{"id":170,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:06","latitude":47.38729620000000153368091559968888759613037109375,"longitude":-110.92761400000000548971001990139484405517578125,"title":"Oriental Saloon","subtitle":"Belt Commercial Historic District","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/8f362a9b7f6fadadbb42b6b19aca9ef0.jpg","address":"66 Castner Street, Belt, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"A one-story wood-frame building stood here between 1897 and 1907. Reflecting the mining town&#039;s early hard-drinking culture, it first originally housed two saloons. When Swedish immigrants Charles Carlson and George Edman purchased the lot in 1907, the town&#039;s prospects looked strong. The Anaconda Company had just expanded its coal mining operation, and in response to the influx of newcomers, Belt had incorporated as a third-class city. Main Street businessmen, including Carlson and Edman, began replacing their wooden false-front buildings with more permanent structures. Carlson and Edman relied on locally quarried, rough-faced sandstone to construct their two-story commercial block. The first floor housed the Oriental Saloon, which &quot;boasted electric lights, running water and a bar and back bar of mahogany in a colonial style.&quot; Iron pilasters and an iron header allowed the contractor to install large plate-glass windows, letting natural light into the interior. Although the windows are gone, the iron framing remains. Carlson converted the saloon into a pool hall and then a &quot;soft drinks parlor&quot; during Prohibition, before retiring in 1926. Later businesses included a butcher shop and a grocery store.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/f1483cb6-49c9-4887-9c18-6d04b04fc61c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the Belt Commercial Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/bdcfdf3c-4ac9-414c-8bb8-a50f3ba9d1b3/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the Belt Commercial Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/8f362a9b7f6fadadbb42b6b19aca9ef0.jpg":{"id":6175,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Oriental Saloon,  Belt, MT","description":"View of facade | Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, MT | Feb 2003 | Jon Axline, photographer","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/8f362a9b7f6fadadbb42b6b19aca9ef0.jpg"}}}