Author Helen Fitzgerald Sanders and her husband—lawyer Louis P. Sanders—built this Queen Anne style home in 1904. The home’s prominent curved wraparound porch, Tuscan columns, spindlework balustrade, and stone retaining wall reflect the Sanders’ wealth and status. Louis was the son of Wilbur Fisk Sanders, a Montana pioneer lawyer, first president of the Montana Historical Society, and the state’s first U.S. Senator. Louis attended Harvard Law School and served in the Spanish-American War. He and Helen married in 1900 and he became a partner at Butte’s Kremer, Sanders, and Kremer law firm. While living here, Helen raised seven children (five survived) and published articles, poetry, and numerous books, including Trails Through the Western Woods (1911) and the massive three-volume History of Montana (1913). She was a member of the Butte Women’s Club, the Homer Club, and worked closely with Jeanette Rankin to secure the vote for Montana women in 1914. She and Louis divorced in 1919, and Helen traveled the world before settling in Washington, D.C. Helen, the eldest Sanders daughter, lived here from 1930 to 1935 with her husband George and their children.
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