Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Burton K. Wheeler House



1232 East Second Street
Built: c. 1905

Independently listed National Historic Landmark (one of only 26 in Montana), designated in 1976. This house, similar to many in Butte, is a National Historic Landmark—much greater significance than a National Register property—because of its association with Burton K. Wheeler. See the Definitions tab above for the differences between National Historic Landmarks and National Register listings.

This 1½-story, gable-roofed, brick and wood-shingle house was Wheeler's home from 1908 until he went to Washington to take his seat in the U.S. Senate in 1923. Wheeler bought this dwelling, which was situated in a miners' neighborhood, soon after opening his first law practice, and although he eventually earned sufficient money to move to a more expensive residential section, he preferred to remain here. "My choice . . . was worth extra votes every time I ran for office," he recalled later. "But in truth this was not my motive in refusing to move. I simply enjoyed associating with these hard-working, fun-loving Irish, Welsh, and Cornish families. There was no pretension and there was plenty of merriment."

The architect, builder, and date of construction of the house are unknown even to the architectural historian conducting the Montana State Historic Sites Survey, but the structure appears to have been erected not long before Wheeler's occupancy. There have been several subsequent owners, but the house has undergone no significant alterations. The residential area in which the dwelling is situated retains the appearance of an early 20th-century workingmen's neighborhood. Of varying style and construction, the houses are built just a few feet from the street and close together. Only a 3-foot-wide concrete walk separates the Wheeler House from the two frame residences that flank it. First-story exterior walls of the generally square-shaped structure are brick, and upper-level walls are frame and covered by wood shingles. The house faces north, has an east-west roof ridge, and rests on a stone foundation. A brick watertable consisting of three rows of stretchers passes around the front and both sides. Plank faciae grace the east and west eaves of the main roof, but rafters are exposed at the front and rear. A large, gabled dormer adorns each roof slope, and a single, brick exterior chimney stands at the rear of the house and pierces both the main roof and the dormer roof. Two recessed, one-bay-square porches one at the northeast corner (front) and one at the southeast corner (rear) are sheltered by roof overhangs. The concrete front porch, which is open, is accessible from the north end via three concrete steps. A concrete balustrade crosses the east side, and a shingled post on a brick pier supports the corner of the roof. The rear porch is frame-enclosed with a sidelighted door.

Fenestration is irregular, but the majority of the windows are 16-over-l, double-hung sash. The lower front facade is broken only by a rectangular triple window with a flat arch of radiating brick voussoirs and wood lugsill. The center window is stationary and consists of two horizontal rows of eight lights set above a large single pane; flanking windows are 16-over-l double-hung sash. Above, in the gabled dormer, is another triple window, which features three 16-over-l double-hung sashes. The rear dormer has a similar double window east of the chimney and a nine-light single window west of it. Window style and placement vary in the gable ends. Along the east wall of the lower level are two segmentally arched single windows, and on the west wall is a rectangular-shaped bay window. The single front door, which is placed in a segmentally arched opening in the east wall under the front porch, consists of two horizontal rows of four glass panes above a single wood panel. Above is a rectangular transom. The rear door is single and situated in the east wall under the rear porch. Also at the rear, a ground-level, double, plank, bulkhead door gives access to a half-basement.

In the small yard rear of the house is a one-story, gable-roofed, frame garage-carriage house of unknown construction date. It is wood-shingled and could date from late in the Wheeler occupancy. In any case, the structure is part of the nominated property.

There are two other extant Wheeler residences. One, in Washington, D.C., was Wheeler's home from 1950 until his death in 1975. The other, in Glacier National Park, is a summer house that remains in the Wheeler family but eventually is to become National Park Service property.

Biography of Burton K. Wheeler

Burton Kendall Wheeler was born February 27, 1882, in Hudson, Mass., to Asa L. and Mary T. Wheeler. Although his shoemaker father's income was small, the family lived fairly comfortably. Because he was an asthmatic child, Burton's parents encouraged his scholarly interests, and by the time he graduated from high school in 1900, he had decided to become a lawyer. Lacking the necessary funds, he worked as a stenographer in Boston for two years and saved his money. In 1902, he entered the University of Michigan Law School. Supporting himself by using his stenographic skills, waiting tables, and selling books door to door, Wheeler completed requirements for the LL.B in 1905. Shortly after his graduation in 1905, Wheeler decided that his best opportunities were in the West, and he traveled to several Western States searching for an older attorney who wanted a junior partner. While in Butte, Mont., he lost most of his money to card sharks, and financial necessity forced him to remain and practice law here. Soon he prospered, primarily because of his ability to win damage suits against railroads and mining companies.

Wheeler first turned his attention to politics in 1908 when he tried to help his law partner Matt Canning win the Democratic nomination for Silver Bow County prosecutor. Although Canning lost, Wheeler made a favorable impression, and in 1910 he was elected to the Montana House of Representatives on a slate endorsed by the Anaconda Copper Company, the dominant force in the State's political life.
Despite his freshman status, he became chairman of the judiciary committee. Refusing to bow to pressure from Anaconda, Wheeler tried to push a liberalized workmen's compensation law. Although he failed, he did get a loan shark bill passed which fixed the maximum interest rate, and a measure to ban the sale of prison-made goods as well. Wheeler most clearly showed his defiance of Anaconda in his leadership of the forces in the House that were trying to elect the company's enemy Thomas J. Walsh to the U.S. Senate. This fight, says historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., turned Wheeler into a "rough-and-ready alley fighter who had to learn to bite and kick and gouge in order to save his political life."

In 1912, thanks in large part to Wheeler, Walsh was finally elected to the U.S. Senate. Wheeler himself tried to win the Democratic nomination for Montana Attorney General, but bitterly opposed by Anaconda, he lost in the State convention by three votes. In 1913 on Walsh's recommendation, Wheeler was appointed U.S. District Attorney for Montana. His tenure in this office was largely uneventful until the U.S. entered the European War in April 1917. Montana had one of the worse outbreaks of anti-German and anti-radical hysteria in the country partly due to the Anaconda Copper Company, who hoped to use it to break the power of the State's labor unions. Despite demands that he make wholesale arrests, Wheeler refused. "He was assiduous in handling what he considered genuine sedition cases," says New York reporter Alden Whitman, "but equally diligent in refusing to prosecute what he regarded as unworthy ones." By 1918 he had become so controversial that he resigned because he feared he would ruin Senator Walsh's chances for reelection. Wheeler's experiences as U.S. Attorney made him determined to wrest control of the Democratic Party from Anaconda. In 1920 he won the party's gubernatorial nomination with the assistance of the Nonpartisan League on a platform of State hail insurance, State grain inspection, State-owned grain elevators and flour mills, increased workmen's benefits, the end of labor blacklisting, and guaranteed freedom of speech. In the campaign which followed, Anaconda Copper used all its power to defeat him, accusing him of being a Communist and claiming that his election would ruin the State's economy. Despite heroic campaigning on Wheeler's part in the face of serious threats against his life, he was decisively defeated. In 1922 depressed economic conditions enabled Wheeler to handily win election to the U.S. Senate on a platform of aid to agriculture, the right of labor to organize, and passage of the soldiers' bonus. Despite his freshman status, he wasted little time before making himself well known. Assigned to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, he challenged the reelection of Albert B. Cummins as chairman. With the aid of progressive Republicans, Democrat Ellison D. "Cotton Ed" Smith was selected to replace him — one of the few times in the history of Congress when an important chairmanship has been held by the minority party.

Wheeler first attracted national attention in February 1924, when he introduced a resolution to investigate Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty for his failure to prosecute law violators, particularly those in the Teapot Dome scandal being uncovered by his friend and colleague Senator Walsh. Wheeler produced a number of sensational witnesses like the ex-wife of Daugherty crony Jess Smith, and within 2 weeks, President Coolidge asked for the Attorney General's resignation. Before quitting, however, Daugherty started proceedings which eventually led to Wheeler's indictment for improperly using his influence to get oil leases for a law client. At his trial, it soon became apparent that the charges were patently political, and the jury quickly returned a verdict of not guilty.

Wheeler refused to support Democratic Presidential candidate John W. Davis in 1924 because of his Wall Street connections. Bolting the party, the Montanan ran for Vice President on the Progressive Party ticket with Robert M. LaFollette. Wheeler made speeches all over the country, and although defeated, he and LaFollette made the best popular showing of any third-party ticket prior to the election of 1968. Returning to the Democratic fold, he enthusiastically supported Alfred E. Smith in 1928.

In 1932 Wheeler was one of the first nationally prominent Democrats to support Franklin D. Roosevelt for the party's nomination. After 1933, however, Wheeler, who was personally close to Huey Long, came to believe that Roosevelt was too conservative. In 1935 the Montanan led the fight in the Senate for the Holding Company Act and was the foremost proponent of the controversial "death sentence" provision which required the breaking up of large utility companies within a specified period of time. In 1937 Wheeler led the successful fight against Roosevelt's "court packing" scheme. Although he had been critical of the Supreme Court himself, Wheeler opposed Roosevelt's plan, says his biographer Richard T. Ruetten, because of his "fear of centralized, concentrated power, whether it be public or private." At any rate, he organized the plan's opponents, kept reactionaries in the background, and tried to give his group, says historian James T. Patterson, "the air of unselfish crusaders waging a hold war against totalitarianism." Eventually Wheeler's skillful leadership-combined with the untimely death of Joseph T. Robinson, the leading Congressional proponent of F.D.R.'s Court plan, and a sudden shift to support of the New Deal on the part of the Court, forced Roosevelt to back down after suffering his first major legislative defeat.

In the late 1930 s and early 1940s Wheeler became one of the bitterest critics of Roosevelt's foreign policies, which the Senator believed were calculated to get the Nation into war. At the 1940 Democratic Convention he helped force the inclusion of a peace plank in the Party platform. He particularly aroused the ire of Roosevelt in 1941 when he attacked the Lend Lease bill as the "New Deal's triple-A foreign policy," which, he said, would "plow under every fourth American boy." According to his biographer Richard T. Ruetten, Wheeler was not an isolationist but a noninterventionist who believed the country should go to war only if its "interests seemed immediately threatened." Accordingly, he supported war after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Although he became somewhat more conservative after the Court fight, Wheeler continued to support most New Deal domestic legislation and personally secured the enactment of a number of important measures. In 1938 he helped author the law which gave the Federal Trade Commission authority to regulate drug advertising, and in 1939 he was responsible for the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. In 1940 he played a significant role in the passage of the Wheeler-Lea Transportation Act which coordinated the regulation of all forms of transportation under the auspices of the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1946, largely because of his opposition to Roosevelt and Truman's foreign policy, he was defeated for reelection in the Montana Democratic primary. After leaving the Senate in 1947, Wheeler remained in Washington and practiced law with one of his sons. Active until the day of his death, he suffered a fatal stroke in Washington, DC, on January 6, 1975, at the age of 92.

Text modified from George R. Adams and Ralph Christian, February, 1976, National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination: Burton K. Wheeler House (National Park Service), based largely on Wheeler's autobiography, Yankee from the West. House photo from Wikipedia, by user Robstutz licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Wheeler photo from U.S. Congress, public domain. 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Twin Sisters (Davis Homes, 845-855 West Granite)


855 (left) and 845 (right) West Granite St.

Andrew Jackson Davis Home (845 West Granite)
Built: 1890-91
Map 

The builder of this residence was the second of three Butte men of the same name. The elder A. J. Davis (1819-1890) was said to have been Butte’s first millionaire and founded the predecessor to the First National Bank of Butte in 1877. His nephew Andy, the second A. J. Davis (1863-1941), started with the bank in 1882, became president in 1890, and inherited his uncle’s fortune. Andy and his brother, John E. Davis, built these twin homes in 1891. Andy’s son, the third and youngest A. J. Davis, later lived at 805 W. Broadway. The twin residences share a sidewalk entry and a roof connecting the side porches. These common features were added some time after the original construction. Hardwood floors with inlaid border designs grace four rooms of this home and one room of its twin. A portion of this residence’s third floor was finished to serve as maids’ quarters. The elaborate two-story brick carriage house to the east features an elevator used to move carriages and sleighs to and from second-floor storage, and a groomsman’s apartment spans the front of its upper floor.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

John E. Davis Home (855 West Granite)
Built: 1890-91
Map 

A myriad of Victorian era details makes this splendid residence and its next-door neighbor, built by brothers John E. and A. J. Davis, true period showcases. Known as the "Twin Sisters," these mirror-image homes were constructed in 1891 for the handsome sum of $7,000 each. Steeply pitched roofs with front-facing gables, bay windows, and asymmetrical facades are hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. Among the many decorative elements are fish-scale shingles, elaborate bargeboards on the gable ends, and windows framed in small square lights. Turned posts and balustrades, delicate lattice-like bases, and scrolled brackets which grace the porches are fine examples of Eastlake detailing. Matching stained glass windows on the opposing sides of each home were crafted in a Tiffany glass shop once located in Butte. The original owner, grocer and hardware merchant John Davis, was an amateur painter and taxidermist who filled the home with the fruit of his talents. Following John's untimely death in 1913, his widow lived in the home until the 1940s.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Largey Flats (403-407 W. Broadway)


Built: c. 1895
Map 

Patrick A. Largey, Butte’s “fourth copper king,” got his start freighting goods into early-day Virginia City. After he settled in Butte, Largey’s many business interests included founding both the Inter-Mountain newspaper and the State Savings Bank. The Largey family, whose opulent mansion once stood next door on the corner, suffered a tragedy in 1898 when miner Thomas Riley murdered Largey at his bank. Riley had lost a leg in the cataclysmic 1895 explosion in Butte’s railroad yards that claimed 58 lives. Because Largey’s hardware company owned one of the buildings involved in the blast, Riley held Largey responsible for his injuries. The Largey family built these flats in the 1890s where many of Butte’s wealthier families stayed while looking for permanent housing. Built by contractor Moses Bassett, the stunning multi-family residence is styled after an Italian villa with tile roofs, portico, and arched entrances. Egg-and-dart moldings, corner window tiles, garland reliefs, and stained and beveled glass embellish the façade. Each of the three, two-story “townhouses” is exquisitely finished with rich wood wainscoting and an oak staircase.

The Largey home itself, much grander than Largey Flats, stood to the east until it burned down about 1965.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

303 West Park


Built: 1888
Use today: Beauty School
Map 

Historic maps reveal that this magnificent Renaissance Revival style building had rather humble beginnings. From 1888 to 1900, a one-story frame dwelling with a simple open-air porch spanning the front occupied this site. By 1916 the residence had received a second story and a covering of brick veneer. A handsome semicircular central bay flanked by square entrance porticos with hipped tiled roofs, elaborately detailed windows, scrolled brackets, and a decorative cornice are exemplary of the style. Butte businessman Thomas Lavell, whose home was next door at 301 West Park, was the building’s longtime owner/landlord and likely responsible for its splendid makeover. Tenant Jeremiah Flanigan, cigar dealer and vice president of the Rocky Mountain Bottling Works, lived here from 1906 to circa 1915, when the house was still a single-story residence. His household included daughter Margaret and a live-in servant. Today this neighborhood landmark appears much as it did in the 1910s. Recent efforts to restore the original interior grandeur include reproduction of the original oak wainscoting and crown moldings.


Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

314 West Park (Masonic Temple)



Built: 1901-02
Map 
Facade detail

The first Masonic Lodge in Butte was chartered October 3, 1876. With a membership of 550 after the turn of the twentieth century, the organization had outgrown its old quarters on West Park. The new temple, completed in 1902, provides an early example of the grandly scaled Beaux-Arts style that came to dominate Butte’s later civic structures. Link and Carter, the forerunner of the prestigious architectural firm of Link and Haire, created the new temple, enhancing its façade with Ionic columns, a cornice of lions’ heads, and decorative borders of acanthus leaves and geometric designs.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

832 West Park


Built: c. 1895
Map 

Jennie Tallant, a founding member of the Montana Society Daughters of the American Revolution, and her husband, Walter, were early residents of this home. Named first regent of the Silver Bow DAR chapter in 1897, Jennie became the third state regent in 1901. This home was the site of many DAR meetings, including the State Society’s first meeting in 1904. For that occasion, Mrs. Tallant decorated the home “in flags and the national colors, with a profusion of flowers.” Nationally, the DAR was founded in 1890 out of a concern that immigration was diluting American values. The society worked to promote patriotism, education, and an appreciation of American history. Among other projects, the State Society spearheaded recognition of historic sites. Important for its DAR connection, this home, built between 1890 and 1898, is also architecturally significant. Its irregular shape, leaded glass, ornate transoms, and ornamental iron fence associate it with the popular Queen Anne style. The classical style front porch was added after 1916. In 1928, painter John Redman and his wife Mary purchased the home, which remains in the Redman family.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

827 West Park


Built: 1897
Map 

Emerson B. Weirick purchased the land to build this home in 1897 for a total of thirty dollars. Construction of the residence began that same year. Preeminent Butte architect W. A. O’Brien designed the home and Fergus Kelley served as contractor. O’Brien and Kelley teamed up on the construction of a number of Butte’s commercial landmarks and most prestigious homes including the C. F. Kelley mansion next door to the west. Weirick’s elegant, finely detailed home fit his social status as vice president of the First National Bank. The residence is an excellent example of turn-of-the-century transitional architecture. Tuscan columns, dentils framing the porch, and wide overhanging eaves reflect the newer classical trend. The irregular floorplan, bay window, floral-patterned stained glass, and varied surface treatments are characteristic of the Victorian-era Queen Anne style. Stunning views of the city with the mountains beyond and a desirable southern exposure made this stretch of West Park Street highly preferred.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

825 West Park


Built: 1893
Map 

The gables, porches, and elegant detailing of the Victorian-era homes along this picturesque block compose a neighborhood streetscape reminiscent of San Francisco. This distinguished example, built circa 1893, was once the exact twin of its next door neighbor. Attorney Joseph McCaffery, who owned the property in the 1920s, remodeled the front façade in 1922. Decorative window hoods set it apart from its neighbors while an elaborately corbelled chimney and richly patterned stained glass transom reflect vintage fashion. The Tuscan columns which support the porch are a feature particularly common to the homes along this block. Interior appointments include original cut glass chandeliers in the dining room and entry hall, parquet floors, and simple but refined fireplace and stairway finishings. Butte businessman James Canty, president of the Brownfield-Canty Carpet Company, lived in the home from 1897 to circa 1915. Canty’s business was one of the state’s largest dealers in furniture, carpets, stoves, and household furnishings.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

823 West Park


Built: c. 1895
Map 

James H. Lynch was a man of many hats. Lumber, livery, mine development, hotel management, and wholesale liquor are but a few of his successful business ventures. A founder of the Silver Bow National Bank, Lynch also owned substantial Butte real estate and served terms as alderman and city council president. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland appointed Lynch postmaster of Butte, and he served a four-year term. Although James and Mary Lynch had no children, they opened their home to a niece and nephew, who lived with them in 1900. A turn-of-the-century biographer noted, “In their beautiful home in Butte, Mr. and Mrs. Lynch evince a truly western hospitality.” The 1890s residence, built as the twin of its next door neighbor, is little altered. Elegant period details include a pedimented porch trimmed in dentils, Tuscan columns, and miniaturized classical motifs on the entry door. An ornamental iron fence, crafted by the Butte Carriage Works, fronts the property.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

822-824 West Park


Built: 1897
Map 

Tucked snugly between its neighbors, this modified Queen Anne style home began as a one-story cottage designed by architect William White and built in July of 1897. Albert Elliot, an electrician for the Montana Electric Company, was an early resident who lived here with several boarders in 1898. Mining surveyor Azelle E. Hobart had purchased the property by 1906. Second-story additions were a rather common occurrence in Butte, reflecting the growing financial security of property owners. The second story of this residence, added by the Hobarts in 1908, is an excellent example of that trend. In 1920, household residents included Azelle and Elizabeth Hobart and their two sons. Clothing store proprietor Alfred Wertheimer and his wife, Bella, rented a portion of the home. The projecting front bay, mixed exterior cladding, transomed windows, and decorative porch elements mirror Victorian era sensibilities, while an ornamental iron fence complements the view from the street.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Renick House (727 West Park)


Built: 1891
Map 

This Victorian-era residence exhibits many Queen Anne details, including an ornate floral pattern in the transom above the windows and a large sunray motif in the gable. The interior boasts three hand-milled fireplaces, oak doors, a stunning white oak staircase, and Tiffany stained-glass windows in the front entry. Built around 1891, a second story was added to the home during a $6,000 remodeling in 1900. Early ownership of the home is unclear, but by 1900 Katherine Q. Clark, wife of copper king W. A. Clark’s son Charles, owned the home. Katherine sold the home to her sister Ada Renick in 1903. Ada and her husband W. L. became the first owners to actually live in the residence. W. L. Renick was a respected physician in Butte until the family relocated to California in 1920. Local attorney and miner John Templeman and his wife Irene Isabella purchased the home from the Renicks and lived here until 1943. The home has been well preserved and maintained over the years, retaining its historic integrity.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

931 Caledonia

931 Caledonia at right; 935-39 at left.

Built: 1900
Map 

Miner John Trevithick worked at the Leonard Mine in Meaderville when he built this one-story brick home in 1900. Such five-room, L-shaped dwellings provided affordable, attractive residences for many Butte miners. Front polygonal bays and mass-produced decorative detailing provided visual interest to the small Queen Anne style cottages. Trevithick stayed here only briefly before selling the house to longtime residents Fred and Clara Rowe, who lived here into the 1950s. Like Trevithick, Fred Rowe also worked in the copper industry, but mostly he managed to stay above ground. He was a storekeeper at the B and B Smelter when he and his wife purchased the residence in 1905. In later years, he worked as a foreman at the precipitation plant, where crews recovered copper from water pumped out of the mines. The Rowes, who raised three children in this home, added the second story in 1909. The addition's exposed rafters reflect the Craftsman style, which was fast replacing Queen Anne in popularity.

See also this Butte History post about the Hancock family.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

201 North Excelsior Avenue (Scovil Residence)


Built: 1917
Map

John Scovil worked as a watchman for the Anaconda Company after he first arrived in Montana in 1884. He opened a laundry in 1894; six years later he purchased the Union Laundry in Butte. By 1911, Scovil and a partner owned almost all of the laundries in Butte and employed approximately 175 people. Scovil also invested widely in real estate. He built this two-and-one-half-story monument to his success, along with the duplex next door, in 1917 for the considerable sum of $19,800. Behind the residences was a two-story garage with an apartment on the second floor. The elegant garage may have reflected John’s wife Lalia’s interest in motoring; Lalia was thought to be the first woman in Montana to own and drive her own automobile. A dark brown brick veneer and repeating architectural details visually connect the three buildings. Lalia assumed presidency of the Scovil-owned Taylor Laundry Company after John died in 1925, remarrying in 1927. She continued to live here with her second husband, attorney Laurence Myers, until her death in 1942.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

105 North Excelsior (Hodgens / Ryan Home)


Built: 1899
Present use: boarding house
Map 
Web site

Thomas Hodgens, who held the prestigious position of cashier at the State Savings Bank, was the first owner of this magnificent T-shaped Classical Revival style residence built in 1899. Second owner John D. Ryan purchased the home in 1905. Ryan rose from a lowly oil drummer to president of the Daly Bank and was the only man to ever serve as president of both the Anaconda Company and the Montana Power Company, which he helped form in 1912. As director of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Ryan initiated the railroad’s electrification in 1916. A myriad of ornate high-style details ornament the façade of this splendid brick home, including Ionic columns, Palladian windows, second-story balustrade with decorative paneled posts, and dormers with swan’s neck pediments. The elaborate embellishment and expert workmanship well reflect the wealth and power of these two influential men.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

27 North Excelsior (John Gillie Home)


Built: 1890
Map

Armed with a degree in mining engineering, Canadian John Gillie arrived in Butte via stagecoach on April 6, 1880. The mining camp was so crowded that even hotel floor space rented at a premium. Gillie bedded down in the hayloft of a barn, a rude beginning to a long and distinguished career. Gillie became known as “dean of Montana mining engineers.” He was so highly regarded that, even though copper kings W. A. Clark and Marcus Daly were at daggers’ points, both employed Gillie as examining engineer; he later served as superintendent of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. In 1895, the Montana legislature appointed Gillie secretary of the commission to establish the Montana School of Mines (now Montana Tech). By 1890, he and his wife, Margaret, settled into this home, which they owned until Gillie’s death in 1941. One of the first residences west of the original townsite, its simple elegance and more rural appearance set this home apart from its later high-styled neighbors.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

9 North Excelsior (William Symons Residence)


Built: 1908
Map

A graceful rounded portico with Ionic columns and a central square bay with French doors highlight the perfect symmetry of this grand Classical Revival style residence of tan brick veneer and red sandstone trim. Elegant details include elaborate brackets, dentils, a round window, and full-width veranda. Classical harmony carries through to the interior in a perfectly symmetrical floorplan. Fine turn-of-the-century appointments include a dining room with the original leather-clad walls, inlaid oak flooring, and pocket doors throughout the first floor. Local contractor Byron Whitney built the home circa 1908 for the William Symons family. Symons, with his brother Harry, founded Butte’s premier department store in 1897. Wholesale grocer Charles Youlden was the next owner from the mid-1920s until his death in 1940. Among his many philanthropic and civic contributions, Youlden was the longtime director of the YMCA. The prestigious, well-maintained home remains a prominent Butte landmark and attractive neighborhood anchor.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

5 North Excelsior (Gillies/Parent House)



Built: 1901
Map

This showcase Queen Anne style home adds ambiance to one of Butte’s most prominent blocks. An elegant brick arch, flared overhangs accentuated with wooden brackets, projecting oriel windows, a centered Palladian window, and an extended gable decoration visually complicate the front facade. Constructed in 1901, it was home to Bettie Boyce and her husband, mining engineer Donald Gillies, who served as superintendent and ultimately manager of the W. A. Clark properties. In 1923, the Gillies’ daughter Lynnie married Horace Siegel, manager of Siegel Clothing. The Butte Miner described the wedding, which included a reception at the home, as one of the most notable ever in Butte. The Gillies and Siegels owned the house until 1928 when they sold it to Thomas and Esther Parent. Thomas worked as a salesman for the Symons Department Store, whose owner built the mansion next door. In 1932 the Parent family waved from the front yard as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s motorcade passed by. Their son Thomas Jr. and his wife Mildred raised four children in the home, and it continues to remain in the Parent family as of 2012.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church



By Richard I. Gibson

101 S. Idaho
Built: 1899
Architect: William White
Map 

Click images to enlarge

1905
1901
Noted architect William White designed this majestic, multi-gabled church of stone and brick, built at a cost of $10,000 in 1899. Gothic lancet windows, stained glass, Romanesque arches, and wood tracery in the gable windows showcase White’s meticulous attention to fine detail. A steeple above the entry and pyramidal roof once crowned the two corner towers, visible in the 1905 sketch. Architect White was in partnership with A. Werner Lignell in 1900; their offices were in the Silver Bow Block (the old one, where the parking lot stands today just west of Main on Granite Street). In 1901 White’s independent office was in the Bee Hive Building on East Broadway (part of the NorthWestern Energy buildings today) and he was living at 1035 Caledonia.


1918
1918
By 1918, the church was owned by mortician (and later Silver Bow Sheriff) Larry Dugan, a sympathizer with the incendiary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The building then housed the Butte Daily Bulletin (later known as the Butte Strike Bulletin), a radical newspaper voicing policies of the anti-Anaconda Nonpartisan League, published by William F. Dunne. On September 13, 1918, local police and federal troops under Major Omar N. Bradley raided the Bulletin, arresting twenty-four men and thwarting a miners’ strike.

It is likely but not certain that the stained glass windows were fabricated by the Butte Art Stained Glass Works. By 2013, the windows had been covered to help protect them, and in 2015, Uptown Works received a $5,000 grant from the Montana History Foundation to restore them.


In later years, Larry Dugan operated his mortuary here, and more recently Beverly Hayes ran a bridal shop in the building. The owner today is slowly restoring it.

Resources: Historic plaque by Montana Historical Society (the plaque says the raid took place on Sept. 14, but it was actually on the 13th); architectural inventory in Butte Archives; Sanborn maps; city directories (White advertisement, 1901); Butte Miner Dec. 17, 1905 (sketch with steeple); Butte Post Sept. 16, 1918 (Bradley photo); Butte Miner Sept. 14-16, 1918 (news article). Modern photos by Richard I. Gibson.

206-210-212 S. Idaho


210 S. Idaho (left), 212 (right), c. 1984

By Richard I. Gibson
Built: 1884-96
Status: lost (parking lot today)
Map 
210 S. Idaho

The east side of the 200 block of South Idaho Street, across from the old St. James Hospital, once held eight cottages (six of them two-story) and two 4-plexes (single stories plus basements). All are gone today, but three survived into the early 1980s.

206 S. Idaho was a porch-and-gable-roofed cottage begun before 1884, when the original front section stood flush with the sidewalk. A rear extension was added by 1890 and a second addition by 1900 made the house even longer. An early owner was Anthony Formel, who was a clerk at the A.W. Noble drug store (71 E. Park) in 1891-92; in 1893 he was listed as a dentist. His wife Kate ran the saloon at 130 South Main. In 1892, the Fornels sold the property to Victor Strasburger, a clerk at the Herman Strasburger furniture store at 80 West Park. The Strasburger clan lived largely at 124-126 West Granite in the 1890s, and it appears that they purchased this house to use as rental property.

210 S. Idaho was a one-story frame house constructed in 1896 for Mrs. Nellie E. Jones at a cost of $1,000. About 1899 a second was added to the main house and a single-story 8x16 kitchen was added to the rear; another rear addition was also added later. A large stable and wagon shed occupied much of the lot behind 210-212 S. Idaho.

212 S. Idaho was also built for Mrs. Nellie Jones about 1884-88. It stood very near, but not touching, 210 to the north. In contrast to the flat roof on 210, 212 had a sharp gable rooftop.

Resources: Architectural inventories in Butte Archives (sources of photos, which are tiny in the inventories hence the low resolution); Sanborn maps; city directories.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

801 North Montana


Built: 1895
Map 

Members of the intertwined Sullivan and Hogan families shared this two-story residence as early as 1895. The early, wood-frame home originally had a small porch to the north of the large bay window; the full-length front porch was added between 1901 and 1916. Joseph Hogan was a member of Montana's first constitutional convention and Montana’s first state mining inspector, but the 1895 city directory listed him and his brothers-in-law, Eugene and Daniel Sullivan, as miners.

When Joseph died in 1900, Daniel was working as county deputy treasurer; his sister Margaret (Joseph's widow) continued to live with him. So did her four children, ages one, three, four, and seven. A teacher before her marriage, Margaret returned to the classroom after Joseph's death. In 1906, eight years before Montana women received the right to vote in general elections, she was elected County Superintendent of Schools, the only elected position women were allowed to hold. Margaret's daughter Maybelle followed in her mother's footsteps, becoming a teacher and then, for almost forty years, the county school superintendent. Maybelle remained in residence until her death in 1970.

Resource: historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

726 North Montana


Built: c. 1910
Map

Among the miners flocking to Butte was Joseph Dillon, who immigrated to the United States from England in the 1861. By 1885, he worked at the Lexington (one of the camp’s early silver mines) and lived on “upper Montana street” with his wife Mary and the first of their seven children. The Dillons resided in a one-story wooden residence, adding a large front porch by 1900. Between 1900 and 1916, the family replaced their modest dwelling with this brick-veneered Queen Anne-style two-story home. Decorative brick corbelling along the cornice and a two-story bay window define the exterior. As was common, the Dillons’ grown children lived at home until they married and their wages (earned as a stenographer, wagon driver, and office worker) almost certainly helped pay for the transformation. Joseph died in 1912, but Mary continued to live here until her death in 1936. Her son Eugene and his family occupied the home through the 1940s.

Resource: information modified slightly from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

614 North Alaska

614 N. Alaska (pink building with parapet at center). Original Mine Headframe in background.

Built: c. 1890
Map

Close proximity to the Original and Stewart mines guaranteed a steady stream of miners to keep the beds of this boardinghouse occupied. Built circa 1890, the two-story bay-fronted flat accommodated at least a dozen lodgers. From 1895 to 1906, Welsh miner John Williams owned the building, and his wife Mary looked after the boarders. In 1910, Michael Sullivan owned the house. While he listed “own income” as his profession, his wife Mary and a servant must have worked long hours keeping their twelve single miners well fed and housed.

The house is an excellent illustration of 1890s boardinghouse architecture and its kinship with the Queen Anne cottage, a popular form of workers’ housing common to urban areas during the 1890s. Arched windows, turned porch posts, a transomed front door, and decorative metal brackets are elements indicative of the Victorian era. Three finials highlight the metal cornice at the roof line and four interior chimneys are evidence of the period heating system, which kept residents comfortable during brutal Montana winters. This building’s address was originally 616 N. Alaska; by 1916 it was 614.

Resource: information modified slightly from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.