Billings engineer Tom Hurdle designed the Pugsley Bridge after powerful ice jams in 1947 and 1949 carried the original 1914 bridge downstream. To avoid future disasters, Liberty County commissioners called for a clear span bridge without piers that could block ice during spring break up. They also set a tight budget of just $53,520. Hurdle responded with an ingenious cable-stayed design that also incorporates suspension bridge features. Standard cable-stayed bridges rely only on cables running directly from the towers to the deck to support loads crossing the bridge. Hurdle’s design follows that plan but also includes concrete deadmen on each bank. Deadmen—huge anchors used on suspension bridges—provide additional support to the towers. When bids from contractors all came in too high, county commissioners hired Hurdle’s brother, Willard, to supervise eight county employees to build the bridge. Completed in July 1950, it cost $51,546, nearly $2,000 under budget. Between 1952 and 1956, heavy trucks crossing the bridge during construction of the nearby Tiber Dam overstressed the cables and caused damage to the camber (arch) of the deck. The deck was eventually replaced with corrugated metal in 1973. In the mid-1980s, the Montana Department of Transportation installed a new timber deck and replaced the original wood guardrails with the existing steel and cable rails. Although Hurdle’s design is beautiful, sturdy, and economical, cable-stayed bridges didn’t gain popularity in the Treasure State. The Pugsley Bridge remains the only cable-stayed bridge in Montana and is likely the only one of this hybrid design in the United States.
]]>The Great Northern Railway spread its tracks along the windswept Montana Hi-Line in the 1890s and the settlement of Chester emerged, named for the first telegraph operator’s Pennsylvania hometown. The rail line was straightened in 1907 and Chester picked up and moved a quarter mile from its original site to the present location. C. M. Atkins founded the First State Bank of Chester in 1909 and this handsome brick building, by far the most extravagant in town at the time, was completed in 1910. The bank served the prosperous agricultural community during the homestead boom. Like other banks across Montana, First State fell upon hard times as crops failed and homesteaders moved on. The bank closed in 1920, but the building continued to serve the community in a myriad of other ways. Over the years it was a residence, rooming house, bakery, pool hall, barbershop, and hospital, where a former lieutenant governor, Allen Kolstad, was born. Although safety dictated the removal of a second-story turret in the 1950s, Ionic columns, swan’s neck brackets, and graceful curved steps remain to frame the canted entrance. The original oak entry doors, pressed metal ceilings, woodwork, and the bank vault are still in place. Representative of small-town banks that once flourished across Montana, the landmark building is a community centerpiece and central to the town’s history. Students of Chester’s graduating class of 1997 researched and prepared the nomination for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in conjunction with the Montana Heritage Project.
]]>The first two decades of the twentieth century saw railroad promotion and homesteaders settling along Montana’s Hi-Line. Chester was one of the first communities to spring up along the new Great Northern Railway line in the 1890s. The town incorporated in 1910 and the local newspaper noted, “...a progressive city like Chester is not taking the right course by neglecting the building of churches.” At that time church services were held in several locations including the Grand Bar and Hotel. The community unanimously decided a proper church was an immediate necessity. The congregation of the First Episcopal Methodist Church bought the land and construction began in June of 1911. Furnished with items donated in memory of lost family and friends, the first service was held the following November 5. Because the church was built with community labor, it was fitting that the fruits be shared with Catholics, Lutherans, and Presbyterians, who helped in the construction. Sundays were divided so that each congregation could use the church for services until each had its own place of worship. In the summer of 1946, the church was turned to face the east and a cry room and office added. Services were held until 1968 and in 1970, the Liberty County Museum Association purchased the building for one dollar. Students of Chester’s graduating high school class of 1997 researched and prepared the nomination for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in conjunction with the Montana Heritage Project.
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