Nature is, of course, the primary force that shaped Glacier National Park. However, two entities—the National Park Service and the Great Northern Railway—played essential roles in designing the built environment that contributes so greatly to the…

Billings rancher and businessman James R. Conway built this handsome, brick, double-front store with an upstairs boardinghouse in 1900. Conway opened the Crystal Saloon in the west half and J. C. Staffek ran a cigar shop in the east half. The two…

Architect Loren B. Olds, who arrived in Montana Territory in 1863, designed both the Madison County Courthouse and the original Beaverhead County Courthouse in Bannack (later the Meade Hotel) in 1875. Among the earliest architect-designed buildings…

A major fire that destroyed ninety percent of Havre’s business district in 1904 also sparked the town’s transformation from a frontier community to a Progressive-era town. Rebuilding Havre coincided with a nationwide reform movement that promoted…

W. H. Dunnigan and partners opened the Purity Dairy and the Purity Apartments (upstairs) in this brick commercial building in 1916. Purity was the first dairy processing plant in Anaconda to pasteurize raw milk brought in from area farmers. French…

A fleet of twelve hundred masons and carpenters flocked to Warm Springs Creek in 1883 to build Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company smelter. Daly hired Welsh masonry contractor John “Jack” W. Cornelius to oversee the construction process for his enormous…

After fire destroyed most of this side of Main Street in 1886, Chicago lawyer and financier James A. Danforth invested in building this double-front, brick commercial building. The original façade featured tall plate-glass windows divided by central…

Wholesale liquor dealer John V. Collins commissioned this handsome Renaissance Revival style commercial and boardinghouse building in 1897. The store was home to several saloons during its first twenty years. Workers at Marcus Daly’s Anaconda…

The Heritage Museum is a tribute to Libby’s community spirit and commitment to preserving its history. Constructed almost entirely by volunteer labor, the log structure celebrates the region’s forests and logging roots. Community members began…

Benjamin Mahan, pioneer businessman and respected Deer Lodge County Commissioner, opened his first paint and wallpaper store on Main Street in 1885. He later moved to this one-story brick building in April 1916. The store’s distinctive buff-colored…