22 East Quartz

by Linda Albright

Built c. 1915
Map

In 1915, James E. Murphy owned this building.  It was built by Nelson & Pederson to be used as a garage.  The cost of the original construction was $13,500. It had a concrete first floor and hollow tile second, steam heat, electric lights and a wood truss roof.

In 1916 it was Perham & Riley's Garage with a capacity of 44 cars.  From 1918 through 1927, it was known as the Montana Cadillac Company.  In 1928, the name changed to the Quartz Street Garage.  From 1929 through 1934, it was known as the Alemite Quartz Street Garage, and was managed by the Bartsch Brothers.

In 1942,  William H. and Jack H. Harkins opened the Harkins Bottling Company.  The business included making and bottling soda pop; distributing the soda and numerous snacks to businesses around the Butte area.  The business was truly a family-run operation as the brothers’ wives took turns working in the office.  Harkins Wholesale and Bottling Company existed until the early 1980s.

The lot where this building stands held a small frame lodging house ("furnished rooms" - but it was so small, there couldn't have been many rooms) from before 1884 until the middle 1890s. It appears that this was a vacant lot for close to 20 years until the garage was constructed.