Filed Under Butte

Boucher - Walker Home

Butte National Historic Landmark District

Butte as melting pot is well-chronicled in this Queen Anne style mix of high gables and multi-paned windows. Its appearance is typically English, as is the interior décor, yet it was built by a French native and occupied for much of its life by Irish-Americans. One of the first homes in this addition, it was begun in 1890 and enlarged in 1901 by clothier Frank Boucher. Daughter Hallie married attorney Frank C. Walker in 1914, and this was later home to both families before Walker’s rising career took them to New York. A key aide to Franklin D. Roosevelt in all three terms, Walker was 51st postmaster-general of the United States from 1940 to 1945. He was the first Montanan to serve at cabinet level and during his tenure re-banned James Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses as obscene. The family retained the home for occasional visits until 1958, under longtime caretaker Daniel Murphy, a former Boucher stock boy, who rose to department manager with the Hennessy Company. The James A. Driscoll family purchased the home in 1968.

Images

Boucher / Walker home
Boucher / Walker home facade Source: Montana Historical Society Creator: Julian Boughton and Martha Kohl Date: July 2022
Boucher-Walker Home
Boucher-Walker Home Boucher-Walker Home (PAc 91-51 B1 Roll14 F18). Front to side view of the house, facing northwest on West Broadway Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Sept. 1981

Location

727 West Broadway Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “Boucher - Walker Home,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/1889.