During the first decade of statehood legislators met in downtown Helena where lawmakers enjoyed a variety of options for “lunch arrangements.” When lawmakers transitioned into the new Capitol in 1902, downtown Helena was a mile away. A small…

Concerns about communicable diseases and unsanitary slaughterhouse conditions prompted the creation of the Livestock Sanitary Board in 1907. Originally housed in the new State Capitol, its duties quickly expanded and the need for laboratory and…

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…

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the U.S.A., Hell Gate Lodge #383, has offered conviviality, community service, and social support since its founding in 1898. In 1911 lodge members contracted with Montana’s premier architectural firm of…

Ignatius D. O’Donnell came to Montana Territory from Michigan in 1882 to seek his fortune. A pioneer in crop development and irrigation methods, O’Donnell came to be called the “Alfalfa King,” introducing both alfalfa and the sugar beet plant to the…

Link and Haire’s most prestigious turn-of-the-twentieth-century architectural firm designed this singular residence built in 1902-1903. It was reputedly patterned after the famed Potter Palmer mansion of Chicago, which had been modeled after an…

Interest in Spanish Mission architecture reached its height in 1915, after the Panama California Exposition popularized the style far beyond the Southwest. Building in the highly recognizable style allowed small town boosters to project a modern,…

An overabundance of copper on the world market all but halted building activity in Uptown Butte during the 1920s. This splendid, long-established theater is one exception, completed in 1923. Following the example of Butte’s most significant…

Farmer, trader, and grist mill operator Andrew Jackson Davis, reportedly Montana’s first millionaire, founded the First National Bank in partnership with influential politician Samuel T. Hauser in 1877. Upon Davis’ death in 1890, a nephew of the…

Prestigious architects Link and Haire designed this magnificent four-story courthouse in the Beaux Arts style. This grandiloquent form introduced at Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition was often utilized in American civic buildings. Offices within…