Filed Under Butte

Bank Residence

Butte Historic District

Russian-Jewish immigrants Simon and Dina Bank built this well-preserved bay-front home around 1900. The Banks, members of Butte’s thriving Jewish community, had six children at home (seven by 1904), but still had room for a boarder — plumber John H. Nolan. Simon was an optician, jeweler, and pawn broker who went into the loan and real estate business in 1901. His brother Ben and family lived three houses west. Ben, who was also a pawn broker, did not get along with Simon, and their sometimes-violent feuds were often chronicled in the local newspaper. In 1913, Simon sold the home to fellow optician, jeweler, and pawn broker Rueben “Ruby” Rosenberg. Ruby, his wife Sarah, and their children were active in the Adath Israel orthodox synagogue. Their four children excelled at music. When the couple’s oldest son Harry attended Harvard University to study chemical engineering, he was also the concert master and solo violinist in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. Other residents included Anaconda Company geologist Chester Steele and wife Aimee, from 1926 to 1934, and Dr. Charles Canty and wife Lilyan from 1942 to 1945.

Images

Banks Residence
Banks Residence facade Creator: Creator: Google Streetview Image ~ Date: July 2019 Date: July 2019

Location

721 West Park Street, Butte, MT | private

Metadata

Montana Historical Society, “Bank Residence,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/3393.