Local physician Dr. Samuel Souders owned this commercial lot in 1909 when Dan Davis, an advocate for the construction of a fancy opera house, proposed it for the construction of his vision. The newspapers reported weekly for several months on Davis’ progress toward securing financial backing, but it was not until 1920 that the fabulous Theatorium was finally constructed elsewhere at 11th and Platt Street. Jeweler A. H. Davis purchased the lot from Souders as an investment in 1910, constructing the present building four years later. The one-story masonry building, which originally housed a dry goods store, features brick piers with recessed panels and a glass block and tile transom spanning the front façade.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

The manager of the Red Lodge Brewery, Paul Lehrkind, purchased this lot in 1920, likely with the intent of building a home. However, despite efforts to survive Prohibition by manufacturing the “near beer” Bud-O (“Always on Top”), Lehrkind was forced to close the brewery in 1921. He left Red Lodge soon after, selling the property to Walter Helm, a butter-maker at (and later owner of) the Carbon County Creamery. Borrowing $1,500 from the Carbon Building and Loan Association, Walter and his wife Margaret constructed this one-and-one-half-story Craftsman bungalow. The residence is one of the best executed examples of the Craftsman style in Red Lodge. Its careful detailing includes vertical stick work in the main gable, wide overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, and angled knee braces. “Battered” square columns support the large, inviting front porch. Craftsman style design emphasized “coziness, comfort, function, and economy” and embraced the idea that “beauty does not imply elaboration.” The results were highly livable homes like this one, which remained in the Helm family until 1971.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

A combination moving picture theater and boarding house were the original tenants of this two-story masonry building, completed in 1908. Several directors managed the rather short-lived Alcazar, including Steve Roman, whose family long monopolized Red Lodge’s theater business. Roman closed the theater in 1913, and building owners Larkin and Fleming remodeled, opening as McIntyre’s Pool Hall. A bordello called the “Orpheus Rooms” replaced the upper-floor boarding house. In 1986, fire destroyed two buildings at 3 and 5 S. Broadway, which shared this same façade design. The now unique survivor, with its superior brick detailing and sandstone trim enhances the district’s historic turn-of-the-century character.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Over a quarter of the houses in the elite “Hi Bug” neighborhood were built between 1900 and 1901, including this one-and-one-half-story home, erected as a real estate investment by Red Lodge merchant Walter R. Hall and his wife Louisa. After leasing it briefly, Red Lodge Picket owner and editor Walter Alderson and his wife Anna purchased the home, where they lived for twenty-four years. Sometime before 1907 they added an open front porch. Upwind from the coal mines and separated from the railroad depot by the city’s first park, the Aldersons raised three children here. When Walter died in 1924 following a long illness, Anna lost the property. J. F. Montgomery, owner of the Golden Rule Store, purchased the residence in a sheriff’s sale in 1925. In the 1930s local contractor Leo Ranta was likely hired to update the house by enclosing the front porch and adding distinctive Craftsman style detailing. The tri-arched fascia over the sun porch and front door is a Ranta hallmark. Though rare in this neighborhood, the design elements are found on homes throughout Red Lodge.

Erected by Montana Historical Society

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Americans organized much of their social life around fraternal groups at the turn of the twentieth century. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks provided an important social and charitable outlet for Red Lodge's professionals, who circulated the charter petition in 1899 and established the Beartooth Lodge in 1900. By 1914, membership had grown from the original 40 members to over 160, and the organization needed "larger and more commodious" quarters than its rented rooms. The Elks raised building funds through membership dues, donations, concerts, and vaudeville-style performances. Billings architect C. C. Oehme designed the Elks Lodge in the "bungalow style." Stucco and cobblestones adorn the exterior, which at one time also featured a parapet along the roofline. The thoughtfully designed interior included a first-floor lodge hall, pool hall, card room, and bar. The basement included a banquet hall, kitchen, washroom, and coal room. The Red Lodge Picket declared the handsome building's grand opening on December 18, 1914, "a big hit," predicting that the Elks' new lodge would "become the most popular social place in the city."

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Butte architect P. J. Donahue drew the plans for the 1899 landmark after fire destroyed its predecessor. Situated at the busy northern end of the commercial district, the building today provides an excellent example of restrained, classically proportioned public building design. When foundation settling after construction produced a wide crack on the northeast wall, fear of collapse caused rapid evacuation of the courtroom on several occasions before it was stabilized in the 1940s. Despite numerous alterations and additions, the courthouse retains its prominence as a sturdy reminder of the town’s role as the political and economic center of Carbon County.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

When prominent local physician and surgeon Dr. Samuel Souders built this magnificent hospital in 1909, it was considered “state-of-the-art.” Amenities included a central heating system, wide doorways and hallways, an elevator, and private telephones in patients’ rooms. The operating room featured white enameled walls and a white marble tile floor, then considered the best surfaces for sterilization. The Craftsman style facility follows a domestic floorplan common in period hospital construction and could accommodate thirty to fifty patients. Although a large classical style front porch, balcony, and covered ambulance entrance were removed in the 1940s, the splendid building endures as a significant element of the district.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Forty-five guests enjoyed a sumptuous dinner and housewarming at the home of John and Alphia Chapman on November 12, 1903. Begun in 1902, completion of the residence was delayed when contractor Walter S. Smith suffered a serious fall from the porch scaffolding in May 1903. Seth Hunnywell, the architect who played a major role in shaping the local streetscapes, adapted the patternbook plans according to Mrs. Chapman’s specifications. The Red Lodge Picket declared the five-bedroom home “pretentious,” especially since the Chapmans had no children. John and Alphia Chapman ran a large cattle business as equal partners and adopted Red Lodge as their headquarters in 1892. Chapman later entered the banking business, serving as president of the Meyer and Chapman State Bank from 1912 until his death in 1934. The Chapmans always closed the house during the winter months and lived above the bank. The gracious Queen Anne style residence with its intersecting gables, graceful veranda, ornate leaded glass, and classical details was long the center of Red Lodge society.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

This two-story building was under construction in 1907, and for a short time housed part-owner Charles Antilla’s dry goods store. In 1912, new owners Ed Ricketts and C. V. Lucas located their Okay Meat Market, later the Red Lodge Meat Market, on the ground floor. The photography studio of Tofferi and Hongell occupied the upper floor from 1908-1918. Though the lower storefront has been remodeled, the upper façade retains the buff masonry, attractively corbeled parapet and sandstone trim typical of local early twentieth century commercial architecture.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

A natural springs and pond provided ice and water for a brewery established here in the early 1890s. In 1894, arson destroyed the ice house and brewery buildings, but a small, one-room log residence escaped the blaze. Dan Davis purchased the property in 1903 where he and his wife, Mary Ann, long made their home. Davis cut tons of ice from the pond for domestic use and operated a saloon that stood next to the house. Brewery Hill offered Davis’ patrons a sweeping bird’s-eye view of Red Lodge; he advertised his beer garden in 1904 as a “pleasant place to sit out under the bushes.” Fire again soon destroyed the business, but Davis remained a dealer of ice and liquor. In 1910, he helped organize the Red Lodge Brewing Company and was its sales manager. Davis also served a term as mayor of Red Lodge from 1912 to 1914. This side-gabled cottage, built between 1901 and 1907, encompasses the original one-room log house. Recent renovation exposed the original logs, covered in 1890 newspapers.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Architect Seth Hunneywell designed and built this Colonial Revival two-and-one-half-story home for Alfred and Ruth Flager, who lived here from 1902 to 1911. Costing approximately $3,500 to build and boasting “all the modern conveniences,” its “eight large, airy rooms” and third-floor billiard parlor were heated by “a steam plant located in the basement.” Alfred Flager was the proprietor of the old Carbon Mercantile Co. The civic-minded merchant actively promoted the city water system and was instrumental in organizing the telephone company. He also served on the school board, as an alderman, as city clerk, and as a director of the Red Lodge Building and Loan Association. The Flagers left Red Lodge in 1911. From 1911 to 1921 the house became a rental property, whose tenants included Thomas Pollard, proprietor of the Pollard Hotel. Maude and William Robinson, who owned the home from 1921 to 1948, added the garage in 1935. The three-story tower was built in 1975. The interior features an oak staircase, a pressed tin ceiling in the kitchen, maple floors, and a richly carved fireplace mantel.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

On Sept. 18, 1897, The Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh), Kid Curry and others of the "Wild Bunch" rode into Red Lodge after escaping from jail in Belle Fourche, S.D., and announced their intention of making an unauthorized withdrawal from the Carbon County Bank. They botched the job and Sheriff John Dunn rode off in hot pursuit. After an 80-mile chase, he an his posse captured them near Lavina. The robbers were returned to the Deadwood, S.D. jail, where they again escaped.

Prominent lumber merchant C. C. Bowlen purchased this lot in 1901. Two years later, when attorney George Pierson decided to build a larger home, Bowlen purchased Pierson’s front-gable residence and moved it a block south to this location. Constructed before 1894, the one-and-one-half-story wood-frame home has a prominent wraparound porch. The porch’s turned posts and sawn-work brackets mark the home as Folk Victorian, a style defined by Victorian decorative detailing on simple house forms. In 1907, I. Joseph Hasterlik and his wife Henrietta purchased the residence, adding the back wing sometime before 1912. Born in Germany, Hasterlik immigrated to Chicago at age seventeen in 1867. He and Henrietta moved to Red Lodge in 1902, following Simon, Joseph’s son from his first marriage. Thought to be Red Lodge’s first Jewish family, the Hasterliks quickly integrated into the Red Lodge community. The newspaper frequently mentioned members of the family, who enthusiastically participated in fundraisers held by both the Episcopal and Congregational churches. The couple lived here until their deaths, Henrietta, at age 75 in 1939, and Joseph in 1941, at the age of 91.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Photographer Mark E. Hawkes and his son Charley built a photography studio at this location where much of Red Lodge’s history was documented in pictures. Charley later struck out for Great Falls, and son Harry joined Mark. Hawkes & Son sold the business in 1919 to William Lewis. The son of a Welsh coal miner, Lewis ran the studio and continued to document the town’s history. In 1926, a depressed economy threatened the business, forcing Lewis to relocate to Seattle. Katie Psenda Egenes, who apprenticed with Lewis, eventually came to own Flash’s Studio, where the valuable Red Lodge collections of Hawkes and Lewis came to reside. Jewelers Berne Rydberg and later Peter Micheletto occupied the north half of the building from 1914 through the 1960s. The one-story brick block features the unusual preservation of the original storefront with recessed double entry and large display windows framed in wood. A large north-facing window at the rear allowing maximum use of natural light is a unique reminder of the original owner’s profession.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan and 124 men forged the first documented passage over the Beartooth Mountains in 1881. Once thought impassible, the route was later modified by E. E. Van Dyke - a miner from coal rich Red Lodge, Montana. His route provided access through Rock Creek to Red Lodge but it remained a steep and rugged trail.

Although early Native Americans, trappers and prospectors are part of the past, today’s travelers can cross much of the original route created over a century ago… and experience one of America’s most scenic highways.

Early visionaries foresaw a scenic route over these mountains accessing Yellowstone National Park. Carving an expensive road over an 11,000’ plateau, however, was not popular with Congress. Persistence paid off and finally in 1936 — after two years of construction — the Beartooth Highway opened to the public. The highway was designated a National Forest Scenic Byway in 1989.

In the 1920s Italian shoemaker Ludovico Iarussi (later changed to Jarussi) owned this property containing his shop and several frame commercial buildings. In 1929 Iarussi razed the older shops and constructed the present building. Financially disabled in the stock market crash later that year, Iarussi was unable to afford occupancy himself. He leased part of the commercial space and sold the remainder. The Yugoslavian families of Yelich and then Thiel ran a saloon in the north portion until 1985, while various businesses occupied the additional space. Polychromatic brickwork, a recessed double entry, original transom glass and intact commercial glazing form a superior example of 1920s vintage architecture.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Finnish immigrant Ephraim Kent settled in Red Lodge in the early 1900s to work in the coal mines while his wife, Fiina, began a small dairy business. It was a family venture from the start, with all the children pitching in to deliver raw milk in buckets, and later bottles, to local customers. The business grew, and by 1938 the Kent sons and their wives were all involved in the dairy. When a city ordinance prohibited cows in town, the family moved, purchasing this land and an abandoned building in Bear Creek. They meticulously salvaged its bricks, wood joists, and decorative tin ceiling, which they used to build their barn. Eighty-one-year-old Emery McNamee, an expert on round barns, served as building consultant, but the work was accomplished by Ephraim and his sons. Although none of the Kents had ever laid brick, they quickly learned, displaying uncanny ingenuity in adapting materials at hand along the way. Steam pipes recovered from a nearby mine served as stall dividers, hand-hewn beams were finished with a plane whose cutting bit was a piece of leaf-spring from a car, and thirty-seven log support posts were shaped with a draw knife. Built with the determination, perseverance, and fortitude the Finnish call “sisu,” the round barn served the industrious, hard-working Kents for thirty years. Many locals remember summer dances held in the spacious second floor before it was filled with winter feed. When Armas and Sylvia Kent retired in 1969, the barn was converted for use as a restaurant. Its historic function remains evident, however, and the cherished Red Lodge landmark is today an excellent example of adaptive reuse.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Red Lodge Miner’s Local No. 1771 had grown to more than a thousand members when this labor temple was built in 1909. The United Mine Workers of America organized nationally in 1896 and by 1898, Local No. 1771 had 200 members. The building is a testament to the labor struggles of Red Lodge coal miners and the primary symbol of labor history in the area. John Horne of Laurel designed the $36,000 building and Butte Local #22 contributed major funding. John Massow, building committee chairman, took the train to Butte and returned with a $10,000 loan in his pocket. Carved sandstone with the words “Labor Temple” at the center of the parapet proclaims the building’s purpose. The temple included a union meeting hall, union offices, a library, and a saloon for members called the Workers’ Club of Carbon County. Old-timers say club patrons were mostly Welsh, Scottish, and Irish; miners of other ethnic groups frequented local establishments run by their compatriots. The Finnish Kaleva Cooperative Mercantile, a reflection of the town’s colorful ethnic diversity, was the original ground floor tenant.

Erected by

Montana National Register Sign Program.

This log cabin was the home of one of Montana's most notorious citizens - John "Liver-Eating" Johnston, a sobriquet he earned in 1869 while cutting wood for the Missouri River steamboats in north central Montana. After a battle with the Lakota, he pretended to eat the liver of a recently killed warrior. Johnston's misguided reputation as a cannibal served him well for the rest of his life in Montana. He came to the Red Lodge area in the 1880s and filed on a homestead about three miles south of town, building this classic American log cabin of Douglas fir that had recently been killed in a forest fire. For several years, he served as Red Lodge's first constable. Liver-Eating Johnston's reputation was his greatest asset when enforcing the law in the mining community - that and his large fists. Local children loved him, though, and he exchanged the fearsome, liver-eating nickname for "Dad" by the late 1890s. In 1899, failing health forced him to retire to an old soldier's home in Sawtelle, California, where he died in 1900.

Early Red Lodge businessmen James Blackburn and Dominic Marino jointly built this fine two-story commercial building circa 1905 to house a mercantile business. A series of saloons later occupied the ground floor. An upstairs boarding house, first advertised as The Pleasanton in 1909, operated until the 1940s. According to local lore, The Pleasanton was a popular house of ill-repute, and its sign in the window boasting steam heated rooms became a long-standing joke among the town’s young people. Severe fire damage to the interior occurred in the 1970s, but something of the building’s original frontier elegance remains in the pressed tin ceiling that still adorns the first floor. The upper façade, with its well-worn nameplate, is one of the best-preserved examples of rusticated cut sandstone within the historic district.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

A four-square plan, tapered porch pillars, and flared overhanging eaves reflect the Craftsman style influence that affords this distinctive home a more modern appearance than its contemporary neighbors. Decorative cresting and leaded glass add exterior elegance while fine interior appointments include paneled oak pocket doors, Tuscan columns, an oak staircase, and decorative moldings. Businessman Frank McCleary, who served as assessor, state representative, and senator, built the home circa 1910 for his wife Ella and two children. In 1914, The Red Lodge Picket reported that a profusion of flowers and potted plants adorned the McCleary home as Ella, always a gracious hostess, entertained sixty ladies at a “floral whist party” followed by a midnight supper.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Rocky Fork Town and Electric Company sold this lot and the one next door to F. P. Musser for $84 in 1896. Immediate resale to real estate agent T. P. McDonald for $177 netted Musser a handsome profit. This four-square cottage was either moved or built here by 1898 when the property again changed hands. In 1899, Frances Harney moved into the cottage with her small son. The 1900 census lists her occupation as “landlord.” Mrs. Harney, who was either widowed or divorced, took boarders into her home and after 1912, rented out a small dwelling on the alley as well. Red Lodge businessman Frank Lyle, a longtime boarder, inherited the property in 1937. This cozy cottage is contemporary with a number of similar four-square cottages in the neighborhood. Charming Craftsman style elements including the sunporch and wings added circa 1930 illustrate the changing architectural tastes of Hi Bug residents.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The sloping roof of this one-and-one-half-story house once shaded an open porch. The curved roofline and shed dormer add Craftsman style elegance to the home, constructed on a double lot after 1907. The interior also reflected Craftsman ideals with space-saving built-in bookshelves and a living room fireplace, a symbolic focal point for domestic life. Dentist Elmer McDowell and his wife lived in the side-gabled residence by 1912. Both Mr. and Mrs. McDowell enthusiastically participated in Red Lodge's genteel society. He was a member of the Masons and contributed money for the new Elks Lodge. She was an officer in the Eastern Star and took an active role in the Red Lodge Woman's Club. That organization helped establish the public library and encouraged the study of literature and music. Members took turns holding the weekly club meetings in their homes, and Mrs. McDowell hosted an “interesting and instructive” program for the club's musical department here in February 1914.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

These two turn-of-the-twentieth-century wood-frame commercial buildings with a tiny shop sandwiched in between today share one façade. In 1900, Biagio Sconfienza opened a bakery in the one-story building. In 1903, as the business prospered, Biagio purchased the two-story building, formerly a plumbing shop, as a rental property. He then built the diminutive shop between the two buildings, which originally displayed C. Cottino’s terra cotta and then housed Filomino’s Tin Shop. For many years, the Sconfienza family tempted passersby with Italian delicacies displayed in their bakery storefront. Four ovens and a two-story bake house added to the back between 1901 and 1927 provide a unique construction history chronicling the Montana Bakery’s long-term success. The Italian bakery tradition continued from 1938 to 1947, under the ownership of Steve and Verna Buffo, who renamed the business Treasure State Bakery.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

German-born Victor and Otto Neithammer first established their meat market on North Broadway in 1912, raising their own livestock to supply this and other local family-run stores. Because the Neithammers' employees represented many ethnic groups, the shop enjoyed wide patronage despite local competition. In 1916, the prosperous brothers constructed a new meat-packing plant at this location. The poured concrete and brick building featured a brightly-lit retail shop in the front. A walk-in refrigerator, kitchen and smokeroom outfitted with the latest equipment filled the back and basement space. The shop continued to operate under various owners until the 1970s.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

One of nine remaining homes on Nutting Row, this foursquare cottage features a hip-roofed main block with ornate dormers with shingles in an imbricate pattern. The design and plan of this 1907 home reflects William B. Nutting’s role in the development of rental housing in Red Lodge. The original front entryway has been replaced with a gable-front wing of Tudor Revival design that features a layered cornice and octagonal multi-light window. A picket fence and curved sidewalk highlight the entrance. From 1907 to 1918 various tenants, including Gunnar Wingard, proprietor of the Wingard Drug Company, occupied the residence. Nutting sold this lot to his son and daughter-in-law, Roy and Mae Nutting, in 1918. Chester Hagen bought the property in 1929. During the 1930s, he hand-dug the basement with the help of some miner friends and completed the garage addition. Hagen owned the property until 1986.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Irish immigrant Daniel G. O’Shea arrived in Carbon in 1887. The eager eighteen year old took a position with the Rocky Fork Coal Company, serving as paymaster and bookkeeper until 1899 when he was appointed manager. He resigned from RFCC in 1903 to become cashier at the Red Lodge State Bank. By 1912, O’Shea was president of the bank and an established community leader. He was treasurer of the Carbon Building and Loan Association, director of Carbon Bank, trustee and president of the Rocky Fork Town and Electric Company, and served two terms in the state senate. O’Shea built this grand Queen Anne style cottage as a reflection of his life as a banker and businessman. Constructed circa 1906, the home features a free classic L-shaped porch, bay windows, a hipped and gabled roof, and complements the neighboring grand homes on the block in style and detail.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

“Coziness” was the watchword of progressive builders in the early twentieth century. Small, well-designed houses proliferated after 1900 in part to compensate for the expense of such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing. Plans for bungalows—including for this house and its mirror image at 111 W. Eighth St.—were published in popular magazines and specialized pattern books. America’s growing middle class embraced these plans, which emphasized simplicity, efficiency, and affordability. John and Hulda Peters purchased this lot in 1910 and in 1912 constructed a home, the first of seven Craftsman bungalows built in the Hi-Bug neighborhood. The residence originally included a front porch. Peters owned a tailor shop and men’s clothing store on Broadway. The civic-minded merchant held offices in the Odd Fellows and the Elks, served as president of the Chamber of Commerce, and was a charter member of Red Lodge’s Eagles Lodge and Rotary Club. The pride he and his wife felt for their home, where they lived until 1945, is apparent: the cement sidewalk leading to their front door is still inscribed with the Peters name.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Designed by Red Lodge carpenter and amateur architect Frank A. Sell and built by W. T. Pernham in 1902, this impressive brick commercial building was home to the Red Lodge Picket and, after 1918, the Picket-Journal, the primary news sources for the community and Carbon County for over fifty years. Publisher Walter Anderson, who came to Red Lodge in 1893, was the original owner. The newspaper’s offices and print shop were located on the second floor while a succession of businesses, including a millinery shop, undertaking parlor, and hardware stores, occupied the ground floor. When the Carbon County News acquired the Picket Journal in 1943, Red Lodge grocer Frank Romersa purchased the building and turned the second floor over to the Fraternal Order of the Knights of Pythias, a benevolent society dedicated to universal peace and good will among men. With its distinctive second floor-brick arches, this imposing building has been a significant fixture on Red Lodge’s Main Street for over a century.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Michigan-born attorney George Pierson and his wife Loretta moved to Red Lodge in 1894. Soon thereafter they purchased this lot, where they lived in a one-story cottage. After the Piersons decided to build this “Free Classic” Queen Anne style residence in 1903, C. C. Bowlen bought their original house and moved it a block south. The Piersons’ new eight-room home featured a Queen Anne style hipped-roof, cross-gabled plan and angled bay windows. It also had the decorative moldings and accented boxed eaves common to more classical styles. Unlike most married women of the era, Loretta worked outside the home as a teacher in 1910. In 1917, Charles and Meryl Draper purchased the house, which suited their prominent community position; Charles was a newspaper editor and publisher. In the 1970s, the house became infamous for its association with the “Red Lodge Five,” defendants in a notorious drug case. A fire, which according to local legend was set to destroy evidence, damaged the home. A 2004 remodel added the current two-story wraparound porch but carefully preserved traces of the fire that marked the original maple floors and staircase.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

During the summer of 1887, Ben F. Pippinger became Red Lodge’s first teacher, hired to teach the children of the Rocky Fork Coal Company miners opening the area’s first coal mines. Pippinger later ran the Cloverdale Dairy on a ranch north of town. He and his wife Cora built this nine-room gable-front cottage in 1902, as an “in town” residence. The house was for sale in 1904 at an asking price of $2,600, “…furnished throughout and nicely suited for boarding and rooming purposes” because of its interior arrangement around a central hall. John and Mary Conway purchased the home in 1907 for $2,500. Mary operated a boardinghouse, one of the few such establishments in the Hi Bug area, until 1920. Her tenants included school superintendent A. C. Carloon and railway weighmaster John McLennan. The distinctive roofline sets this residence apart from the neighborhood’s twelve other similar cottages. Cornice returns and stained and leaded glass enhance its vintage appeal.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

"The buffalo gone and freedom denied him, the Indian was visited by two equally hideous strangers, famine and tuberculosis. They could cope with neither. His pride broken he felt himself an outcast, a beggar in his own country. It was now that Plenty Coups became the real leader of his people." "All my life I have tried to learn as the chickadee learns, by listening, profiting by the mistakes of others, that I may help my people. I hear the white man say there will be no more war. But this cannot be true. There will be other wars. Men have not changed, and whenever they quarrel they will fight, as they have always done. We love our country because it is beautiful, because we were born here. Strangers will covet it and someway try to possess it, as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow. Then there must be war, unless we have grown to be cowards without love in our hearts for our native land. And whenever war comes between this country and another, your people will find my people pointing their guns with yours. If ever the hands of my people hold the rope that keeps this country's flag high in the air, it will never come down while an Absarokee (Crow) warrior lives."

• Linderman's Biography of Plenty Coups

Crow country once ranged from Three Forks to the Black Hills, from the Musselshell to the Big Horn Mountains. Red Lodge was a place of worship and protection for the Crow people when it was theirs. Please respect it and love it. It is a very good place.

This monument to Plenty Coups Chief of the Crows, was made possible by Tom and Gail Hansberger of the Palisades Ranch through the Hansberger Family Foundation. Collectors of miniatures of this monument are also appreciated.

Dedicated the 3rd of July 1999 by

Barney Old Coyote, Francis Stewart and Friends of Plenty Coups

Sculpter, Lyle E. Johnson, Big Timber, MT; Assisted by Ercel E. Johnson, Willis E. Johnson, Jonathan E. Johnson

Erected 1999 by Barney Old Coyote, Francis Stewart and Friends of Plenty Coups.

High transom windows that provide interior light for a mezzanine commercial display area are an interesting design feature of this well-constructed commercial building. The simple chain-patterned ornamentation of buff brick across the tall parapet continues the rhythm of the district’s historic streetscape. James Plunkett moved his plumbing and hardware business to an earlier building at this location after 1909, and by 1917 he had completed this masonry replacement. During the 1930s, avid Red Lodge bowlers enjoyed a basement four-lane bowling alley accessed by the rear entrance. Surviving portions of the alleys and both women’s and men’s rooms reveal that women players, new to the sport in the '30s, were welcomed. Today the building houses important historic photographic collections of the Red Lodge area which current owners have made available to the public.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

The Rocky Fork Coal Company constructed this hotel, originally the Spofford, which welcomed its first guests on July 4, 1893. This architectural landmark, built before the commercial district was platted, originally had its main entrance on 11th Street which was the busy roadway leading to the Eastside coal mines. Early guests included Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, and William Jennings Bryan. In 1903 an annex added twenty-five guest rooms and the Golden Rule Store. By 1907 the entrance was relocated to Broadway. The Pollard’s commercial space housed the post office, a bank and other tenants, and it soon became a primary business and social center. Today the brick walls chart a century of remodeling and change.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Coal was discovered in the Rock Creek Valley nearly two decades before Red Lodge was established as a mail stop on the Meeteese Trail in 1884. In 1887, the Rocky Fork Coal Company opened the first large-scale mine at Red Lodge sparking the community’s first building boom, consisting mostly of “hastily constructed shacks and log huts.” The completion of the Northern Pacific Railway branch line to Red Lodge in 1890 resulted in the construction of many brick and sandstone buildings that now line the city’s main street.

Like all mining camps, Red Lodge had a large population of single men and an abundance of saloons. For many years, the notorious “Liver-eating” Johnston kept the peace as the town’s first constable. Red Lodge also boasted several churches and social clubs for those not inclined toward the city’s earthier entertainment.

Hundreds of people came to Red Lodge in the 1890s and early 1900s. Immigrants from all over Europe worked shoulder-to-shoulder in the coal mines, but settled in neighborhoods called Finn Town., little Italy, and Hi-bug. Their cultural traditions endured and are celebrated at the city’s annual festival of Nations.

Production in the coal mines declined after World War I, eventually leading to their closure by 1932. The completion of the scenic Beartooth Highway in 1936 revitalized Red Lodge by linking it directly to Yellowstone National Park. Today, Red Lodge’s past is represented by its historic buildings and by the pride its citizens take in its history and traditions.

Erected by Montana Highway Department.

Pure Rock Creek water and a ready market of thirsty coal miners struck Bozeman beer baron Julius Lehrkind as a recipe for success. With nephews Fred and Paul, Julius incorporated the Red Lodge Brewing Company in 1910, hiring the prominent architectural firm of Link and Haire to design the monumental brick brewery as well as the bottling plant next door. Red Lodge contractor Anton Roat constructed both buildings. The brewery design—modified from plans John Link created for the Washoe Brewery in Anaconda—reflected the owners’ prosperity, pride in their product, and European heritage. It also reflected the building’s function. The ornamental tower was an integral part of a gravity flow system that moved huge quantities of liquid through the brewing process without the use of pumps. The owners’ widely advertised decision to use local Fromberg brick and union labor tied the brewery to the Red Lodge patrons it hoped to serve. Prohibition spelled the end of the brewery, but the building received a second life when a Billings capitalist purchased it in 1925. Sturdy construction, an established railroad spur, connection to city water, and room for expansion made the property the perfect site for a factory—and the former brewery was soon converted into a pea cannery. Cannery owners constructed the three-story wood addition in 1927. The cannery, which operated through 1975, was an important part of the Red Lodge economy, seasonally employing up to 300 people in the rush to preserve the highly perishable product.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Rapid growth of the young town of Red Lodge coincided with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad’s branch line in 1889. The area became Montana’s leading coal mining region. Town lots were platted by the secretary of the Rocky Fork Town and Electric Company, a subsidiary of the mining company, in turn owned by the railroad. By the mid-1890s, businesses had moved from the old town site, and Red Lodge’s commercial center developed rapidly. Although half of Red Lodge’s population was foreign-born, buildings erected between 1895 and 1936 generally reflect American trends rather than traditions of the various ethnic groups. Fraternal organizations, doctors’ offices, ethnic clubs, bawdy houses, and hotels occupied the upper floors of downtown buildings. As miners poured into Red Lodge, some slept in shifts at the hotels until other housing became available. The town reeled from the closing of the last coal mine in 1932, but within four years the Beartooth Scenic Highway began to reveal Red Lodge to tourists, and a new era of development began.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

The Consolidated Mausoleum Company made the case for constructing a communal mausoleum in a full-page newspaper advertisement in 1921. “The present high state of civilization demands for the masses a more humane and sanitary method of taking care of the dead, than found in earth burial,” it asserted. Intrigued by the “opportunity … to sleep through eternity … secure against the ravages of time,” over 200 people subscribed to the project, and construction of the 232-crypt mausoleum began. Designed as a “time-defying” monument, the mausoleum’s architecture emphasizes strength and permanence. A simple, but massive temple front frames heavy bronze doors flanked by two enormous Tuscan columns. Alaskan marble lines the interior. The reinforced concrete walls, which taper from thirty-eight inches at the base to thirty inches at the top, appear indestructible. Durable and moisture-tight (prime prerequisites for a mausoleum intended to stand in perpetuity), reinforced concrete became accepted as a replacement for stone after 1900. The new inexpensive construction material made building large multiple crypt facilities economically feasible. At the same time, Progressive-era ideology was encouraging individuals to join together for community improvement. Thus, the communal mausoleum movement was born, placing above-ground entombment within financial reach of ordinary citizens. Nationwide, hundreds of communities joined the movement, but the Red Lodge Communal Mausoleum is only one of three identified in Montana. True to plan, the mausoleum housed Red Lodge citizens of all classes. Here lie wealthy businessmen, immigrant coal miners, and their families, entombed together “within the walls of one building … imposing and everlasting.”

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Prominent Red Lodge businessman William B. Nutting subdivided this northwestern neighborhood as the Nutting Addition circa 1899. Beginning in 1900 with this home, he built five cottages north of his own residence that became known as Nutting Row. J. S. Robbins, secretary/treasurer of the Carbon Mercantile Company, arranged for Nutting to build this first cottage for him. Rose Robbins bought it for $1500 in 1902. The gable-front residences with a one-story kitchen wing at the back and front porch spanning the front were modest, simply ornamented, well-built homes. Ship-lap siding, a material not often used in the Hi Bug neighborhoods, originally covered all five cottages. The bay window on this home is a unique feature. By 1907, a stable and coal shed had been added to the property and soon after, a north kitchen wing and bedroom enlarged the original floor plan. Among the residents have been the families of Manus Wentworth, W. A. Beans, and M. J. McCabe.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

A steep-roofed gable-front cottage with a wraparound porch stood on this lot by 1901. Sometime before 1907 Rose Robbins—who owned the one-and-one-half-story home along with many other lots in the neighborhood—expanded the residence, adding a rear addition with a second porch. According to the 1907 city directory, Rose’s children—teacher Eva and her two younger brothers, both still in school—lived here. Rose’s official address was a nearby homestead. Their father, the secretary treasurer of the Carbon Mercantile Company, lived around the corner on Word. In 1913, Rose sold the home to attorney R. G. Wiggenhorn and his wife Maud who in turn sold it to druggist Edgar Allen in 1921. Sometime after 1940, owners removed the wraparound porch, replacing it with a Craftsman style entryway. The new porch featured a fascia board shaped into three arches with solid knee braces flanking the door, a stylistic element popular in Red Lodge in the early 1940s. A Victorian-style hairpin fence, manufactured by Stewart Iron Works in Cincinnati, separates the residence from the street, providing the home symbolic protection from the outside world.

Erected by

Montana Historical Society.

Original rusticated and ashlar concrete blocks and the 1935 ROMAN marquee distinguish the façade of this early movie theater. Austrian immigrant Steve Roman built the theater in 1917. One of fourteen sons, nineteen-year-old Roman came to Red Lodge in 1897 to work in the mines. He launched into the theater business, operating several local theaters before he built the Roman. Roman’s wife, Librera, ran the upstairs Hotel Isabella, and at various times Roman’s six children took tickets, performed on the theater’s stage, accompanied silent movies on the organ, operated the projector, and ran the box office. In 1935, Roman extensively remodeled the theater adding air conditioning, new seats, draperies, lighting, and the eight-foot Art Deco style neon marquee. The remodel, by architect Bjarne Moe and contractor C. W. Hamrick, both of Seattle, caused considerable local excitement. The opening gala featured special appearances by the nationally renowned Crockett Family. Admission cost 35 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. Daughter Mary managed the theater until 1977. The Roman retains much of its 1935 façade and is Montana’s oldest, continuously-running moving picture theater.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Real estate speculation abounded after the Northern Pacific Railroad constructed a branch line to Red Lodge to take advantage of the area's rich coal deposits. In 1891 Nathan Smethurst purchased this lot for $36, selling it for a profit the same day. The lot sold again in 1896, and a fourth time in 1899, this time to Andrew Chapman, who constructed this one-and-one-half-story duplex as an investment property. Two front dormers and a full-length front porch distinguish the façade of the hipped roofed residence. The current porch was added in the extensive renovation completed in 2009. Builders placed the kitchens at the back of the house under a separate, single-story roof, a common nineteenth-century practice to minimize fire risk. Bucket brigades could more easily reach a one-story roof, perhaps saving the main house in case of a kitchen fire. Morris and Keziah Roysdon purchased the home in 1909, only a year before Keziah died, leaving eight children between the ages of five and twenty. The owner of a livery stable and then a lumberyard, Morris lived here until 1931.

Erected by Montana Historical

Society.

A prestigious corner site contributes much to the elegance of this Queen Anne style cottage, built by rancher and businessman Louis Sichler in 1902. The steep and asymmetrical roofline, projecting gables, and two-storied bay epitomize the Queen Anne style. Between 1907 and 1912, second owner A. H. Davis, a prominent local jeweler, added the Classical Revival style porch with its Tuscan Columns and upper balustrade. Such classical details, popular in Red Lodge during this period, today architecturally unify the neighborhood.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

W. A. Talmage arrived in Red Lodge in 1888 to manage a branch of a Billings mercantile. By 1894, the ambitious businessman owned his own large hardware and farm implements store on Billings Avenue. Undoubtedly, his business connections helped Talmage locate first-rate material and workmen to build this impressive two-and-one-half-story home in 1903. In fact, local sources note that Talmage contracted with an Iowa carpenter, who arrived with a boxcar of oak, to install the home’s interior trim, including the staircase, paneling, and parquet floors. The exterior of the “free classic” style Queen Anne residence matches the interior’s elegance and attention to detail. Classical elements include paired Tuscan porch columns, banded friezes, molded cornices, and the symmetrical front pediment. Queen Anne style decoration includes the delicate balustrade, beveled glass windows, and prominent curved brackets under the side. The cross-gabled roof, multiple porches, bay windows, and varying wall textures—including a river rock foundation and patterned shingles—also reflect Queen Anne’s emphasis on assembling elements in interesting and artistic combinations.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

According to an oral tradition handed down in the Crockett family, this gable-front cottage was moved here from “Old Town.” It was remodeled circa 1901 when it is first recorded on this lot. At that time, prominent merchant W. A. Talmage owned the property and lived here between 1902 and 1903 while his elegant residence at 716 N. Hauser was under construction. Postmaster William R. Crockett purchased the property in 1906, and it remained in his family through grandson A. H. Davis, Jr., until the 1970s. One of thirteen such cottages in the Hi Bug neighborhood, this example is particularly distinguished by the unusual addition of pedimented window heads. The barn, now an auto garage, is contemporary with the residence and one of few such outbuildings that remain in the neighborhood.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The Beartooth Plateau contains some of the oldest exposed rocks on Earth and provides a unique window into the history of our planet. About 55 million years ago, this massive block of metamorphic basement rock pushed its way upward nearly two miles along steep faults that extend deep into the Earth. The exposed rock consists of coarse-grained gray and pink granites, gneisses, and schists that formed about 3.3 billion years ago when older sedimentary and volcanic rocks were heated and recrystallized deep in the Earth at extremely high temperatures. The plateau contains the oldest exposed rocks in Montana and they are among the oldest on Earth. The Stillwater Complex on the plateau’s northern flank is one of the world’s major sources of chromite, platinum, and palladium.

During the ice ages, about 100,000 years ago, the Beartooth Plateau collected enough snow for glaciers to form and cover most of the plateau to a depth of several thousand feet. The spreading glaciers wore down the plateau’s upper surface to leave the distinctively rounded rock outcrops, along with hundreds of lakes, ponds, and depressions. They flowed down old stream valleys, leaving them deepened and straightened, with vertical canyon walls and jagged peaks. The summit of the plateau is alpine tundra.

Geo-activity

• When the Beartooth Highway was constructed in the early 1930s, the men who built it thought up names for many of the curves on the road and for some of the geologic features that could be seen from it. Some of those features were named for movie stars popular at the time. Think of some names for the geologic features you see along the road based on movie and television and movie stars today.

Geo-facts

• The Beartooth Plateau pushed its way upward through sedimentary rock about 55 million years ago. • The plateau contains some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth, formed some 3.3 billion years ago. • The Beartooth Plateau was heavily glaciated during the Ice ages about 100,000 years ago.

Although these mountains were crisscrossed by trails used by Native Americans since prehistory, it was not until the 20th century that many sought a permanent route over the mountains from Red Lodge to Yellowstone National Park. As the Red Lodge coal mines closed, Red Lodge businessmen lobbied Montana’s congressional delegation to construct a road between their community and the Park. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed the Park Approach Act into law, which funded the construction of scenic routes to the country’s national parks through federally-owned land. Construction of the $2.5 million project began in 1932. Some 100 workers employed by five companies blasted their way up the side of the 11,000-foot plateau. The workmen gave names to many features of the road that are still used today, including Lunch Meadow, Mae West Curve and High Lonesome Ridge. The road officially opened on June 14, 1936. Today, the road looks much as it did in 1936 and provides motorists an excellent opportunity to experience one of the few North American highways reaching such spectacular high-elevation alpine scenery.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Originally intended as a meeting hall with storefront space, tenants Byton Down and Robert Pryde redesigned the building’s ground floor before its completion for use as a theater. When the Iris opened in 1925, residents viewed it as welcome competition since ownership of Red Lodge theaters had previously been monopolized by one family. The Slavonian National Protective Society used the upper floor meeting hall while the front section held an apartment. Sound equipment was added in 1929 and the Iris, later the Park Theater, operated until 1961. Distinctive brickwork in red and buff and the 1930s marquee distinguish this Red Lodge landmark.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

According to tradition, a band of Crow Indians left the main tribe and moved west into the foothills of the Beartooth Range many years ago. They painted their council tepee with red-clay and this old-time artistry resulted in the name Red Lodge.

This region is a bonanza for scientists. It is highly fossilized and Nature has opened a book on Beartooth Butte covering about a quarter of a billion years of geological history. It makes pretty snappy reading for parties interested in some of the ologies—palaeontology for example.

Some students opine that prehistoric men exited her several million years earlier than heretofore believed. Personally we don’t know, but if there were prowling around that long ago, of course they would pick Montana as the best place to live.

Erected by Montana Highway Department.

A keen sense of the town’s future prompted businessman William Talmage to move his hardware business away from the busy commercial center a few blocks south to this building in 1894. When other businesses began to move to the newly platted main street in 1895, owners “lined up” their buildings with Talmage’s storefront. The original one-story sandstone building acquired its second floor in 1902, and Talmage moved the iron lettering to the top of the parapet. By 1907, commercial space included a hardware and grocery with an office at the rear. Elegant arched tripartite windows and a Greek-patterned fret band embellish the locally-manufactured brick of the upper floor.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

This fine example of masonry architecture, with its unusually preserved storefront and recessed entry, appears almost as it did in 1900 when Walter Hall opened his first-floor grocery. Sandstone banding, corbelled arches, and original stained glass lend elegance to the simple façade. The second floor, connected to the building next door, functioned as a lodge hall used by various organizations, including the Red Lodge Labor Union and the I.O.O.F. In 1909, the ground floor housed the fashionable New York Store, and from 1910 to 1918 saloons occupied the commercial space. During Prohibition the ground floor served a more sedate clientele as a soft drink and ice cream parlor.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.