The Dumas Hotel was the location of the last operating brothel in Montana. The brothel closed in 1981, the same year I arrived in the Big Sky Country. During the historic preservation survey of 1984-1985 the state preservation office knew the history of the Dumas, and it was part of the Butte National Historic Landmark district. But its future was largely unknown–could it be a museum?
When I revisited the Dumas in 2006 it seemed well on its way to being a tourist attraction, not a historic site where the issue of prostitution in Butte could be interpreted fully and fairly. Then in 2012 the future seemed different; new owners were taking the needed restoration seriously. Then in the middle of this decade one of my MTSU M.A. students, Veronica Sales, took on the topic of the Dumas as her thesis, creating a solid context for future renovation and a more robust and accurate interpretation.
But the unexpected death of the hotel’s owner, Michael Piche, in early 2018 has put that promise to the test. Piche was only 34. Who could replace his energy? Renovation stopped in its tracks.
The place was disheveled when I visited in May. The family had just reopened the place and openly wondered what would and could happen next. Let’s hope the future involves
a comprehensive restoration and a “whole story” interpretive program. The sex trade in the American West is an uncomfortable but necessary story and the Dumas has plenty of evocative spaces, like the bare room above, that address the reality of the business.
Progress has been made from 2012 to 2018. But this historic place needs our help–and a similar effort needs to take place for the brick Blue Range of “cribs” that is located across the street. The preservation of the Dumas Hotel is important as the best intact
example of a northern Rockies brothel. The preservation of this building and what is left of Butte’s historic red light district need to be a concern for many who want to tell the whole story of the copper mining era in Butte.
In late may I return to the Big Sky Country, my first visit in two years, when I will once again be looking for changes in the historic built environment as I speed along the state’s
highways and backroads, crossing the bridges over the Yellowstone River, and trying my best to catch as many Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad freight trains as possible, although I doubt that I will ever have such a fun moment than in 2013 when I
caught this freight along the original Great Northern route while I was driving on the original–still dirt and gravel–road of U.S. Highway 2 between Tampico and Vandalia.
Certainly I will keep my eye out for Montana’s famed wildlife, although I don’t expect again to see a bighorn sheep outside of Glasgow, especially one being chased by a dinosaur. I will also stay on the lookout, as regular readers of this blog well know, for the beef–it is rarely a question of where’s the beef in Montana.
No doubt there will be both new and older historical markers to stop and read; the evolving interpretation of Montana’s roadside continues to be such a strong trend.
And through all of the brief stay in the state–perhaps 10 days at the most–I will also stop and enjoy those local places, far removed from the chain-drives roadside culture of our
nation, where you can enjoy a great burger, rings, and shake, like Matt’s in Butte, or a good night sleep at any of the many “Mom and Pop’s” motels along the state’s highways, such as this one in Big Timber.
Craftsman style popular in the early 20th century. It is a place where the pages of the famous Craftsman Magazine seem to come alive as you walk the tree-lined streets. But there is more to Havre’s historic districts than the homes–there are the churches, about which more needs to be said.
As my first two images of the First Lutheran Church show, Gothic Revival style is a major theme in the church architecture of Havre, even extending into the mid-20th century. First Lutheran Church is a congregation with roots in Havre’s boom during the homesteading era. As the congregation grew, members decided to build the present building in 1050-51, adding an educational wing by the end of the decade.
The earliest Gothic Revival styled church is First Baptist Church, constructed c. 1901, shown above. The unidentified architect combined Gothic windows into his or her own interpretation of Victorian Gothic, with its distinctive asymmetrical roof line.
A more vernacular interpretation of Gothic style can be found in the town’s original AME Church, built c. 1916 to serve African American railroad workers and their families, and later converted and remodeled into the New Hope Apostolic Church.
The Spanish Colonial Revival style of St. Jude’s Catholic Church, however, shows us that architect Frank F. Bossuot was more than a classicist. The church’s distinctive style sets it apart from other church buildings in Havre.
The same can be said for a church building that comes a generation later, the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church. When the Havre historic district was established, this mid-century modernist designed building was not yet 50 years old, thus it was not considered for the district. But certainly now, in 2018, the contemporary styling of the sanctuary has merit, and the church has a long history of service. It started just over one hundred years ago with a brick building named in honor of the Montana Methodist circuit rider W. W. Van Orsdel who introduced the faith to Havre in 1891. A fire in late 1957 destroyed that building, and the congregation immediately began construction on its replacement, dedicating it in 1958.
The work was still underway then, but the result after 30 years of local investment and engagement, assisted mightily by the state historic preservation office and other state groups, is impressive. The Grand Union is a riverfront anchor on one of the nation’s most important river towns in all of U.S. history.
The success of the Grand Union is mirrored in another property I visited in my 1984 day and a half in Fort Benton: the reconstructed Fort Benton. There were bits of the adobe blockhouse and walls still standing in 1984, as they had for decades as shown in the old postcard below.
chops away and the beer is still cold. That is what you need on the road.
The Hell Roaring’ Gulch part of the museum is in stark contrast to the mid-20th century engineered, technological landscape of the Orphan Girl Mine. It interprets the mining camp days of Butte from the late 1860s into the 1880s before the corporations stepped in and reshaped the totality of the copper mining industry and built environment of Butte.
artifacts and banners shown in this photo); the store, which displays common items sought by the miners and their families; and various offices that show the business of
mapping the mines, registering claims, and assaying the metals .
In my first post about the World Museum of Mining, I addressed this valuable collection of a historic mine, several historic buildings, and thousands of historic artifacts briefly. Properties like the impressive log construction of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, shown below, are invaluable. The World Museum of Mining deserved more attention, and it deserves the attention of any serious heritage tourist to Montana.
Montana's Historic Landscapes 