{"id":180,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:06","latitude":47.50511730000000198970155906863510608673095703125,"longitude":-111.298857300000008763163350522518157958984375,"title":"F.W. Woolworth Building","subtitle":"Great Falls Central Business Historic District","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/9feaa0480a7693fa583dfc5d7d2f0317.jpg","address":"500 Central Avenue, Great Falls, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"A close look at the Woolworth Building’s upper floors makes evident that it was originally two separate, but closely related edifices. Connecting arches over second-story windows, a decorative metal cornice, and a crowning brick parapet distinguish the eastern portion from its less ornate neighbor. Constructed in 1890 and 1891, the buildings featured connecting second and third floors. Cascade County’s court and offices occupied the second floor in 1891. By 1897, the building was home to the Hotel Grand, which provided rooms for $2.00 per day. Free carriages met all trains, and the hotel boasted a “well-lighted sample room,” dining room, and billiard room on the first floor. Under new management and a slightly different name, the Grand Hotel opened in 1907 with sixty-two rooms. The residential hotel provided “first-class lodging” for businessmen, “local and transient, alike.” By 1916, the Golden Rule Store (a precursor to J.C. Penney) occupied the first floor. The ground floor was remodeled several times by mid-century, and again when the F. W. Woolworth’s Company moved here in 1956.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/1aad086e-a12e-4ed6-87a2-fb2b0e59c8f8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the Great Falls Central Business Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/5076ac91-787f-43e8-b172-2700323e584c/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the Great Falls Central Business Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/9feaa0480a7693fa583dfc5d7d2f0317.jpg":{"id":3764,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hotel Grand/Woolworth Building, Great Falls, MT","description":"Hotel Grand, from an 1894 publication “Souvenir of the City of Great Falls” | City of Great Falls Planning and Community Development Office, Great Falls, MT | ca. 1894 | unknown photographer","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/9feaa0480a7693fa583dfc5d7d2f0317.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/1900b85d84ae845a8b30e7a38ae28f2d.jpg":{"id":3765,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Verge&#039;s/Hotel Grand/Woolworth Building, Great Falls, MT","description":"Color postcard, Streetview of Verge&#039;s Department Store/Hotel Grand, Great Falls | Postcard courtesy of the City of Great Falls, Planning and Community Development Department, Great Falls, MT | ca. 1908 | Unknown creator","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/1900b85d84ae845a8b30e7a38ae28f2d.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/6576ef4766b0dba2c6a6dfb743004767.jpg":{"id":2933,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"F.W. Woolworth Building","description":"F.W. Woolworth Building (PAc 91-51 Great Falls R22 F33). Front to side view of the building, facing southeast on the corner of Central Avenue and 5th Street. B&amp;W. | Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society | 1983 | Photographer unidentified","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/6576ef4766b0dba2c6a6dfb743004767.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/e6736214fbc80f115fa8e7d5c926b104.jpg":{"id":2934,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"F.W. Woolworth Building","description":"F.W. Woolworth Building (PAc 91-51 Great Falls R22 F34). Front view of the building, facing south on Central Avenue near the intersection of Central and 5th Street. B&amp;W. | Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society | 1983 | Photographer unidentified","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/e6736214fbc80f115fa8e7d5c926b104.jpg"}}}