Famous yet nearly forgotten feminist writer Mary Elizabeth MacLane wrote her groundbreaking autobiographical book in the north half of this brick bay-fronted multi-family residence in 1901. The Story of Mary MacLane—originally titled I Await the Devil’s Coming—captivated young adults and shocked conservative readers with its confessional, often sensual portrayal of Mary’s life at age nineteen. Soon after its release in April 1902, fans flocked to this building hoping to meet the frank author who described Butte as all “sand and barrenness” and “the near perfection of ugliness.” Although the 1898 building was nearly new when Mary’s family moved here in 1900, the neighborhood was bleak. Loaded ore cars rumbled past day and night on tracks a half-block away, and scrubby undeveloped lots surrounded her Upper West Side home. Mary moved to Boston in 1903 but returned in 1909 to live with her family on Diamond Street. Though her fame had faded by the time she died in 1929, her work gained renewed attention in the 1970s. Efforts to restore the building to its early 1900s character began in 2006.
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