Category Archives: Montana historical landscape

Transforming State History: the new Montana Historical Society museum

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At the state history conference in Helena next month, the almost complete new museum at the Montana Historical Society will be unveiled. (The completed museum will have its full public opening in December.) while we won’t be able to see everything yet I’m still looking forward to a peak behind the curtain.

It will be a transformational change for state history—a new platform to explore, interpret and preserve the state’s past. Why do I have such confidence—I was already part of such a project in the creation of a new Tennessee State Museum from 2016-2018. The new museum in Nashville has created a huge new platform for all types of activities in state history and everyone is benefiting, especially the state’s robust heritage tourism industry.

But before we get too excited about the future, let’s remember how this new change at MHS is just the latest chapter in how this amazing institution has served Montana. For this post I’m using some photographs but mostly postcards that I collected in Montana in the 1980s.

The Veterans and Pioneers Memorial Building dates to 1953. Here are two views, one emphasizing the Liberty Bell installation from the Bicentennial and the second reminding us how the tour train, established in 1954, started its tours there and connected visitors to downtown.

Some of us are old enough to remember the early exhibits—and the dominance of dioramas, dioramas, dioramas!

“The richest hill on earth”
Virginia City
Oil in Eastern Montana
Power lines on the plains
Lewis and Clark diorama, the museum opened during the 150th anniversary of the expedition
That diorama has had a second life at the Beaverhead County Museum in Dillon. Rudy Autio, the famous art potter associated with the Archie Bray Foundation and University of Montana, was the sculptor.

The highlight of the collection, then and now, was the Charles M. Russell gallery, although his work seemed out of sorts with the modern style of the building.

Then in the 1970s came the first transformation—placing Territorial Junction in the basement, a series of period rooms themed to a certain business or activity.

This installation had a tremendous influence on the many county museums that were built in the 1970s and 1970s as so many had their own territorial junction sections.

Mondak Heritage Center , Sidney, 2013

In the mid-1980s MHS staff planned and installed a new history gallery, named Montana Homeland. I visited it in 1988 and took a few slides—and in the dark light my images aren’t great but there’s enough to see how the approach had changed.

The new exhibit highlighted objects from the extensive and valuable MHS collections on Native American history.

Everywhere, from the sections on steamboats to the Victorian era to a 1930s kitchen, objects dominated the senses. It was a visual feast, an approach that I expect the new museum to continue but probably in a much more interactive way.

Yes, no doubt I will miss the old MHS museum but I’m pumped about the new one. What an opportunity! I will report more on this topic after September’s conference.

The evolution of Billings’ Montana Avenue

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I was last in Billings in early July and, as usual, I immediately walked around Montana Avenue to see what was going on—doing that walk has been a tradition for me for over 40 years.

Do you remember what Montana Avenue was like in 1985–well here’s two views if you don’t recall, or were even around in 1985. It was a mix of second hand, rummage, stores, “antique” stores, flophouses, and an emerging galley scene, led by Toucan Gallery.

Rex Hotel 1985

There was an oasis—the restored Rex Hotel, with one of the city’s best restaurants, and next door, the Rainbow Bar, an oasis of a far different type. Thankfully both businesses, with some changes, remain anchors to the district today.

On the opposite side of the street—despair. The imposing 1907 Northern Pacific Railroad depot was boarded up, forgotten and deteriorating. The reality was a puzzle to me because already in Great Falls and Missoula investors had restored and reopened historic Milwaukee Road depots. Why not Billings?

Five years later, 1990, it had gotten worse instead of better at the depot. When graffiti begins to mark a historic building the end is often near. On the other side of the street, however, new investment kept the historic buildings moving forward.

Rex Hotel and Montana Avenue 1990
Rainbow Bar 1990
Hotel Carlin block, 1990
McCormick Block, 1990

Changes were afoot at the McCormick Block where two adjacent one story 100 year old buildings had been torn away to create a parking lot.

And the district had a new east end, with the conversion of a 20th century building into the Coulson Bar. I loved the reference to the river town that was a precursor to Billings.

The 1990s was when the historic preservation movement transformed Montana Avenue. The Montana Avenue Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to the vision of property owners supported by the city and the State Historic Preservation Office and the work of Chere Jiusto.

When I next visited in 1998, I found the depot, finally, restored and serving as a new anchor.

The new courtyard at the Rex was quite the place to be and be seen. I even saw Hollywood stars there in 1998. the 21st resurgence of Montana Avenue was ready to begin.

How many of you used the Internet cafe at the McCormick Block? I did in 2000 when I took the image above.

Fast forward to July 2025. The once neglected district is a city downtown hub, hosting a street event and businesses booming. What a change from 1985.

Hamilton’s historic public architecture

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In the first half of the 20th century few Montana county seats matched the quality and diversity of public architecture of Hamilton, the seat of Ravalli County.

The oldest, the Ravalli County Courthouse of 1900, remains the most distinguished, although the county left the building for a new courthouse in the mid-1970s. Fifty years later, its conversion into an excellent county museum has kept this landmark of Romanesque infused design as a vital part of county life, especially during the city’s Saturday market in the summer. Designed by architect A.J.Gibson of Missoula, the courthouse graces a grand public space in the 21st century city, a space made even more meaningful by the Doughboy tribute monument that stands on guard in front of the building.

Installed in 1921 the monument itself is over 100 years ago and is a rare courthouse yard tribute to World War I veterans.

In 1906, only a block away, the city built a Victorian style flavored town hall for almost all city affairs, from governance to police in fire fighting and even the public library.

The library was not long for the Town Hall. Within 10 years it had its own Classical Revival building, due to the diligence of the Hamilton Woman’s Club and the funding of Margaret Daly, the widow of copper magnate Marcus Daly, who lived across the valley at her grand Colonial Revival mansion.

Margaret Daly was not done. In the mid-1920s she funded the Colonial Revival style Marcus Daly Hospital just blocks away from the library.

The New Deal added to the city’s Colonial Revival traditions of public architecture. Those depression years of the 1930s added a more restrained take on the colonial style in the new post office by Louis A. Simon.

Then after World War II public architecture charted a new course into modernism although Hamilton took cautious steps in its blocky modern design of the present city hall and community building, a very effective bending of uses.

Days before I visited Hamilton on July 4, 2025 plans were finalized to begin the serious work of converting the historic town hall into a new library facility. Even as we celebrate the town’s public architecture, change is coming later this decade.

Change in Wisdom

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A truism often found in writings about Montana’s rural towns is that nothing ever changes. Maybe that’s true, for a few places but over the last ten years I have found change to be a constant in rural Montana.

Take Wisdom in Beaverhead County. This place was one of my first overnights in the Big Sky Country and I fondly remember a night we spent at Fetty’s, a classic bar/cafe. Sometime before 2012 Fetty’s burned down but someone rebuilt on the site, calling it The Crossing at Fetty’s or Fetty’s at the Crossing—I don’t remember which one.

The Crossing in 20132

The Crossing was ok but a bit stuffy, just not the same feeling as Fetty’s. By 2025 order had been restored. The same modern building was there but name had changed to just Fetty’s. And the local vibe was back.

Change also marked the town’s historic general store, a 2-story commercial landmark. In this decade it tried to make a run as Hook and Horn, a combo bistro, boutique, coffee shop. It didn’t make it.

Hook and Horn, 2025

But its sedate, calm rustic appearance was certainly at odds with the garish but you can’t miss it facade of Conover’s Trading Post from 2012.

Conover’s Trading Post 2012
Wisdom 2012

I didn’t miss the trading post but I did like the Wisdom Market back in 2012. That now was a vacant lot.

Wisdom Market 2025

But then my faith was restored when on the other side of Fetty’s there was a new Wisdom Market, complete with its dark stained log false front. Not all change is bad, and if you don’t look you might not realize it.

Big Hole Battlefield and July 4, 2025

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Maybe it’s just me. But something about the 4th of July makes me want to visit a national park that day. Could be because at these 400 or so places across the nation I always find inspiration whether in the beauty of the landscape or the story that is preserved. Or both, as is the case in the Big Hole Battlefield and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail near Wisdom.

As the visitor center’s excellent exhibits about Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce search for peace and freedom in 1877 remind us, the story is sad because it was a repeat of one that happened across the west after the Civil War—Soldiers and civilians combining to dispossess Native peoples of their lands, and here at Big Hole, of their lives. It was not America at its best. But as the exhibits also stress, tellingly in the words of the past and the Nez Perce themselves, Big Hole has since become a place where we learn and can make a commitment to do better.

When you combine meaningful history lessons with a beautiful landscape, it is always inspiring. By admitting truth and preserving where that truth happened, we take yet another step towards fulfilling the promise of a more perfect Union made by our revolutionary forefathers.

Thank you Big Hole Battlefield for bringing me these reflections on the 4th of July 2025. Your dedicated work makes me so glad we have a National Park Service, and proud to be an American.

Rocky Mountain Laboratory: medical solutions in Ravalli County

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Nestled in the south end of Hamilton’s historic residential neighborhood is the Rocky Mountain National Laboratories. It began as a state initiative, as a way to combat Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease carried by the wood tick. For 20 years scientists searched for solutions and at one time worked out of an old abandoned log school. By 1924 an effective vaccine against Rocky Mountain spotted fever had been developed. The state of Montana built the first permanent brick laboratory at Hamilton in 1928.

Rocky Mountain Laboratory c. 1940, National Archives

During the New Deal, the federal government took over the state program and with Public Works Administration funding, it built a new modern campus, allowing the scientists to expand their research.

The new campus, completed c. 1940, created a quad of three-story brick buildings for the laboratory, with the new buildings having a slight Collegiate Gothic style.

Across from the labs was housing for scientists, with the north house reflecting a modest Colonial Revival style while the south house was a classic Dutch Colonial styled house. There was a shared garage in back of the homes.

Good thing the lab was expanded. Officials looked to it to find solutions for yellow fever and vaccines against diseases common in the Pacific theater of Wirld War II. It developed the standard Army vaccine to fight yellow fever in 1942.

You can discover more about the laboratories and its 21st century at the visitor center, which opened in 2006.

The older section of the laboratories from the New Deal era was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Changes in Big Timber

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Grand Hotel 2013

Readers of this blog know that Big Timber is one of my favorite Yellowstone Valley towns. It still has that classic Northern Pacific Railroad town plan with a long commercial artery extending south from the railroad tracks that then turns into a quite captivating residential neighborhood.

The restoration of the Grand Hotel in the 1990s really helped the commercial area turn a corner.

I have spent nights at the hotel and had a couple of meals there, always thought it would be a mainstay for years. The pandemic alas hurt a lot of small town businesses everywhere and Big Timber’s Grand Hotel struggled. When I was there in July 2025 it was closed but promised a reopening.

But there had been another quite jarring— the read brick was gone and everything was painted black, like the place was in mourning.

Then I noticed a second shock, the classic Rustic style Timber Bar (one of my favs for 40 years) also was covered in black.

I always tell folks—don’t sweat the paint colors on a historic building. It can always change. But black in Big Timber, it just didn’t seem right.

But please don’t paint over Edna and Mel’s Gooseys place. What a jewel!

And leave the town plain in place. Here is a western town always worth a stop. Change is ok but please respect the classic.

Another restoration success, along with a worry, this time in Helena

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Tower in 2012

Last post was a shout-out to the restoration of KPRK radio station in Livingston. That is not the only success of the summer of 2025. In Helena came the successful restoration of the iconic fire tower that has watched over the city for decades. it too some discussions and considerations but the outcome of giving this city landmark a life to the end of the century was certainly worth it.

Tower in 2006

On the other side of the Gulch in Helena an uncertain future awaits the historic Hawthorne School. It closed at the send of the spring 2025. Let’s hope new life, and a new purpose, can be given to this neighborhood landmark. So many Montana towns have carried out effective adaptive reuse projects with historic schools. Helena can follow those traditions.

KPRK in Livingston: Restoration of an Art Deco masterpiece

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During the 1984 survey of Montana for the state historic preservation plan even I realized that the small rectangular building with a stylized Art Deco entrance outside of Livingston on old US 10 was a special, unique place. By that time the interstate highway bypassed the landmark, and over the next 30 years it slowly began to deteriorate.

The station in 1990
KPRK c. 2013
Restoration summer 2025

But in 2025 good news abounds for this modernist landmark. Not only is restoration underway, there is a neat bike/pedestrian trail that takes you to the station, and along the way from the east is a beautiful view of the Yellowstone River.

In 1947 Paul McAdam had taken the chance to build the station, one of the first in Montana after World War II. William Fox of Missoula was the architect. Even though the Art Deco style was dated by 1947, it was a perfect choice as time has proven.

Here’s to the successful completion of the restoration, giving this building new life in the 21st century.

Modernism in Northeast Montana

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Repeat visitors to this blog about historic places in Montana quickly see that the focus is very much on the era of 1860 to 1960. But I have taken time to also record the modern past. This brief detour into northeast Montana (Roosevelt, Sheridan and Daniels counties) shares commercial, public, and religious buildings from the late 20th and early 21st century.

The Montana State Bank (now in 2024 the Bank of Plentywood) in Plentywood has its business roots in earlier bank in the railroad town of Reserve. Its echoing of classical columns in a modern setting makes it my favorite modern style bank in the region.

Not far behind is the Independence Bank in Scobey, built in 1972. After the First Security bank of Havre acquired the bank in 1998 it changed the name to Independence in 2000.

The store is now closed.
The store front has changed since this image from 2013

Colorful metal sheathing over old storefronts helped owners update their businesses from the 1960s into the 1980s, enabling downtown locations seem more like shopping centers. The top example is from Plentywood while the bottom, Bryan’s, is from Wolf Point.

The Perkulator coffee shop is still going strong on U.S. Highway 2 in Poplar. Highly recommended!

The design of U.S. post offices moved away from the preference for Colonial Revival styles in the first half of the 20th century and embraced a modern look as shown in Culbertson (top) and Scobey (bottom).

The Roosevelt County office building in Culbertson continued with modem styling into the 21st century.
Staying in Roosevelt County new schools for Culbertson and Bainville in the early 21st century also shared contemporary styling.
Bainville school

Fort Peck Community College in Poplar has significantly expanded its campus after achieving accreditation in 1991 and the gaining land-grant status in 1994.

Lutheran churches in Plentywood and Wolf Point are also modern landmarks. Plentywood Lutheran ELCA dates to c. 1957-1960 while the Trinity Lutheran Church is a late 19th century congregation that worships in a 1960s building.

Plentywood Lutheran
Plentywood Lutheran ELCA
Trinity Lutheran in Plentywood
Trinity Lutheran in Plentywood

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, a 19th century congregation, in Wolf point ends our regional tour of Montana modernism. the building reflects the diocesan decision to build contemporary style churches in towns large and small through eastern Montana in the 1950s and 1960s.