacrifice to the peace security now enjoyed throughout our vast domain."

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

After the Soviet Union's detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949 and the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, tensions mounted between the United States and the USSR. To prevent a surprise attack, the US Air Force established a radar network to protect American air space. Using the most sophisticated computer and radar technology available, dedicated Air Force officer and airmen manned the stations in some of the most isolated places in the country.

Located about thirty miles north west of here, the Havre Air Force Station was one of the eight radar stations in Montana. Established in 1952, it was the home of the 778th (AC&W Aircraft Control & Warning) Squadron. The station's four radars tracked both friendly and enemy aircraft, feeding the data to the control center at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. In the event of a Soviet sneak attack, the station relayed information to Malmstrom, which would direct fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles to intercept the invaders With the advent of nuclear warhead-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in the 1960s, the radar stations soon became obsolete. The Havre Air Force station then functioned as a component of the BUIS II and III system that functioned as a backup in case the Malmstrom direction center was rendered inoperative. The Air Force closed the Havre radar station in 1979. For a few years it served as a NORAD electronic bomb scoring site before closing permanently in 1986.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Indian people have lived in this area for at least 11,000 years. Throughout that time, buffalo were their primary source of food. The Indians devised ingenious way to hunt buffalo with the buffalo jump, or pishkum, the best known. At pishkuns, hunters drove buffalo over steep bluffs or cliffs when the animals were either killed outright by the fall or badly crippled. The hunters sometimes constructed simple corral-like enclosures at the base of the bluffs to contain the crippled animals until they could be killed using either the atlatl or bow and arrow.

A series of buffalo jumps were once located along the steep bluffs overlooking the Milk River west of Havre. The Great Northern Railway destroyed three of them when it constructed its line through here in 1887. Today only the Wahkpa Chu'gn (pronounced walk-paw-chew-gun) buffalo jump remains. It is located just west of here behind the Holiday Village Shopping Center. For over 2,500 years, Indian peoples used Wahkpa Chu'gn as a pishkun, It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can visit the site and view extensive displays about the buffalo jump and the materials discovered by the archaeologists.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Immense herds of bison once roamed the great North American prairies. As many as 30 million of the great shaggy beasts moved seasonally in herds of 25 to 300, following the same patterns year after year. Bison, or buffalo, were the lifeblood of the native peoples who shared this vast domain. For at least 11,000 years, the grassy plains along the Milk River were seasonally home to native groups. Knowing the habits of these animals allowed communal hunting, and they gathered at this place where the rolling prairie suddenly gives way to steep river valley walls. The land features were well suited for use as a buffalo jump, one method of communal hunting. Hunters systematically drove hundreds of bison over the slope. Waiting hunters at the bottom dispatched injured animals and butchering began at once. Archaeology at Wahkpa Chu’gn reveals that native peoples used this site extensively for at least 2,000 years. Wahkpa Chu’gn, pronounced walk-paw-chew-gun, is the Assiniboine term for Milk River. Discovered in the 1950s, the site has been under the protection of Hill County since 1964. Although more buffalo jumps have been found in Montana than in any other plains area, most are very poorly preserved. The exceptional preservation of faunal layers at Wahkpa Chu’gn provides a unique and visually stunning chronology of use over time. The site is of national significance for its superb archaeological record and as the first buffalo jump to be interpreted for the public.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.