Filed Under Place

Conrad City Hall/Public Library

Progressive-era enthusiasm for city beautification and the Conrad Women’s Club’s energetic efforts spurred city officials to replace the town’s 1913 city office and jail just three years after its construction. The Women’s Club gathered signatures calling for a larger city hall with community event space and, by late October 1916, voters passed a $13,000 bond issue to fund its construction. “The People of Conrad do things. We are going to have a city hall, and one of the most up-to-date in this part of the state,” read a post-election report in the Conrad Independent-Observer. Commissioners hired prolific Great Falls architect George Shanley, designer of Conrad’s Luther Block and First National Bank, Valier’s Public School, and the Ursuline Academy in Great Falls. Shanley’s Neoclassical Revival style design featured locally fired cream brick walls with rust-red brick trim and impressive arched windows topped with brick keystones. In April 1917, five hundred people gathered in the unfinished second-floor auditorium for a flag-raising ceremony and dance to support America’s entrance into World War I. Ever since, community life has revolved around the building. Both city and county officials occupied offices on the first floor, while the auditorium hosted ceremonies, dances, club meetings, conferences, lectures, and plays. The Conrad Women’s Club operated the public library in a small room here in 1928 but soon outgrew it. In 1939, after county offices moved into the newly constructed Pondera County Courthouse, the Women’s Club moved the library back into the building where it flourished. Since 1983 the building has served solely for library use.

Images

Conrad City Hall
Conrad City Hall facade Source: Google Street View Creator: Montana Historical Society Date: August 2015

Location

Metadata

Montana Historic Society, “Conrad City Hall/Public Library,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/3449.