Filed Under Butte

Scott Block

Butte National Historic Landmark District

Single copper miners found ample accommodations at this fine boarding house, built in 1897 by the Scott family. The handsome brick building with its full-height opposing bays, transomed windows, bracketed wood cornice, and central name plate illustrates an urban solution to a mining camp problem: adequate and ample housing for single men. In 1910, boardinghouse keeper Mrs. Mary Long had thirteen lodgers, and all but one a postal clerk worked in the copper mining industry. Rented rooms were on the second and third floors. Mrs. Long had her own rooms on the ground floor, where she prepared meals and served her boarders. Extensive rehabilitation between 1991 and 1994 included a new metal roof like the original and restoration of interior transoms and rosette-trimmed woodwork. During these efforts, owners found a Prohibition Era treasure: concealed under the furnace room floor were two intact whiskey barrels.

Images

Scott Block
Scott Block Scott Block (PAc 91-51 B1 RollCBD01 F10). Front view of the building, facing north on West Copper Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: 1985

Location

15 West Copper Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “Scott Block,” Historic Montana, accessed April 23, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2092.