Scott Block (15 W. Copper)

15 W. Copper
Builder: J.R. McGlauflin
Map 

Single copper miners found ample accommodations at this fine boarding house, built in 1897 by J. R. McGlauflin for Mrs. Bridget Scott at a construction cost of $5,000. The handsome brick building with its full-height opposing bays, transomed windows, bracketed wood cornice, and central name plate illustrates an urban solution to a mining camp problem: adequate and ample housing for single men. In 1910, boardinghouse keeper Mrs. Mary Long had thirteen lodgers, and all but one (a postal clerk) worked in the copper mining industry. Rented rooms were on the second and third floors. Mrs. Long had her own rooms on the ground floor, where she prepared meals and served her boarders.

Extensive rehabilitation between 1991 and 1994 included a new metal roof like the original and restoration of interior transoms and rosette-trimmed woodwork. During these efforts, owners found a Prohibition Era treasure: concealed under the furnace room floor were two intact whiskey barrels.

Resource: Historic plaque by Montana Historical Society, with additions by Linda Albright. Photo by Linda Albright.