May 1923 saw some five hundred buildings under construction in Shelby, according to the Great Falls Tribune. “Main Street resembles a freight yard, [with] lumber and material being strewn about,” it reported. The cause of the boom? The upcoming 1923 World Heavyweight Championship Fight between titleholder Jack Dempsey and challenger Tom Gibbons. Shelby’s mayor—a real estate developer, rancher, and oilman named Jim Johnson—secured the fight by advancing $100,000 of his own money and raising $200,000 more, paid as an advance to Dempsey’s manager. Johnson also convinced the city council, the Great Northern Railway, and local businesses to build the necessary infrastructure, including a forty-thousand-seat stadium (demolished within the year), miles of sidetrack for the special trains they anticipated would deliver the fight fans, and this town hall. The city council hired Havre architect Frank Bossuot to design the hall in April 1923; the building was completed in time to serve as press headquarters for the July 4 fight. The actual event was a financial disaster—only a small fraction of the expected fans showed up—but the fifteen-round match went down in sports history. In later years, the hall provided space for city offices, public meetings, and even a jail. In the 1950s, residents constructed an observation tower on the building’s roof, which members of the Shelby Ground Observer Corps used from 1954 until 1959. Women made up the majority of these Cold War volunteers, who scanned the skies for enemy aircraft as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Operation Skywatch.
]]>At least three generations of motorists have depended upon the courteous, reliable service provided by this longtime Shelby landmark, designed by Continental Oil Company Conoco architects and built in 1936. As an adaptation of the competing Pure Oil Company’s classic domestic form known as the English cottage-type station, the building reflects Continental’s architectural policies of the mid-1930s. The design was intended to blend with both commercial buildings and residential environments. This beautifully maintained 1930s classic station features off-white glazed brick accented with natural orange-red brick trim and a steep gable roof of contrasting dark green asphalt. The color scheme made the station familiar and recognizable as a Continental Oil outlet to passing motorists. Except for the addition of modern pumps and signage, the station remains virtually unchanged; even the restrooms retain the original multi-colored tile trim. Oscar Gunlikson and his son, Jim, operated the station from the 1940s until 1960, but it has long and affectionately been known by local residents as “Joe’s” after Joe Kincaid, who took over in 1965. Today, Rainbow Conoco is one of the state’s finest examples of 1930s gas station design and equally impressive as one of the company’s oldest, continuously operated outlets.
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