Miner’s Savings Bank & Trust Co. Building

49-55 West Park Street
Built: 1913
Architect: John Shackleton
Map


Butte experienced its second mining boom in the teens before and during World War I. The Miner’s Bank is indicative of the healthy economy during these years when copper rose to a high of twenty cents a pound. The Miners Bank and Trust Company was established in 1907, with David J. Charles the first president. David Charles also owned a men’s furnishings store at 905 E. Front Street, and he lived with his wife Lallie at 701 E. Galena. The second bank president, beginning in February 1931, was A.J. Lochrie, husband of artist Elizabeth Lochrie. In 1935, when the state-chartered bank had deposits of $800,000, it was chartered as Miners National Bank of Butte, the second national bank in Butte at that time, but the third national bank in Butte history (see the comment below).

The Miners Bank was initially quartered in the Thomas Block at 37-47 West Park Street.

On September 1, 1912, fire claimed the original Thomas Block, which housed the Miner’s Savings Bank. Depositors suffered no losses; the bank announced “the vault is standing. The safe is secure and will be opened as soon as it has cooled sufficiently.” The bank immediately planned to build its own building, next door to the Thomas Block, which was also rebuilt. John Shackleton designed and constructed the current building, completed in 1913.  A flat roof, decorative brickwork, large display widows flanking three recessed entries, and rows of windows above the street level reflect the high demand for office and living space. A row of concrete “M”s uniquely embellishes the space between the first and second floors.

The Bank’s long-time janitor, Robert Logan, was a former slave who was internationally known as a bass singer.

The bank occupied a ground floor office until the 1960s; the space was occupied by the Butte Uptown Post Office for years in the 1960s-70s. Upstairs, Lawrence and Katherine Graves were the longtime proprietors of the Miner’s Bank Block Furnished Rooms. In 1930, among their thirty-five lodgers were an architect, an actress, a teacher, miners, and salesmen. Also lodged under the same roof were government prohibition agent Carrol Olson and declared bootlegger Henry Allexis.

New owners in 2014 have established a Butte souvenir and memento company, Buttestuff, in the western part of the building, and the eastern portion, which originally housed the bank, is the location for the Butte Labor History Center that will open in 2015.  

Text modified from Historic Plaque by Montana Historical Society. Additional resources: Montana Standard, May 1. 1935; Anaconda Standard, Sept. 2, 1912. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Apex Hotel

By Richard I. Gibson

429 West Park Street
Built: 1918
Map

1918

Built by William Robertson for the Tait brothers, this residential hotel is typical of many erected during Butte's population explosion in the 1910s. John Tait was a dentist in 1910, in partnership with A.H. Cole with offices at 48 W. Park. John’s brother George was a clerk for the Anaconda Company, boarding at 844 W. Silver. By 1914 the Taits were evidently successful enough to branch into real estate, hiring William Robertson to erect the Tait Hotel on East Broadway that year; John lived at the Tait Hotel in 1915-17. In 1918 John's office was on the sixth floor of the Phoenix Building and George was a teller at Miners Savings Bank, and both lived at the Apex once it was completed. In 1928, George was out of the picture, John had moved his office to room 103 in the Pennsylvania Block, four blocks east of the Apex Hotel, and his wife Hattie managed the Apex.

The Tait family home in the 1890s, where I believe John and George lived as children, was at 13 West Copper, next door to a Chinese Laundry. It is a vacant lot today. Their father Robert was a contractor and a carpenter.

In 1923 the five-year-old hotel's residents included Mollie Allen, high school teacher; Juanita Daniels, clerk at the Leggat Hotel; J.J. Delphin, manager at the Ground Gripper Shoe Store at 112 W. Park; Kathryn Dowd, bookkeeper at the C.O.D. Laundry; and H.R. Doyle, a concrete loader.

So far as I can tell, Dr. John Tait was only directly associated with the Tait Hotel on Broadway Street until 1918 when the Apex was built. Beginning in 1917, he is no longer listed as the proprietor of the Tait Hotel, which was run by Mrs. Niconor Swanson.

Resources: Architectural inventories; Butte Miner, March 24, 1918 (historic photo); city directories; Sanborn maps. Modern photo by Richard I. Gibson.

116 West Park (Original City Hall)

Built: 1884
Map 

By the early 1880s the railroad linked Butte to the outside world and the town had established itself as a mining camp with a great future. One of the few standing structures from the formative era is this masonry, two-story landmark (center of photo above; Jail House Coffee Shop). Under construction in 1884, it housed the first official city administrative offices. Included among these were the jail and a courtroom. Although the height of the second-story windows has been reduced, the upper portion of the building appears as it did in the 1880s. Ornate details along the parapet of angled and corbelled brick reveal the excellence of Butte’s early brick masons. After 1890 city offices moved, and the façade was modified to accommodate commercial space. The original stairway at the east end remains intact.

Although this was the first city hall, the jail here was the second city jail. The pre-1884 jail was located on Jackson Street, between Park and Galena. It was the far west edge of town at the time. 

Source: Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

71-73 East Park (Chester Block)

By Linda Albright

Built: 1917-18
Architect: James C. Teague
Map

Teamsters Hall, c. 1942

Businessman Charles Steele financed the $4,500 construction costs of this exceptional commercial block, designed by Butte architect James C. Teague, in 1917 (completed 1918). The building is architecturally significant for its striking terra cotta ornamentation and historically important as the founding site of the Teamsters Union Local No. 2. This powerful group held its first meetings in the upstairs hall until they built their own building on Harrison Avenue.

The building’s upper story, with its multi-light windows, terra cotta quoins, decorative name plate, and cornice, remains in pristine condition. Terra cotta, here painted cream-color in stunning contrast with the red brick, is a feature seldom seen in Butte. The original mosaic-tiled floor spans the length of the three ground-floor entrances. Whitehead’s cutlery shop has occupied one of the two commercial spaces for many years, while the other once housed a mortuary.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s the Rumpus Room occupied the upper floor. The northeast portion of the top floor sported a bar, with the remainder of the floor dedicated to tables, chairs, and a large dance floor. At that time, entrance to the bar was from the alley. Prior to opening in the Chester Block in 1963, the Rumpus Room was located at 2 South Main St., below the Rialto Theater (demolished in 1965).


Resources: Expanded from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Historic photo from FSA/OWI collection (public domain), c. 1942; newspaper photo from Butte Miner, March 24, 1918; modern photo by Linda Albright.

Uptown YMCA

2004

By Tiffany Nitschke

405 W. Park (also 401-405-407 W. Park)
Architect: Floyd Hamill
Map

The uptown YMCA is located at 405 West Park Street. The earliest attempts to establish a YMCA in Butte were made before the turn of the 20th Century. A fundraising campaign was initiated and within a few months enough money was raised to finance the construction of a six-story building.

Butte Miner, June 8, 1917

Ground was broken June 7, 1917 ( a day before the Granite Mountain Mine disaster) and the $350,000 building opened in 1919. The rectangular structure with a built-up flat roof has a granite-veneered foundation and is of solid masonry construction with brick siding. There are combination stone lintels and keystone with stone sills. Tuscan columns support a balustrade which fronts a window framed by a broken pediment over the main Park Street entrance. One- to three-story windows have a complete molding, while the one- to two-story windows are connected with a stone panel.

The architect for the building was Floyd Hamill of Butte, but the design and focus originated from an unnamed firm which designed and built YMCA buildings throughout the world for the Association. Contractors were the local firm of Nelson and Peterson. Floyd Hamill was a respected local architect, whose work in 1917 and 1918 included Deaconess Hospital, St. John the Evangelist and St. Anne's Catholic Churches, and a residence for the sisters of St. Joseph's parish.

The landmark YMCA building included a bowling alley, a temperance bar, dormitory rooms, a pool, a court carpeted running track, and a two-story gymnasium. The YMCA also included a library that was specially wired to accommodate a "moving motion picture machine" for use by mine rescue and first-aid personnel. Following early 20th Century conventions, boys and men were strictly segregated as the North Washington Street entry inscription, "Boys Entrance," demonstrates.

In 1986, a successful campaign resulted in the purchase of The Courtrooms, on the Flats, to which the YMCA moved. That location is now a private racquetball court. In 2005, the uptown YMCA was acquired by the Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation, but the expenses of repairs and heating bills were overwhelming, and the building was vacant for several years until 2013 when it was purchased by Peter and Stephanie Sorini of Butte, who plan to remodel it for lodgings, shops, and other diverse uses. News story

Resources: Historic plaque by Montana Historical Society; text modified from Butte CPR; photo (2004) by Richard 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.

803 West Park

Built: 1895
Map

The Queen Anne style is beautifully expressed in this fashionable “gay nineties” residence of Arthur H. Mueller, longtime president of the Centennial Brewing Company. Built in 1895, it was also home to Mueller’s in-laws, police court judge James C. Sullivan and his wife, Margaret. Two turrets, a wraparound porch, oriel and polygonal bay windows, and a gabled roof accentuate the asymmetry that is characteristic of the style. Scrolled brackets, Tuscan columns, and arched windows with stone sills enhance the brick-veneered façade, while an ashlar retaining wall topped by a vintage iron fence encloses the prominent corner lot.

Original interior appointments such as elegant mahogany stairwork, woodwork, and columns rival those found in the mansions of the famed copper kings. Pocket doors and the original iridescent amber glass and brass lighting fixtures grace the formal first-floor rooms. A beautiful hand-painted mural in the dining room depicts a river scene so skillfully executed that the water appears to flow through the room and out one wall.

A.H. Mueller built the Mueller Apartments in 1917 as an investment.

Text from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

301 West Park (Thomas Lavell Residence)

Built: 1887
Map

Traveling by stagecoach from Quebec, Canadian-born Thomas Lavell arrived in Deer Lodge in 1874 to join his brother, Geoffrey. The two came to Butte the following year and established a sawmill, providing lumber for the town’s first sawn-wood buildings. With characteristic “push and pluck,” Thomas established the Butte Cab and Transfer Company in the mid-1880s, which grew from a pioneer livery stable to Montana’s largest taxicab and light trucking business.

Thomas built this beautiful home for himself and his wife, Melissa, circa 1887. The couple had six children, four of whom survived childhood. According to the Montana Standard, the Lavells entertained extensively, and their home “for many years was the scene of outstanding social affairs.” A tower with a Second Empire style mansard roof, ornate wooden brackets, and decorative cornices are a lively reminder of fashionable, early-day Butte. Melissa died in 1923 and Thomas, who came to be known as Butte’s “dean of business,” made his home here until he died in 1941.

Text from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

75-82 East Park

75-76 East Park (Ivanhoe Block) (at right in photo)
Built: 1905
Architect: George De Snell
Map

Lawyers Robert McBride and Patrick Talent originally owned this three-story commercial/residential building designed by architect George De Snell. Built in 1905, it was one of several brick buildings that replaced frame stores, liveries, and brothels formerly occupying the street. Charles Cutler’s barbershop and Joseph Boulet’s bakery were early tenants. In 1910, the two opened the Iona Pool & Billiard Hall where Butler continued to give haircuts and sell cigars; Boulet moved the bakery and Iona Cafe to Main Street in 1915. When fire severely damaged the building in 1913, architect De Snell made the repairs and remodeled all three floors. The three tall arched bays, beautiful brickwork, and ornately carved stone on the upper two floors remain intact.

78-82 East Park (Imperial Block) (at left in photo)
Built: 1900

The changing character of East Park Street is well documented in the history of this rooming house, built as an investment in 1900 by Abraham Wehl. By this time, Butte’s first red light district, located on the block in the 1870s and early 1880s, had been firmly re-established to the south on nearby Galena and Mercury Streets. Handsome business blocks like this one, which replaced dilapidated mining camp buildings, brought some measure of respectability.

Records show that residents at the Imperial were primarily miners and others who worked nearby but in 1910 under proprietress Mamie Smith, the fifty residents included nine prostitutes. Prohibition and reforms brought further change to the neighborhood evident by 1920 when Hugh Quinn, a family man with six children, was tenant landlord. His thirty-three roomers were all men (predominantly miners) or couples with children. Like most rooming houses of the time, second- and third-floor lodgings were arranged around a central skylight with ground-floor commercial space. The cast iron storefront, graceful upper-story arches, and decorative brickwork nicely represent turn-of-the-century Butte.

Texts modified from historic plaques by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

Mother Lode Theater (315 W. Park)

By Richard I. Gibson

Architects: Link and Haire
Built: 1923
Map
Web Site

The Mother Lode Theater and the Finlen Hotel represent the only large buildings surviving in Butte from the last construction boom in the early 1920s. With the end of World War I, demand for copper declined precipitously, leading to a declining population and ongoing economic woes that discouraged major building projects in Butte. All of Butte's mines were closed for months in the early 1920s.  This Beaux-Arts structure has four colossal engaged columns with Ionic capitals, lions' heads, decorative iron work, and multi-colored terra cotta highlighting its monumental façade. Art Deco interior features include the proscenium arch, whose openings are covered with fabric. The floor above the main theater contains a large ballroom presently used for set design and storage. Upper floors included offices and wardrobe facilities.

The theater was built as the Temple Theater annex by the Masons, whose temple dating to 1901 is attached to the Mother Lode on the east and Masonic symbols decorate the facade of the Mother Lode. The economic and population decline led the Masons to lease their 1200-seat auditorium as a movie theater (the Fox) beginning in the 1930s. By the 1950s and 60s, it was known as the Bow, followed by a reincarnation as the Fox. About 1983 the Masons donated the structure to Butte-Silver Bow City-County, which immediately leased it to the Butte Center for the Performing Arts, a non-profit group that has managed the site since then. The organization raised more than $3,000,000 for a restoration project completed in 1996, including a new roof, electrical and plumbing refurbishments, a new stage floor, upholstery, furnace, and marquee. In 1997 a lower-level children’s theater seating 106 was added.

The Mother Lode Theater is home to the Community Concert Association, the Butte Symphony, Montana Repertory Theatre, Missoula Children's Theatre, Western States Opera Company, San Diego Ballet Company, and the Montana Chorale. It is the only survivor of at least seven grand theaters from Butte’s heyday that hosted performers including Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Twain.

Photo by Richard Gibson.

Marcus Daly Statue

By Richard I. Gibson

Sculptor: Augustus St. Gaudens
Date: 1906, moved 1941
Map

The statue of Marcus Daly, in Park Street at the edge of the Montana Tech campus, celebrates one of Butte’s Copper Kings. Irish-born Daly (born December 5, 1841, emigrated from County Cavan in 1856) came to Butte from Nevada’s Comstock Lode. He worked for the Walker Brothers at the Alice Silver Mine in Walkerville, where he made enough money to invest for himself in the Anaconda Mine, on the Butte Hill. In 1882, with demand for copper soaring to provide wiring for telephones and electricity, Daly’s discovery of the Anaconda copper vein marked the beginning of one of the largest mining companies in the world. Daly died November 12, 1900.

The statue was commissioned in 1902 and completed in 1906 by Augustus St. Gaudens (1848-1907, and also Irish-born), designer of the U.S. twenty-dollar gold piece. The Daly statue was the last significant work of art produced by St. Gaudens; he died about a month before the statue’s unveiling September 2, 1907. It stood in North Main Street near the U.S. Post Office (today’s Federal Building) from 1907 until June 25, 1941 when it was moved to its present location. The move was spurred by vehicles colliding with the statue's base on Main Street, and was sponsored by the Butte Pioneer Club and Butte Citizens Committee, but paid for by Mrs. Marcus Daly.

Photo (of statue when it was on Main Street) by Arthur Rothstein, 1939, Farm Security Administration, LC-USF33-003098-M5 (public domain, from Library of Congress).

8 West Park (Metals Bank Building)

Built: 1906
Architect: Cass Gilbert
Map

The strength of Butte’s early financial community is well represented in this monumental steel, brick, and stone skyscraper completed in 1906. Copper king F. Augustus Heinze financed the $325,000 bank building, incorporating the newest steel-frame and curtain-wall construction techniques. Nationally renowned architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) drew the blueprints and Montana architects Link and Haire supervised the local work. Gilbert’s best known work is New York City’s sixty-story Woolworth Building (1913) and the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (1932-1935).

One of Montana’s first skyscrapers, the Metals’ eight floors add significantly to Butte’s urban skyline. A copper-trimmed entry complements the gray stone. Above, brick walls and stone arches culminate at the sixth floor. Ornate wrought iron balconies punctuate the second and seventh floors. The cornice and exterior window casements are copper, largely with a black patina today. An open wrought-iron staircase carries this element inside, where copper-trimmed windows with African mahogany frames and a marble-walled elevator lobby reflect 1906 Butte’s wealth. A huge polished steel bank vault recalls the building’s first use.

Upper floors were renovated in the late 2000s to produce elegant loft apartments and condominiums. 

Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. 1979 photo from HABS/HAER survey, by Jet Lowe, via Library of Congress (public domain). Photo of copper-lined door by Richard Gibson.

41-45 East Park (Owsley Block #2)

Built 1889
Map

A pair of two-story projecting bays, rounded balconies, and slender columns with ornate bracketing give this former hotel a delightful nineteenth-century charm. Built by early settler and former Butte mayor William Owsley, the Owsley Block housed the Hoffman Hotel (which offered rooms to let on the upper two floors) and ground-floor commercial space. A variety of early tenants included a drugstore, liquor store, restaurant, the Scotch Woolen Mills tailor shop, and Albert Keene shoes. In 1929, Hoffman’s still offered upstairs lodging. The bays have been faithfully restored to their turn-of-the-twentieth-century appearance and “mock” windows painted on the building’s sides indicate original window placement.

From historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.