834 West Quartz

Built: 1897
Map 

As its population tripled in the 1890s, Butte began its transformation from a mining camp to a small city. The percentage of married men grew by 10 percent, and local builders worked busily to fulfill the increasing demand for single-family homes. Carpenter John Shackleton constructed several, almost identical cross-gable residences, including two on the 800 block of Broadway and one on this lot.

Built in 1897, the two-story, wood-frame residence was home to Edward and Alice Holden in 1900. Edward worked as telegraph editor for the Butte Miner, a daily newspaper. Ella Heuser and her husband Edward, a drugstore owner, purchased the residence circa 1908, and were likely responsible for building the one-story rear addition. By 1920, the home belonged to Jacob and Cora Pincus. Jacob had a varied career as a jeweler, watchmaker, and tobacco merchant. While he was "industrious," "trustworthy," and one of the city's "most conservative and substantial" businessmen by his own account, others remembered him as a "black sheep… [who] never did anything right." The Pincuses lived here until Jacob's death in 1942.

Text from Historic Plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

815 West Granite

Built: 1897
Map 

Butte boomed as copper production doubled in the 1890s. The city issued 1,684 building permits between 1897 and 1898 as carpenters worked furiously to keep up with the demand for housing. The availability of mass-produced decoration allowed builders to embellish residences, and houses like this one showcased the Queen Anne style’s complicated textures and angles. Here the steeply pitched roof, cutaway front bay, square turret, fish-scale shingles, stained glass, and elaborate gable ornament all reflect the popular style.

Added between 1900 and 1916, the enclosed porch mirrors a later, simpler aesthetic. The hairpin fence, however, is likely original. Symbolically separating the 1897 residence from the street, the fence signals the Victorian notion that a dwelling should be a sanctuary from the larger world. In 1900, the residence became home—and perhaps sanctuary—to Cyrenus and Martha Smith. Cyrenus was a principal in the Owsley Realty Company and the Phoenix Electric Company. Victorian ideals aside, the house clearly suited them; the couple lived here until their deaths, his in 1938 and hers in 1955.

Text from Historic Plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

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.

1306 North Main Street (St. Lawrence O'Toole Church)

By Linda Albright

Built: 1897
Present use: tours and special events • Preservation new story
Map

Bishop Brondel Xavier Batens created Butte’s second Catholic parish, St. Lawrence O’Toole, in March 1897. Initially, services were held in the Hibernia Hall in Centerville on West Center Street, just west of Main Street, in a building that no long stands. The church was constructed with $25,000 raised by miners’ subscription on land donated by the Butte and Boston Mining Company, the Gothic Revival style church was completed that year in time for Christmas Day mass. Eventually, the church served 5,000 mostly Irish parishioners in the Walkerville/Centerville area. When the church was dedicated in 1898, Bishop Brondel referred to it as "a church of workingmen. There is not a rich man in the congregation. The church was paid for by the small contributions of the poor people." The intensely Irish nature of the church was reflected by its relationship with the radical Robert Emnet Literary Association (RELA), which supported the Irish rebellion. The church drama club asked for, and received, RELA rifles to use in the Christmas play in 1907. By 1910, the St. Lawrence O'Toole had 302 families, with 137 of them headed by widows.

Although a central steeple has been removed, the wood-frame building remains an excellent example of period ecclesiastical architecture, featuring exquisite fresco paintings (circa 1906) on its interior wood-beamed ceiling. The exterior was painted white in the 1960s for the filming of an episode of the television series “Route 66.”The St. Lawrence has been decommissioned as a church, and is now owned by the City of Walkerville, which opens it occasionally for tours and special occasions.

The associated St. Lawrence Catholic School is located at 1226½ N. Main Street, behind the church.  It was built in 1904 and owned by the St. Lawrence O’Toole Catholic Church.  The outside walls are still standing.

Resources: Historic plaque by Montana Historical Society; The Butte Irish, by David Emmons. Exterior photo by Linda Albright; interiors by Richard 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.

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.

409 West Granite

By Richard I. Gibson

Built: 1897
Map

This house replaced a single-story frame building that had stood here at least since 1888. The original owner was H.C. Hopkins, although he appears to have died or left Butte by 1900. There were other Hopkins nearby; Olivia, widow of Robert P. Hopkins, lived at 413 West Granite at least from 1893 to 1899 when she moved to San Francisco. Since there is no 413 West Granite address, and because the address scheme changed during the 1890s, it is possible that Olivia and Robert actually lived at the 409 address. More research is needed on the Hopkins family of West Granite Street.

Behind this house, on the alley, in 1888 were two large “stove warehouses” that belonged to William Jack, a dealer in stoves, hardware, and pumps who lived at 403-405 West Granite. In 1890, a carpenter’s shop (possibly moved from the rear of 411 W. Granite) and alley dwelling stood behind this home, and from some time before 1916 until after 1957, five tin-clad “cabins”  were in the back portion of this lot on the alley, addressed 409½ and presumably crude dwellings of some sort. They were “vacant and dilapidated” in 1951 and 1957.

Resources: Architectural inventory; Sanborn Maps; city directories. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

401 West Granite (John Benton Leggat Residence)

Built: c. 1897
Map

Elaborate and elegant on its eye-catching corner, this well-tended gabled and turreted Victorian-era home was built circa 1897 for mining engineer J. Benton Leggat. Bowed glass, a diamond-paned window, and dentils under all the eaves spark its distinctive personality. An 1890 graduate of Washington University, Leggat subsequently located in Butte where he operated numerous mining properties. It was said of him: “While men less resourceful and more cautious are thinking of a plan, he is accomplishing a result.”

401 West Granite in 1913.

After Leggat left Butte in 1913, the next owner was Harry Byrne, Butte manager of Paine Webber stock brokerage. A later longtime owner was Dr. Thomas J. Murray, who came to Butte in 1885 after proving his medical skills in the dangerous back-water swamps of Mississippi. Murray, who died in 1930, long operated a private hospital in Butte and was influential in securing legislation that created the state board of medical examiners. Although its many rambling rooms have long been divided into rentals, the nineteenth-century essence of this beautiful home is untouched.

Modified from historic plaque text by Montana Historical Society. Historic photo from Anaconda Standard, Nov. 5, 1913; modern photo by Richard Gibson. Image of Leggat from Cartoons and Caricatures of Men in Montana (1907) by E.A. Thomson (scan by Butte Public Library).