Filed Under Butte

821 West Granite

Butte National Historic Landmark District

In 1890, the sound of hammers echoed throughout Butte’s West Side, a result of the community’s phenomenal growth as it converted from a silver town to a copper metropolis. Butte grew over two hundred percent during the 1880s, and this home was one of many built to accommodate the newcomers, who numbered middle-class professionals as well as miners. Early residents included William and Christina Paxson, parents of well-known western painter Edgar S. Paxson, whose work includes six murals in the Montana state capitol building. William died at age eighty-three in 1908, and by 1910, the one-story, brick-veneered residence had become home to drugstore owner Charles Hoskins and his wife Mary Ann. The couple lived here with their children and a live-in servant until Charles’s death in 1934. Sometime between 1900 and 1916, owners added a large rear addition and a spacious front porch supported by Tuscan columns, a reflection of changing architectural taste. Fashion dictated classical simplicity rather than Queen Anne style excess after the turn of the century.

Images

821 West Granite
821 West Granite 821 West Granite (PAc 91-51 B1 Roll22 F19). Front view of the house, facing north on West Granite 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

821 West Granite Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “821 West Granite,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/1954.