Encouraging news this week from Deer Lodge where a new effort is underway to potentially restore the historic Hotel Deer Lodge, according to a story in the Montana Standard.

The three-story brick hotel has been a landmark along the town’s Main Street for over 100 years, built in anticipation of decades of use in a town that both hosted the State Prison and the division yards of the Milwaukee Road. Unfortunately those days disappeared by 1980, and the hotel struggled for business then closed.

The three images above are from 2012 when an interpretive mural at the hotel entrance signaled that perhaps the place could be reopened.

The next two images from 2023 show some restoration had been accomplished over the preceding ten years. But the building was far from been ready for any new use, especially in sections where the roof had failed.

The newspaper story emphasized that any restoration would not be cheap. The place had deteriorated too much in the last three decades. One estimate called for $15 million. but having seen the town bring back its historic Main Street movie theater after a disastrous fire ten years ago, I have hopes the hotel will attract the necessary investment.