As Butte expanded rapidly in the 1890s, its affluent citizens moved to single and multi-family residences west of the unsightly, noisy mine yards. This townhouse-style boardinghouse, built circa 1895, included the owner’s single-family residence at No. 310 and rented rooms at No. 308. Distinctive Queen Anne style flourishes such as the turned porch posts, scrolled brackets, and ornamented gable ends attracted widows, young professionals, and skilled mine workers. Louis and Lena Best owned the residence from 1899 to 1902. Louis was the son of Milwaukee beer brewer Jacob Best, Jr., one of the founders of Pabst Brewing Co. In 1892, he moved to Butte, becoming a bookkeeper at Centennial Brewing and later part owner and secretary/treasurer. After he died at age forty-eight in 1902, a steady stream of young professionals and skilled workers rented the townhome until 1914. Widow Catherine Hale purchased the building that year, and her son Emmet and wife Kathryn joined her in 1927. Emmet, a mining engineer, was a career foreman at several Anaconda Co. mines. Members of the Hale family lived in the building until the mid-1960s.
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