“Let us help you breathe the air of freedom by selling you a home on the monthly payment plan.” So advertised the Butte Land and Investment Company, which sold William and Louvia Rowe this lot in 1919. Home ownership offered the Rowes a piece of the American dream, even as they struggled financially—William worked variously as a miner, meat cutter’s helper, and even a peddler during the Great Depression. In 1937, Jim and Stella Hollow purchased the three-room home, with an outhouse out back, for $750, payable in $50 monthly installments. Working nights at the Original mine, Jim spent his days building a second home around the original residence. The family lived here during the construction, moving out only when it came time to demolish the original structure. No sheetrock was available because of the war, so the Hollows finished the interior in 1941 by installing the paperboard walls that remain today. Stella, known locally as Grandma Stella, volunteered for decades at Kennedy School. The couple lived here until their deaths, his in 1952 and hers in 2000.
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