Two separate mining interests, Young and Roudebush and the Kessler Brothers, patented the Belle of Butte Lode in 1880 and 1881 respectively. While miners worked the lode below ground, builders hastily assembled workers’ cottages on the surface. Generations of Cornish mining families resided in this house, built circa 1899 by Alice Mine foreman John Harris. Supported by Doric columns, the home’s full front porch complemented the house’s functional design while offering space for relaxation. Richard and Katie Hancock purchased the residence in 1902 for their large extended family. In 1903, the Hancock’s nephew and boarder, John Martin, fell to his death in the Mountain View mine. William and Annie Crothers moved here in 1913. William did underground iron work and Annie volunteered with the Willing Worker Society, a church charitable group. They sold the house in 1925 to George and Lillian Collins, another Walkerville mining family, who remained in residence until George’s death in 1935. Miner Charles Hansen and wife Neva purchased the home in 1936. Charles died shortly after and Neva remained in residence, taking in boarders. Neva died in 1967.
]]>In 1935, James and Helen (Iten) Thompson built the log home next door. The following year, they purchased this lot from their neighbor to the north, Sophie Roberts, who owned a successful downtown bookstore. Here the Thompsons built a second Minimal Traditional house that mirrored their first home almost exactly except for material. Both houses have exposed rafter tails and multi-paned windows (Craftsman style elements) and Colonial Revival door hoods. The Thompsons lived in this stucco and wood home, renting out the log house. James worked in the grocery business until 1943. In 1942, he helped found the Hamilton Elks Lodge and took the position as chief steward for the Elks Club in 1943. The couple had seven children, but three of them died at birth. Later, son William, a seasonal firefighter, died at twenty-three in the 1962 Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness wildfire. As the fire came under control, William sat down to rest, only to be killed by a boulder that rolled down the hill and hit him.
]]>Perry Tompkins, co-owner of The Owl Saloon, built this Eclectic style house in 1910. By wife Elia’s account, Perry soon turned violent; they moved out and divorced. Norwegian farmer Anton Johnson and family lived here two years before renting to Roy Uhl. Roy managed Valley Mercantile’s clothing store and the Lucas Opera House, where he introduced Hamiltonians to early forms of moving pictures with sound. In September 1918 he decided to focus on the film business full time, but weeks later he died of influenza at twenty-seven, a victim of the worldwide pandemic. Paul and Anna Scholz bought the home in 1919. Paul and his daughter Frances worked at the train depot until rheumatism confined Paul to bed the following winter. On his fifty-first birthday, he celebrated with family and died later that evening. Anna remained in residence for fourteen more years. In 1939, Frances sold the house to Albert and Lelia Nickel. Albert ran Nickel’s Plumbing, Heating, and Appliance and participated in the Lions Club. The Nickels raised Lelia’s brother’s children Roxie and Edwin Milburn after their mother moved to Spokane.
]]>Railroad contractor Michael Tobin purchased this modified Craftsman style house from Valley Mercantile in 1910. The bungalow has undergone substantial changes including the addition of front and back shed-roof dormers. In 1911, Forbes and Anna Buchannan purchased the home for $3,000 (approximately $211,000 in 2022 dollars). Forbes—an experienced blacksmith—moved to the Bitter Root Valley in 1904 with first wife Mary to run mining claims for the Montana-Coeur d’Alene Company. Mary soon died, and Forbes married Anna Strong, a woman twenty years his junior. Before long, Forbes operated “the largest and best equipped machine, blacksmith, and wagon making shops in the Bitter Root valley.” By 1915, Forbes had lost the election for sheriff, fallen delinquent on property taxes, and Anna had died from sepsis following an illegal abortion. Forbes went to mine in Kellogg, Idaho, leaving his two young children in Hamilton for five years. In 1915, the MacRae Brothers Corporation, local stock growers, bought the home. The brothers leased the property until 1936, then sold to Edward Erikson, a plant breeder for Associated Seed Growers, and wife Jessie.
]]>In 1910, George K. Dick—Ravalli County Bank assistant clerk—built this Queen Anne Free Classic style home, which the Ravalli Republic called “one of the best residence properties in Hamilton.” Characteristic features include the projecting gable end, corner boards, and cutaway bay window. Local undertaker John C. Wagner purchased the home in 1915. He soon sold it and his business to John W. Dowling Jr., founder of the Dowling Funeral Home that served Hamilton residents for over a century. An avid sportsman, John led the Hamilton Sportsmen’s Club; his wife Mabel could reportedly “beat [most men] a city block at deer hunting.” In 1926, Dowling bought Marcus Daly’s former in-town mansion and later the Bitter Root Valley Irrigation office to function as his residence and funeral home. John G. Howe, touted as one of the “most successful creamery operators in the west,” purchased the residence in 1927. He managed the Bitter Root Ravalli Dairy Products Company until 1933 when he resigned to pursue his twenty-year dream of opening his own creamery. Howe’s Creamery churned out award-winning cheese, butter, and ice cream for forty-nine years.
]]>The second story of this residence, built circa 1884, dates to Walkerville’s formative days. Irish native John Dreeland may have been the first resident. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1869 to pursue mining. By 1884, he had settled on still-developing West Daly Street and was a partner in Butte’s Montana Union Publishing Co. In 1886, he opened the Butte Brewery Depot saloon. The next year, he and George Pascoe patented the nearby Colonel Sellers vein, a manganese mine. John, wife Bridget, and their three children lived here in 1900 when copper king William A. Clark funded construction of Butte’s streetcar line into Walkerville via West Daly Street. To build the line, contractors had to lower the street level by 2.5 feet. Some homeowners added retaining walls and stairs to their front property line, while others, like Dreeland and Peter Schonsberg next door, jacked up their wood-frame homes and built new stone walls under their existing buildings. After 1907, a succession of Italian families lived here. Timber contractor Maggiorino “Mudge” Tamietti and wife Sadie were long-time residents from 1931 until Sadie’s death in 1965.
]]>Rows of wood-frame houses lined West Daly Street by 1884 when it was still part of Chickentown, a Walkerville suburb. By 1891, Walkerville had absorbed Chickentown, and this house was the only brick-clad home on West Daly. Butcher Louis T. Gainor and wife Julia purchased the home in 1898, later adding a two-story rear addition by 1916 and stucco cladding after 1930. Louis, a successful meat market owner, served one term as Walkerville mayor in 1902-03. He owned one of Butte’s first cars, and his custom-made White Steamer runabout nearly won the Montana State Fair’s first-ever auto race in 1906. He narrowly lost when it burst into flames. In 1914, Julia joined one hundred local women campaigning against women’s suffrage. The group declared that giving women the right to vote was “progressive only in name” because of the “great responsibilities which it would add to the already manifold duties and responsibilities in woman’s life.” Louis and Julia shared the home with their daughter Virginia and son-in-law William Hunter until they died in the 1940s. Virginia and William remained in residence until 1959.
]]>Minneapolis architects William Purcell and George Elmslie designed this Prairie style residence for Louis and Caroline Heitman in 1916. Before moving to Minneapolis, Purcell and Elmslie worked with renowned Chicago architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. In their quest to create a thoroughly American architectural style, Wright and Sullivan embraced organic themes found in nature. Purcell and Elmslie clearly distinguished their work from Wright’s, adapting the Prairie style for Montana by specifying a steep front-gabled roof to shed snow and vertical redwood siding to fit the natural environment. Inside, classic Prairie style hallmarks include the colorful leaded glass windows, exposed wood ceiling beams, and a two-sided Roman brick fireplace. Louis Heitman, one of Montana’s foremost stock growers and investors, operated Helena’s American National Bank. In 1931, J. E. “Eddy” and Eve O’Connell purchased the home. Eddy owned Eddy’s Bakery, a commercial bread company. The O’Connell’s donated much of their fortune to fund college scholarships and improve nearby Carroll College. Their only son Jim and his wife Merle perpetuated the family’s business and charitable work and the home remained in the family until 2017.
]]>Missoula businessman Roy Van Wart built this Queen Anne Free Classic style home and the identical house next door in 1905. The mirror-image homes feature steep cross-gable hipped roofs (reflecting the Queen Anne style) and Classical details such as square porch columns and prominent cornice returns at the eaves. In 1906, Charles La Fayette Kellogg and wife Marion purchased the house. They had no children but shared the home with five extended family members. Charles, a lawyer and University of Montana law school lecturer, owned Northwestern Abstract & Title Company and was president of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1910, helped welcome President Theodore Roosevelt to Missoula in 1911, and was chairman of the local Good Roads committee. Marion was director of the Missoula Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which provided education, lodging, and meals for young women. After Charles died in 1918, Marion became the national field secretary for the YWCA Northwestern District. In 1922, she sold the home to Northern Pacific Railroad engineer Edward J. Adams and his wife Kate. They remained in residence until 1930.
]]>This splendid, highly visible Victorian-era residence was home to English immigrant Lee Mantle. Mantle arrived in Butte in 1877, helped organize city government, and established the Daily Inter Mountain newspaper in 1881. He then entered politics. He served as a territorial legislator in 1882, mayor of Butte in 1892, and as a U.S. Senator from 1895 to 1899. Local architect Henry M. Patterson built Mantle’s uptown commercial block and extensively remodeled this 1880s wood-frame home circa 1890. Patterson, whose imaginative designs color many of Butte’s streetscapes, creatively adapted then-popular architectural forms. The striking brick-veneered home features a projecting bay with French doors, a rounded bay with curved glass windows, and a two-story porch supported by elegant Tuscan columns. Its location on a main thoroughfare across from the county courthouse made it the perfect place for prominent political events. On September 27, 1909, and again on October 19, 1911, U.S. President William H. Taft addressed thousands of bystanders from a stage built in front of the Mantle home. From 1931 until 2010, the building served as a mortuary.
]]>Swedish immigrant Louis Peterson—regarded as one of Hamilton’s foremost businessmen and developers—built this Vernacular style cottage circa 1896, living here until his death in 1937. The house likely began as a gable front and wing cottage, but over the years Louis made multiple improvements, adding four gabled additions and an open porch with Doric columns. He owned the Hotel Hamilton, Scandia Saloon, ice houses, and co-owned the European Hotel with twin brother Andrew. Louis served on the First National Bank board and spent nearly two decades as an alderman. He worked to improve public spaces and fought liquor restrictions—a defining issue in local politics. When Ravalli became Montana’s first dry county in 1904, Louis and other saloon owners tested the law’s effectiveness. Once arrested and tried, they immediately appealed to higher courts. By November 1905, The Western News claimed prohibition had cost the county over $25,000, and voters soon repealed the law. Nevertheless, the city forced Louis and other saloon owners to consolidate twelve saloons to five in 1914, which decreased city revenue and forced cuts to the police.
]]>Canadian carpenter Alfred E. Milton built this classic Craftsman style bungalow circa 1909. Alfred may have selected the design from a home plan catalog offered by companies like Sears & Roebuck or Aladdin Homes. Narrow clapboard siding, exposed rafter tails in the eaves, and shingle siding in the gable end reflect typical pattern book Craftsman style details. In 1916, Alfred and wife Inez established the “I. O. U. a Good Time Club” in the home. The club existed to host picnic dances in the summer and dancing parties in the winter. Inez also supported the temperance movement, aimed at prohibiting alcoholic beverage sales. Otto and Boletta Marken purchased the home in 1922. Otto and business partners Ray and George Robbin operated a downtown clothing store until 1928. When a fire destroyed their stock, Otto opened the Marken Clothing store, which he operated until 1953. Otto and Boletta were active members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. As a dedicated community booster, Otto was also a charter member of the Kalispell Kiwanis Club and served twelve years on the city council. Boletta died in 1972. Otto remained in residence until his death in 1976.
]]>Built in the Streamlined Moderne style, the Pine Apartments’ smooth stucco walls and horizontal lines demonstrate a Depression-era need for efficiency. The building’s modern aesthetic also reflects an optimism that American innovation and ingenuity could drive the country’s economic recovery. In 1936, Leland Wells started construction on the apartments, hoping to attract Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) employees. The project struggled financially, and Ravalli County Bank assumed ownership until businessman Howard Bates completed construction in 1937. Bates operated a Hamilton coal and fuel business and contracted on New Deal projects, which were designed to create jobs and modernize infrastructure. RML expanded into a national vaccine factory during World War II, creating additional economic opportunities in Hamilton. Young professionals, particularly newlyweds, established their first households in the Pine Apartments. Attorney Claude Johnson and wife Lucy purchased the building in 1947 and lived in one of the apartments. Claude, a World War II veteran, served in various community organizations. Lucy golfed, hiked, and participated in Hamilton civic life. Bernatz Investment Company purchased the building in 1952 and continued to offer stylish, modern housing to professional men and women.
]]>Hamilton Flour & Cereal Mill Co. co-owner Charles F. Pride and wife Rosetha commissioned this imposing Queen Anne Free Classic style home in 1913. The steeply pitched side gable roof and large projecting gabled dormer are stylistic hallmarks. The boxed front porch with skillfully mitered clapboard corners remains a distinctive original feature. After the Hamilton flour mill burned in 1917, the Prides sold the home to Dr. George A. and Ina Gordon. George, a well-respected physician, also served terms as county coroner and health officer. Ina raised three children and helped found the Hamilton Women’s Club. After George died in 1941, Ina became a sorority house mother in Bozeman. She later became head resident of Corbin Hall at Montana State University where she worked until 1951. When Ina left for Bozeman, son George Jr. and his family took over the home. During World War II, George Jr. enlisted in the U.S. Navy and worked at the U.S. naval shipyards near Seattle until 1945. After the war, George worked as a clerk at Rocky Mountain Lab, remaining in residence into the 1960s.
]]>The Missoula Woman’s Club purchased these corner lots for $10 in 1909, hoping to build a clubhouse. The club eventually built on the University of Montana campus, and in 1922, Kenneth Keith Ross and wife Gladys (Simerson) built this classic American Foursquare style home. The style name refers to its boxy yet practical design. Most Foursquares are cube-shaped with a hipped roof and a floorplan comprised of four, roughly square rooms on each floor arranged around a central hall. Kenneth was vice president of the Montana Logging Company and son of Kenneth Forbes Ross, general manager of Anaconda Company’s Bonner logging operations. The Rosses moved to California in 1925 and rented the home to the Alpha Xi Delta sorority, one of the oldest women’s fraternal organizations in the United States. About fifteen female college students shared rooms, studied, and entertained here with supervision from house mother Laura Corbley and later Barbara (Hayes) Higgins, widow of Missoula mayor Francis Higgins. Major Frank Milburn and wife Amanda (Bamberger) rented the home in 1928. Frank commanded the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps battalion and coached sports at the University of Montana until 1931.
]]>St. Joseph, Missouri, mercantile owner Samuel Russell had a log cabin built on this lot circa 1864. He and Vigilante leader Paris Pfouts (Virginia City’s first mayor) operated a general merchandise store on Wallace Street, where Montana’s first Masons met. Samuel traveled to and from Missouri to supply his store and, despite being a part-time resident, served as President of Montana’s Fifth Territorial Legislative Council in 1868. Michigan natives Marion and Clara Baker purchased the lot and the one next door in 1885. They raised six children here while Marion worked for Alder Gulch Consolidated Mining Company and developed nearby gold claims. Marion ran unsuccessfully for the Montana House of Representatives in 1892 on the Populist ticket. Founded in 1891 to improve conditions for farmers and workers, the party advocated for silver-backed currency, a position popular with miners. The Bakers likely replaced the log cabin with this shotgun-plan home in the late 1880s and added a stone retaining wall, front porch with spindlework posts, and a rear addition in the early 1900s. Vernacular (builder-designed) cottages like this one replaced many of the town’s log cabins in the 1870s and 1880s.
]]>In 1891, Swiss-Italian immigrant Peter Schonsberg established his residence and grocery store in a one-story wood-frame building built in 1884. Peter, wife Pacifica, and six children lived in the western third while the store occupied the eastern two-thirds. In 1900, contractors jacked up the building and placed a full-story stone foundation under it. They also built up the stone house to the west and attached the false-front stone building on the east, where Peter opened a saloon. Peter died in 1915 at age fifty-nine and Pacifica died at age forty-two in 1916. Their married daughter Adeline Rodoni raised her five younger siblings (and her children), while husband Julius and partner Felix Tatti ran the store and saloon. Prohibition closed the saloon, but by 1920, Schonsberg’s oldest son Valerio, his wife Lizzie, and sister Linda were operating the grocery store, while the extended family lived upstairs. Valerio reopened the saloon after 1933, running it until he retired in 1971. Lizzie and daughter Valerie established The Alpine Bar in Meaderville in the mid-1940s. After Lizzie died in 1969, Valerie kept The Alpine until her death in 2010.
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