Tag Archives: Essex Montana

A worrisome future for a Great Northern landmark

Posted on by
2
The former Izaak Walton Inn, May 2023

The news came like a thunderbolt in the December 16, 2022 edition of the Montana Free press: the Izaak Walton Inn had been sold to LOGE Camps.

“Street” facade of the building

I must admit that the place is special to me because it was one of the first National Register of Historic Places nominations that I had ever worked on. As I have discussed earlier in this blog, my task was to document its extraordinary significance because at that time of nomination (1984) the building was not yet 50 years old.

Historic Great Northern yards next to the inn, May 2023

Making the case was not that difficult because when it was built in 1939, it basically WAS the village of Essex: lodging for railroad workers, food, bar, post office, etc., but I have covered these points earlier in the blog. I stopped in May 2023 to document the place one last time, before n auction of interior stuff and collections and before renovations began.

In that December 16, 2022 Montana Free Press story, LOGE Camps official Slate “Olson said LOGE was well aware of the inn’s history and is not planning drastic changes to the property. However, the company does plan to make upgrades. Olson said it’ was’s too early to know exactly what those improvements will be, but that new furniture and room amenities are likely on deck in the coming year. We have a ton of respect for the history of the Izaak Walton Inn,” he said. “We want to create a destination where you feel the history, but you also appreciate the updated touches and amenities.””

May 2023
May 2023

Let’s hope so. A good part of the historic integrity of the property lies with its rough edges. The old boarding houses was upgraded to a degree in the mid-1980s, certainly. But you also had the right spaces, the post office boxes, and the laid back vibe of common areas. And wi-fi: well good luck once you left the link in the lobby.

May 2023
May 2023
May 2023

Believe me, I get it. Historic places are always changing. But here at Essex you have to accept that the building was a key part of a working landscape of the railroad. That its history will forever be tied to the tracks and the people who worked here. Take away that gritty reality, and you lose so much.

May 2023
May 2023
This covered pedestrian walkway led to other cabins and trails into the park. It was a great way to see the inn and the railway working together.

Here’s to the first 38 years of the Izaak Walton Inn as a National Register landmark adjacent to Glacier National Park. Let’s hope the next generations recognize and nurture the qualities that make it special.

May 2023

Essex Under Fire

Posted on by
Reply

For more than a week many have been anxiously following one of the 2015 wildfires along U.S. Highway 2 that threatens the town of Essex adjacent to Glacier National Park.  I must admit a very personal concern because 30 years ago there was not much to Essex, except for its historic Great Northern Railway dormitory and the switching yards, where the railroad could add engines to help trains cross the Logan Pass.  At the state historic preservation office in Helena, I had just worked with Pat Bick and Marcella Sherfy on an exceptional significance statement to place the dormitory, which was not quite 50 years old then but certainly the town would have existed without the presence of the dormitory, in the National Register of Historic Places.

Izaak Walton Inn c. 1985

Izaak Walton Inn c. 1985

Back then travelers wishing to stop there just crossed the tracks, as generations of railroad workers had done, and came into the dormitory, which actually was little changed except the lobby had a desk to greet visitors, and the basement floor became a very nifty bar.

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 150

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 152Since the mid-1980s, Essex grew as a place as the Izaak Walton Inn grew as a business.  Additional buildings were added to the north side of the tracks, even an old school building was repurposed into a mini-meeting lodge.

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 137At some point in the 1990s or early 2000s (I didn’t get to Essex between 1995 and 2005) a  pedestrian bridge was installed over the tracks, which suddenly gave you a different perspective on the old dormitory and the railroad tracks that it had served.

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 133This view of the historic Great Northern main line, looking east toward Logan Pass, became one of my favorite spots in the state.  Here you still had the look and feel of the early 20th century when the railroad created a new engineered landscape through the mountains, and also had modern marketing had taken hold of the railroad’s image, as the vaguely Swiss Chalet look of the dormitory fit well into the entire design aesthetic that the railroad pursued in its Glacier National Park operations.

IMG_9210The Inn now has a busy winter season as skiers come here for lodging, often traveling by Amtrak train.  The business has expanded in many different ways, with even old Great Northern engines being repurposed into overnight lodging.

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 149 spent a night at the Izaak Walton in May 2015, and now with the serious threat of fire to the entire town I am glad I did.  Thirty years ago, I enjoyed the isolated feel of the place and watching the passing of the occasional train through the night.  In May the train traffic was much heavier–thanks to the region’s overall growth but also the impact of the shale oil

IMG_8968explosion in North Dakota–and the place was not so isolated.  Essex had significantly grown in size.  That’s why the news of the past few days is so distressing.  Not only could the fires take an important Montana landmark, they could also destroy a town that has grown so much in the last 30 years.  Today comes news that the fires had so concerned

2011 MT Glacier Park and communities 131officials of the BNSF Railroad that the company is wetting down its historic avalanche sheds not far from Essex and visible from U.S. Highway 2 at several places.  If luck doesn’t come, a distinctive historic landscape could disappear.

IMG_9207