Helena, The Town That Gold Built: The First 150 Years

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HELENA, 

The Town That Gold Built 

The First 150 Years 

by Ellen Baumler, Ph.D. 

A publication of the 

Helena Area Chamber of Commerce 

HPNbooks 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

CONTENTS 

3 Foreword 

5 Greetings from Helena’s Mayor James E. Smith 

6 Chapter 1 Humble Beginnings 

14 Chapter 2 Capital Rumblings 

21 Chapter 3 A Cultural Portrait 

29 Chapter 4 Founders and Friends 

37 Chapter 5 A Capital Emerges 

48 Chapter 6 In the Face of Disaster 

55 Chapter 7 Architectural and Artistic Legacy: A Brief Overview 

62 Epilogue 

63 Bibliography 

65 Sharing the Heritage 

142 Sponsors 

144 About the Author 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2014 HPNbooks 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to HPNbooks, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254, (800) 749-9790, www.hpnbooks.com. 

ISBN: 978-1-939300-68-3 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2014949219 

HELENA, The Town That Gold Built: The First 150 Years 

author: Ellen Baumler 

contributing writers for sharing the heritage: Joe Goodpasture, Brenda Thompson 

HPNbooks 

president: Ron Lammert 

project managers: Roxanne Landman, Michele Steele 

administration: Donna M. Mata, Melissa G. Quinn 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

production: Colin Hart, Evelyn Hart, Glenda Tarazon Krouse 

2 ✦ H E L E N A , T h e T o w n T h a t G o l d B u i l t

✧ All kinds of people came to Montana and to Helena in the days of the gold rush, traveling overland by covered wagon, up the Missouri River to Fort Benton by steamboat, and some 

even traveled on foot. History of Montana-Transportation, John W. Beauchamp, oil on canvas, 1934-1935. Original hangs in the City-County Building Commission Chambers in Helena. 

COURTESY OF THE MHS MUSEUM. 

FOREWORD 

Helena has a grandeur that belies its small size. The town claims a colorful, unique past that begins with the yellow treasure once 

hidden beneath the gulch. Its gold fueled financial empires and laid the town’s early foundation. No other town in Montana with 

gold rush roots grew into a cosmopolitan settlement. Bannack, Virginia City, Blackfoot City, Montana City, Garnet and Granite 

all gave up the ghost when the gold played out. Bozeman sprang from agriculture, Missoula from trade and timber, Great Falls 

for its hydroelectric potential, and Billings for the railroad. Although Butte began as a gold camp, it soon died out for lack of water, 

and it was copper that made it boom. Only Helena can rightly claim to be the Town That Gold Built. 

Traces of Helena’s pioneers remain throughout the community in our historic landmarks, in our public art, and in our 

community’s memory. These color the stories that continue to fascinate residents and visitors. But Helena is also a place of 

transformations, of mystery and mystique, magnificently nestled in its crooked bed along the famous gulch in the shadow of 

the Sleeping Giant. Modern-day Helenans love their gulch no less than those who hunted and mined its natural resources long ago. 

To appreciate the city’s progress today, one must look to the past. Helena’s remarkable journey from then to now has been fraught 

with obstacles. Its modern pulse, 150 years later, is a result of the fierce individuality and determination of its enthusiastic citizens, 

both past and present. This history is not about the names we all know from our history books. That history has been done many 

times and is readily accessible. Rather, this is a look at Helena as a community, and the collective efforts to shape it into the modern 

capital that it is today. While some individuals and their contributions necessarily figure in some of the stories, I have tried not to 

focus on the usual players. This is not meant to take the place of other works, but rather to present a new overview and fresh 

perspective of Helena’s evolution and emergence. 

—Ellen Baumler, Ph.D. 

A B B R E V I A T I O N S 

MHS = Montana Historical Society, 225 North Roberts, Helena, Montana 59620 

MHS PA = Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives 

SHPO = State Historic Preservation Office, 1410 Eighth Avenue, Helena, Montana 59620 

F o r e w o r d ✦ 3

✧ 

Mayor James E. Smith. 


James E. Smith, Mayor 

316 North Park Avenue 

Helena, Montana 59623 

Telephone: 406/447-8410 

E-mail: jsmith@helenamt.gov 

May 2014 

Greetings from Helena’s 39th Mayor 

As I read the Preamble in the City Charter, I find that the words written in 1976 are still true today— 

“Helena, Montana, is the proud seat of our state government. It is a community with a colorful past and 

a vibrant future. There is an openness and basic decency that beckons each of our citizens to contribute 

to its unique identity.” 

Our first citizens must have sensed the great potential of this community in 1864 when a sprawling 

mining camp named itself ‘Helena.’ Or again in 1881 when the city’s first Charter was approved by a 

large majority of its 882 residents. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Rich, vibrant, human history. Throughout the great events of the 

last 150 years Helena has become much, much more of a city than even its far-seeing founders could 

have envisioned. For those of us who have built our homes, families and careers here, Helena is quite 

simply the center of the universe; and we cannot imagine being anywhere else. What has not changed 

during 150 years of growth and progress is Helena’s people. The people are generous, tolerant, decent 

and community minded. 

Helena’s sesquicentennial celebration gives us an opportunity to look back, to look around and to 

look ahead. I trust that the good people of this fine city will be pleased with what they see. 

I invite you all to take part in our 150th Anniversary celebration by attending any and all of the many 

great events planned to commemorate the occasion. 

With Kindest Regards. Happy Birthday Helena, 

Jim Smith 

Mayor 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 5

C H A P T E R 1 

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS 

✧ 

The rear of the Pioneer Cabin, built 

by Wilson Butts in the fall of 1864, 

is Helena’s oldest documented 

dwelling. The front portion, added in 

1865, was originally a separate cabin 

where Wilson’s brother Jonas, 

Jonas’ wife Louanna, and their three 

daughters lived until the Butts family 

moved on in 1867. 

COURTESY OF DENNIS H. MCCAHON. 

Native traditions, oral histories, archaeology, and eyewitness accounts help piece together the 

prehistory of the Helena Valley. Generations of Native Americans hunted this well-traveled corridor, 

aware that it was not a place to tarry long; oral traditions warned that earthquakes sometimes shook 

the earth. Lewis and Clark trekked through, describing the Bear’s Tooth—once a local landmark— 

and naming the “Gates of the Rocky Mountains,” the pristine waterway that flows between steep 

limestone walls. Ancient people left mysterious marks and images painted on the rock faces for 

modern visitors to ponder. 

Gold discoveries at Grasshopper Creek in 1862 and Alder Gulch in 1863 brought waves of 

adventurers that impacted the remote Helena Valley. By 1863 mining camps already thrived at 

Montana City, Jefferson City, and Silver City and miners worked claims scattered along Little Prickly 

Pear Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River. With the first greening of spring in 1864, prospectors 

set out to search unexplored streams and gulches. 

Not far from Alder Gulch, several parties camped near each other. John S. Cowan of Georgia 

and D. J. Miller of Alabama were with one group and John Crabb of Iowa and Reginald (Bob) 

Stanley of Nuneaton, England, were with another. The four decided to form a company and strike 

out on their own. Stanley, the son and grandson of Wesleyan ministers, came to the United States 

as a nineteen-year-old in 1857, worked at logging, trapping, and farming, and came west in 1863. 

He was known as Robert, or “Bob” because, as he wrote years later, Reginald did not fit well with 

“the buckskin period of Montana.” Stanley and his party set out for the Little Blackfoot River where the 

previous fall, Stanley had found some color in his pan. But this time the men were discouraged and 

found none, so they pushed on, over the mountains to try the east side of the Continental Divide. 

Lost in the mist, cold and wet, the four wandered and climbed until, after several miserable days, 

the sun emerged and the party reached the top. Stanley climbed to the summit of a high peak. 

He saw the Missouri River far to the east and the sweeping valley below. Encouraged, they pushed 

down the mountain and that evening camped in a narrow gulch where a stream trickled through 

gravel. While their horses grazed, the men passed the evening panning. They did find color, more 

than they had found elsewhere, but they were anxious to find better diggings and so they pressed 

on. They tramped ahead, prospecting along the Sun River to the upper Marias and Teton Rivers. 

Six weeks later, they had found nothing. The four discouraged miners began to talk of the gulch 

where they had spent their first night camped on the east side of the mountains. 


Discouraged and nearly out of provisions, the 

men returned to the little steam to take one last 

chance. It was the evening of July 14, 1864. 

Stanley later wrote: 

…while my partners dug some holes near the 

mouth of the gulch, I took pick, shovel and pan 

and made my way up stream looking for a bar on 

which to put down a hole likely to have bedrock. 

[It was] a fine still evening with the charm of 

treading the unknown and unexplored.… A tiny 

stream rippled under gravel banks, bordered with 

choke cherry and sarvice berry bushes…. I commenced 

a hole on the bar and put it down to 

bedrock, some six or seven feet. Taking a pan of 

gravel from the bottom, I clambered out and 

panned it in the little stream close by. Three or four 

little flat, smooth nuggets was the result; nuggets 

that made the pan ring when dropped into it…. 

Stanley’s account describes the “Georgian 

method” of placer mining, digging pits to 

bedrock and then panning the gravel at the 

bottom. Before the rush to California in the late 

1840s and 1850s, most of the gold mining in 

the States was done in Georgia and in the South. 

Only Cowan was from Georgia. The discovery 

men were known thereafter as “the Georgians” 

for the way they worked their claim. Stanley 

also noted on a return visit to Helena in 

November 1883 that the men made their camp 

at the discovery site “on bar ground back of 

the present site of the First National Bank.” 

This definitively identifies the parking lot south 

of today’s Colwell Building, near the intersection 

of Main and Wall Streets, as the place where the 

first gold was found. 

The gulch was thick with rattlesnakes and so 

the men outlined their campsite with a horsehair 

lariat, believing this would keep the snakes at 

bay. They took their time and chose the best 

ground before Crabb and Cowan went to 

Virginia City for supplies and a whipsaw to build 

their sluice boxes. While Cowan and Crabb were 

discreet, their purchase of a whipsaw proved to 

other idle miners that they had found enough 

color to warrant building sluices. Others 

followed Cowan and Crabb to Last Chance and 

secured claims. There was no great stampede; 

rather, a slow trickling in of eager prospectors. 

The Georgians christened their wild and lonely 

diggings “Rattlesnake District.” A monster rattler 

with ten buttons on his tail, nailed to a post, 

warned of the danger, and huge horse flies 

bothered the horses. A monstrous grizzly bear 

that gorged on chokecherries at the gulch’s 

south end inspired the name Grizzly Gulch. The 

howling and barking of wolves and coyotes, 

Stanley recalled, “made the nights hideous.” 

During the summer of 1864, some stayed 

and others, discouraged by the scarcity of water, 

moved on. In mid- September, the first group of 

emigrants arrived with the Thomas A. Holmes 

wagon train from Shakopee, Minnesota. When 

the group left Minnesota on May 16, 1864, they 

were headed to the gold fields of eastern Idaho 

Territory. On May 26, Congress created the 

Territory of Montana, and suddenly the 

emigrants were not headed to Idaho any longer, 

but to the western gold fields of Montana. 

✧ 

Lewis and Clark named the 

magnificent optical illusion 

“Gates of the Rocky Mountains.” 

COURTESY OF THE HELENA BOARD OF TRADE, 

1887, MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 7

✧ 

Above: James Whitlatch discovered 

the first load-bearing quartz in 

southwestern Montana in 1864. 

The town of Unionville grew to serve 

the Whitlatch-Union Mine which 

produced until 1897. Pictured here in 

the 1930s are the ruins of the main 

vertical shaft. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MARK SHERMAN. 

MHS PA PAC 98-52.49. 

Below: Lone prospectors in their gum 

boots panned for gold along Last 

Chance Creek and throughout the 

region in a feverish hunt for treasure. 



The train included several hundred men and 

fourteen women. Many hailed from Minnesota, 

but emigrants also came from Connecticut, 

Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, 

Wisconsin, and Europe. They had harrowing 

experiences crossing rough waters and Sioux 

lands, and they arrived travel weary in late 

September. The incomplete roster includes a 

number of pioneers who stayed. Among them 

were longtime Helena attorneys John H. Shober 

and his partner Thomas J. Lowry; pioneer rancher 

Nicholas Hilger; and John Somerville who was 

soon to play a key role in Helena’s history. 

Most had no experience as miners, and the 

Montana Post poked fun at them, noting that they 

used blunt picks and worked “like chickens on a 

grain pile.” But some had good luck. John 

Marvin Blake of Wisconsin found a gold nugget 

worth $2,300 ($32,857 in 

modern currency). With his 

fortune Blake studied dentistry 

in Philadelphia and 

returned to practice in 

Helena for fifty years. Others 

opened businesses and 

made places for themselves 

in the new community. 

On the heels of the 

Georgians, others made 

both placer and lode discoveries 

in the surrounding 

hills and camps grew 

around them. In September 

1864, James Whitlatch 

discovered the first and most profitable lode 

four miles south of Last Chance Gulch. The 

town of Unionville grew to serve the Whitlatch- 

Union Mine. Others worked successful placers 

at Grizzly, Tucker, Nelson, and Dry gulches. 

By 1869 these, along with Last Chance, 

collectively yielded nearly $18 million worth of 

gold; Last Chance and Grizzly together yielded 

$12 million ($310 and just under $207 million, 

respectively, in modern currency). 

Miners prepared for impending winter in the 

fall of 1864 and began replacing tents with cabins. 

Wilson Butts was among them, whose claim 

was in a good location with easy access to the 

limited water of Last Chance Creek. The Butts 

family reminiscence describes the construction 

of what is now the back portion of the Pioneer 

Cabin. While there are other local miner’s cabins, 

only Butts’ handiwork has a recorded history. 

It is thus Helena’s oldest documented dwelling. 

Ephemeral stories about Helena’s christening 

include naming the town for the goddess 

Helena. Others insist Helena Goldberg, who 

cooked for the miners, was its namesake. 

Helena and Gumbert Goldberg, however, 

moved to Helena from Virginia City in 1865 

after the town had already been named. 

Historians generally agree that the naming took 

place on October 30, 1864. Several eyewitnesses 

described how some thirty miners crowded 

into the cabin of George J. Wood to organize the 

new settlement. They elected John Somerville 

chairman, Thomas Cooper secretary, and three 

commissioners: Wood, D. L. Cutler, and H. Bruce. 

When it came to properly naming the camp, 


miners joked, proposing Pumpkinville or 

Squashtown. Legitimate suggestions included 

Winona, Rochester, and Tomah. Some claimed 

Tomah was a Native American chief who 

watched the destruction of the landscape. 

Others, however, believed the word was short 

for “tomahawk.” 

John Somerville then proposed Helena. Civil 

War sentiments ran high, and Last Chance in 

this early stage was a Union camp. Someone 

questioned naming the settlement after Helena, 

Arkansas, a rebel town in a Confederate state. 

Somerville, a Minnesota Unionist, was a very tall 

man. Rising to his full height in the tiny cabin, 

he declared that the town should be named 

Helena after his hometown in Scott County, 

Minnesota, “... the best town,” he declared, “in 

the best county, in the best state.” Put to a vote, 

Helena won. The original pronunciation was 

“He-LEENA,” accenting the second syllable. 

When Reginald Stanley visited Helena in 1883, 

he was surprised to discover that the accent had 

shifted to the first syllable and the town was 

now pronounced “HEL-ena.” By the mid-1870s, 

the pronunciation was in question. One explanation, 

according to the Helena Herald, was that 

a hack driver painted the name of the town on 

his cab but misspelled it “Hellena.” The accent 

on the misspelling obviously fell on the first 

syllable. Seeing that cab on the streets for a year 

and a half had people pronouncing Helena the 

new way, first in jest—perhaps recalling those 

hell-roaring early years—and then it became 

habit. Over the course of a year and a half or so, 

the new pronunciation just stuck. At least from 

Stanley’s comment, we know the pronunciation 

had changed by 1883. 

By late 1864 some two hundred tiny log 

dwellings straggled along the gulch, as miners 

transformed the pristine landscape into a 

smudge of mud and tailings and logged the 

timber for sluices and cabins. Philip Constans 

and John H. Jurgens—emigrants from the 

Holmes train—opened Helena’s first store on 

December 10, 1864; others quickly followed. 

On February 2, 1865, the territorial legislature 

established Edgerton County as one of 

Montana’s original nine counties, named for 

✧ 

The first panoramic map of Helena, 

drawn in 1865, shows the bare hill 

(center) where citizens would later 

build the city’s emblematic Guardian 

of the Gulch. A. E. Mathews sketch. 

COURTESY OF MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 9

Sidney Edgerton, Montana’s first territorial 

governor. Silver City was its county seat. 

Helena residents, however, wanted to claim 

that designation. Legend has it that attorney 

Wilbur Fisk Sanders, Governor Edgerton’s 

nephew and the organizer of Virginia City’s 

vigilance committee, rode to Silver City and 

stole the scant county documents. With the 

papers in his saddlebags, he rode to Helena and 

thus unofficially transferred the county seat. 

1 0 ✦ H E L E N A , T h e T o w n T h a t G o l d B u i l t

George Wood platted the town site using no 

surveying implements, an amazing feat. The 

first sawmills facilitated wood frame construction. 

William Parkinson built the first frame 

house that still stands at 313 Pine Street. 

A bustling commercial district sprang up along 

Bridge Street, today’s State Street. Until the 

1970s, State Street ran east and west to the base 

of Mount Helena. As planed lumber became 

available, shopkeepers added false fronts to 

their log cabin shops, creating the illusion of 

civilization in the wilderness. False fronts made 

early residents feel more secure in a remote 

place where there was no telegraph, no good 

roads, and virtually no communication with the 

outside world for weeks, even months, at a time. 

The first miners and settlers depended upon 

mules, oxen, and even camel trains—and 

weather—for supplies essential to their survival. 

Residents lived in fear of winter when snows 

choked the mountain passes or heavy rains or 

melting snow washed out the trails and the 

freighters could not get through. Travel was 

incredibly slow. When President Abraham 

Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865, it 

took two weeks for this news to reach Virginia 

City, and that was the fastest any news had thus 

far traveled to Montana Territory. 

The camp at Last Chance, newly christened 

Helena, experienced many significant firsts within 

months of the Georgians’ discovery. In March, 

Helena’s first death brought the Fraternal Order 

of Freemasons together in the community. Dr. 

Leander Rodney Pococke, a Mason, succumbed 

to consumption but not before he requested a 

Masonic funeral. As a result, Masons organized 

to become an important force in the new community. 

Rodney Street was named for the doctor. 

With Pococke’s death, the mining camp 

established the first cemetery on a ridge overlooking 

the gulch. The location would later 

prove so desirable that officials removed the 

cemetery to make way for Central School. 

But from 1865 to 1875, this burial ground, 

along Warren Street between Lawrence and 

Seventh Avenue, served the community where 

Protestants, paupers, desperadoes, and those of 

divergent faiths were laid to rest. 

The lack of water was a serious drawback, 

but by 1865, the Yaw Yaw Ditch partially 

rectified this problem. The ditch brought water 

from Tenmile Creek to Grizzly Gulch mainly for 

mining purposes. The Helena Water Company 

formed in 1865 and installed wooden pipes and 

conduits to deliver water along Last Chance 

Gulch. Teamsters carted water barrels to 

residents for drinking and domestic use. Last 

Chance Creek ran parallel and just to the west of 

Main Street and perpendicular to Bridge Street. 

A footbridge across the commercial thoroughfare 

gave Bridge Street its name. Last Chance 

Creek was soon diverted underground in a 

wooden flume, but the bridge remained, albeit 

symbolic and not a necessity, for many decades. 

The two primary forces that herald civilization, 

churches and schools, both appeared in 

1865. Methodist Episcopal minister Reverend 

E. T. McLaughlin preached the camp’s first 

sermon out in the open on Cutler Street and by 

July, the Methodist Episcopal Church—Helena’s 

first house of religion—was dedicated. Catholics 

were not far behind. Professor A. B. Patch was 

the first to open a day school. The first recorded 

wedding took place in May. 

✧ 

Opposite, top: Log cabins sporting 

false fronts of planed lumber and 

heavily laden freight wagons on 

Bridge (today’s State) Street illustrate 

the bustle of the gold camp in this first 

photograph of Helena, taken in 1865. 

COURTESY OF MHS PA 954-177. 

Opposite, bottom: First generation log 

and wooden buildings crowded close 

together and shopkeepers stocked 

them with a wide variety of goods 

in 1868. The Montana Post, newly 

moved to Helena from Virginia City, 

is at the end of Main Street. 

SAVAGE AND OTTINGER OF SALT LAKE 

PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA 954-198. 

Above: The steamer Helena 

brought many immigrants west to 

Montana Territory. 



C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 1

✧ 

Prospectors often partnered up, 

forming a company, to work their 

claims more efficiently. Ralph E. 

De Camp, Montana Ore Crushing, 

oil on canvas, 1894. 

COURTESY OF THE MHS MUSEUM. 

Families began to settle in Helena. Wilson 

Butts sent for his brother Jonas who arrived 

with his family in late spring 1865. They built 

the front room of the Pioneer Cabin. 

Neighboring families that also arrived about 

the same time were the Davenports (whose 

log cabin core remains, known today as 

the Caretaker’s House), the Parkinsons, the 

Bookers, and the Brookes. Many families told 

of peaceful, pleasant journeys to Montana 

Territory; others were not so lucky. William 

Davenport sent word to his wife Rachel that he 

had a claim and a cabin ready at Last Chance 

for her and their four children. One child died 

before the family left Liberty Landing, Missouri. 

On board the steamboat St. Johns, the children 

fell victim to a measles epidemic. One sibling 

died as the boat docked at Fort Benton, another 

died in a few months later in Helena. Eightyear-old 

Sallie, once sister to three siblings, 

now found herself an only child. Such were the 

perils of these first pioneers. 

Virginia City placers dwindled and many 

transferred their stores and shops to Helena to 

“mine the miners.” The settlement boomed. 

William Sprague, an early settler, recalled that 

there were 1,000 people at Last Chance Gulch 

by May 1865 and, “There was a good deal of 

shooting and hanging. The shooting was 

mostly all done by the gamblers, other people 

having very little trouble.” By summer, there 

were 3,000 residents. John Keene committed 

the first murder on June 7, 1865, when he 

killed Harry Slater outside a Bridge Street 

saloon. There being no government presence, 

Helena’s vigilance committee escorted Keene 

to the Hangman’s Tree in Dry Gulch. There 

he became the first recorded victim of some 

dozen men who breathed their last on 

the gnarled branches. However, territorial 

Supreme Court justice Judge Lyman Munson 

observed upon arrival at Helena in July 1865, 

that some claimed the tree had already seen 

eight victims. 


The venerable ponderosa pine stood until 

1875 when the Reverend William Shippen 

chopped it down. He claimed flooding had 

loosened its roots, and the tree could fall on 

his barn and kill his horse. Citizens were 

incensed at the loss of this symbolic landmark 

and hundreds crowded the neighborhood to 

take souvenir slivers of the tree. In 1913 

when excavating for an addition on the home 

of Jacob Opp, workmen encountered the roots 

and found them as stable as if the tree were 

still alive. The tree’s exact location was on the 

property line between 521 Hillsdale and 

528 Highland, just west of Blake Street. 

The activities of the Helena vigilante 

group—not the same as the group in Bannack 

and Virginia City—made a lasting impression 

on the community and numerous eyewitnesses 

left accounts of their gruesome work. Rachel 

Parkinson remembered the morning she and 

a friend took an early morning walk to the 

outskirts of town and came nearly face to face 

with the body of a man hanging on the scraggly 

tree. That same morning, children caught 

glimpses of the dangling corpse from their 

Rodney Street schoolyard. A few years later, 

as David Hilger and his young friends played 

marbles beneath the branches of the ill-famed 

tree, men arrived to scatter the boys so that 

ghastly business could be done. When the 

hanging was over, the boys resumed their game. 

In 1903 Martin Maginnis wrote a ballad about 

Helena recalling those wild early days: 

We waltzed our partners to the bar and treated 

them most free, 

Till guns would crack and lights go out in 

utmost liberty. 

And when the sunlight touched the hills and 

flushed the circling range, 

The hangman’s tree would loaded be with 

ghastly fruit and strange. 

✧ 

Left: Last Chance Creek, soon 

diverted in a box flume, ran just west 

of Main Street. This 1884 map shows 

a portion of its path. 

COURTESY OF SANBORN-PERRIS FIRE INSURANCE 

MAP OF HELENA, 1884. MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

Above: The first formal plat map, 

drawn in 1868, shows the City 

Cemetery, where Central School 

was later built in 1875, at the top 

center right. 

COURTESY OF A. C. WHEATON, PLAT MAP OF 

HELENA, 1868. MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 3


CAPITAL RUMBLINGS 

✧ 

The first chartered bank in Montana 

Territory was built at the discovery 

site in 1866. 


“How I loved Helena!” Mary Sheehan Ronan exclaimed, recalling her experiences at Last Chance 

Gulch during the heady days of the gold rush. The Sheehan family arrived in spring 1865; 

Mary was barely thirteen. In her reminiscence, Girl from the Gulches, she vividly remembered 

boomtown Helena: 

I loved its setting, high in the hills of the valley of the Prickly Pear. I loved its narrow, crooked Main 

Street that followed the course of Last Chance Gulch a little way and broke off abruptly in the wilderness. 

I loved the cross streets that led up and down steep hills and ended suddenly against other steeper 

hillsides, in prospect holes, or in piles of tailings. It did not matter that the thoroughfares were trampled 

deep with dust or churned oozy with mud by long strings of mules, oxen, or horses drawing heavy 

wagons…. I paid no attention to the inconvenient boardwalks at different levels…. I [was] neither 

curious about Helena’s vices nor interested in their blatant demonstrations. The dry, light air of the 

place invigorated me and gave zest to living. 

Shopkeepers and merchants, like gold-seeking adventurers, pulled up stakes and followed the 

new strikes. Much of the same population that started out in Bannack, trailed the stampede to Alder 

Gulch, and then to Last Chance. Businesses and services in Helena by 1865 included fourteen 

saloons, seven restaurants, forty-five grocers, fifteen liveries and feed stables, twenty dry goods 

stores, and ten doctors. 

A short-lived newspaper, The Radiator, began in December 1865 and lasted about ten months. 

The printing press, cut into two pieces and loaded onto the backs of horses, came over the divide 

from Lewiston, Idaho. The heaviest piece weighed 560 pounds. There was a scarcity of materials 

and so the paper’s first issues were printed on brown paper. Two other newspapers, the Democratic 

Rocky Mountain Gazette and the Fisk brothers’ Republican Weekly Herald, soon brought citizens 

territorial and local news. The Independent, the ancestor of the present Independent Record, replaced 

the Gazette in 1874; the Herald continued until 1900. 


Samuel Hauser received the first national 

charter in Montana Territory for his First National 

Bank in 1866. Its permanent quarters were on 

the corner of Wall and Main, just steps east of 

the Georgians’ discovery. It was intentionally 

symbolic that this first nationally affiliated 

bank and its attendant assay office located on 

the place that gave up the first gold. The bank 

was of solid stone construction but had a dirt 

roof and could have been an easy target for 

robbers, had anyone wanted to take a shovel 

and dig in; there were, however, no known 

attempts. After several incarnations, the building 

was torn down in 1886. The mortar that 

secured its stone walls, mixed from the soil 

taken from the site, revealed a high gold 

content. Today’s Colwell Building, first known 

as Uncle Sam’s Block for the site’s national 

banking affiliation, replaced the old bank. The 

First National Bank relocated to new quarters 

on the North Walking Mall. Later known as the 

Securities Building, over the entry are the two 

significant dates: 1866 for the bank’s founding 

and 1886 for the date it moved to its present 

site. The bank closed in 1896, partly because of 

the economic depression of the 1890s. 

✧ 

Above: The Dunphy Block’s 

arcade front was remodeled after the 

Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in 

1883. It is one of few surviving 

1860s commercial buildings. 

COURTESY OF MHS PA 953-312. 

Left: The Dunphy Block at 38 South 

Last Chance Gulch was reputedly 

Helena’s first two-story building. 

Built c.1868, it originally featured an 

arcade front which allowed maximum 

light into the storefronts. Small panes 

of glass, packed in sawdust and 

shipped by ox team, were a 

precious commodity. 


C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 1 5

✧ 

Right: Quarried limestone was 

dumped into kilns and burned to 

produce powdered lime. The powder, 

mixed with water, made mortar for 

Helena’s first stone and brick 

buildings. There were four Grizzly 

Gulch kilns, one for each decade from 

the 1860s to the 1890s. One kiln 

could produce twenty tons of lime 

every eight hours. 

COURTESY OF KATIE BAUMLER-MORALES. 

Below: When Central School displaced 

the city cemetery in 1875, Montana 

Historical Society founder Wilbur Fisk 

Sanders took this wooden headboard, 

likely fashioned from a wagon bed, 

as a memento. The murder of 

Langford Peel in a barroom fight and 

his cryptic, misspelled epitaph recall 

the violence of the early days. 

OAK TOMBSTONE, 1867. 

MHS MUSEUM COLLECTION. 

The Georgians worked their claims for three 

summers, hiring a workforce of seventy men 

who made daily wages of six to ten dollars. The 

discovery men, however, called it quits and 

sold their claims in 1867. Like other successful 

miners in Montana Territory, they faced a tough 

decision: pay the exorbitant assaying fees to 

convert their gold dust to cash or send it at 

great peril to the Philadelphia mint to be 

coined. The Georgians opted to box up the 

heavy gold, which amounted to a net worth of 

about $170,000 ($3,170,000 on today’s market), 

and escort it themselves. Trusted friends helped 

load the heavy boxes onto a wagon. They sat on 

the boxes with their shotguns loaded and ready 

and made their way to Fort Benton. They 

bought a flatboat and floated and rowed all the 

way back to civilization. The Georgians were 

lucky to reach their journey’s end safely and 

with their boxes of gold intact. 

Journalist A. K. McClure visited Helena on 

August 24, 1867, and noted: 

Helena has all the vim, recklessness, extravagance 

and jolly progress of a new camp. It is 

but little over two years old, but it boasts of a 

population of 7,500 and of more solid men, 

more capital, more handsome and well-filled 

stores, more fast boys and frail women, more 

substance and pretense, more virtue and vice, 

more preachers and groggeries, and more 

go-aheaditiveness generally than any other city 

in the mountain regions. 

Some estimate there were 10,000 people in 

the vicinity during the peak placer years in the 

later 1860s. Such a figure seems likely but there 

is no way to confirm it; Virginia City also boasted 

like numbers at its height in 1863 and 1864. 

Young, good-looking women were plentiful 

but many of them dressed in men’s clothing, 

cut their hair short, and according to the 

Herald, “swaggered about like gamblers.” And 

as McClure pointed out, Helena had its share 

of gambling houses, saloons, and hurdy 

gurdies. Prostitutes worked the streets, saloons 

and dance halls. “In fact,” said the Gazette, “the 

country abounds in sin and iniquity.” These 

women were highly transient, moving from 

camp to camp to mine the miners. Thus 

Helena had no real red light district until city 

ordinances in the 1880s prohibited solicitation 

on Main Street. This followed the usual pattern 

in frontier communities. “Public women” frequented 

the saloons and dance halls and more 

or less mingled with the rest of the community. 

Josephine “Chicago Joe” Hensley opened 

Helena’s first female-run hurdy gurdy house 

a few blocks down from the Buttses’ cabin in 

1867. Hurdy gurdy saloons, later forbidden 

under territorial law, were a holdover from 

the California ’49ers who named them after 

hurdy gurdy machines—like a monkey grinder 

used—which supplied music for dancing. 

Although saloons had live musicians by this 

time, the name stuck. A miner could buy 

a dance and a drink for a dollar. All kinds of 


women, married, single, respectable and not, 

worked in the dance halls. The sounds of the 

miners’ revelry filtered into the Buttses’ cabin 

at all hours. The family fled the gulch; Helena, 

as Jonas Butts wrote to a relative, was no place 

to raise three girls. 

The first churches countered all this wickedness. 

After the Methodists, Reverend Francis 

Kuppens, S. J., and the Roman Catholics built 

Helena’s second house of religion along South 

Ewing Street in summer 1866. The cornerstone 

of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church was 

laid on September 5, 1867, at Broadway and 

South Ewing; until 1935, its tall spire—several 

times remodeled—dominated Broadway. Bishop 

Daniel Tuttle conducted the first Episcopal 

service in summer 1867; the collection plate 

was full of gold dust and nuggets. 

Helena quickly progressed. The Creighton 

brothers planted the first telegraph pole in 

Virginia City in 1866. Helena received service 

in September 1867, connecting the community 

to the outside world. By this time several 

theaters brought traveling troupes and lecturers. 

Jack Langrishe built one of two early theaters 

in 1865. Scores of coal oil lamps lit the 

stage. It is not surprising that this popular 

venue, where many well-known early-day 

actors entranced audiences, later burned. By 

1867 Helena boasted a foundry, several 

breweries and brickworks, lime kilns for the 

manufacture of mortar, and stone quarries. The 

well-appointed St. Louis Hotel accommodated 

visitors, and stages ran frequently to Montana 

settlements and well beyond. 

Edgerton County’s name changed to Lewis 

and Clarke County in December 1867. The 

territorial legislature, meeting in Virginia City, 

approved the change with a unanimous vote 

of 7 to 0. Governor Green Clay Smith signed 

the act on December 20. Republican Judge 

Hezekiah Hosmer noted in the December 28th 

Montana Post that the change came about 

because of “partisan spleen.” Edgerton was a 

Radical Republican. Although Smith was also 

Republican, the legislature at the time was 

Democratic. The change underscored bitter 

territorial politics. 

From 1868, regional horse racing with 

substantial purses was organized in Lewis and 

Clark County at Helena. The territory’s first 

regulation track, built in 1870 at the Lewis and 

Clark County Fairgrounds in Helena, attracted 

participants from far distances. Legend has it 

that in the 1880s, the Northern Pacific brought 

carloads of Kentucky earth to spread on the 

track that was purportedly “as smooth as a 

billiard table.” Later part of the Montana circuit, 

the Helena track was at the heart of the sport. 

Roads ran in all directions out of Helena to 

Gallatin City, Virginia City, Deer Lodge and 

Fort Benton. The road between Fort Benton 

and Helena was a well-worn path used by 

freight wagons, stagecoaches, and horsemen 

traveling between these two key settlements. 

The road saw heavy traffic from the earliest 

days of Montana Territory until the advent of 

the railroad. There were way stations along the 

route as it was hard going for both humans 

and livestock. Malcolm Clarke’s ranch, today 

headquarters of the Sieben Ranch, was among 

the early stage stops. 

✧ 

Top: Horse racing was a popular 

nineteenth century sport. Helena’s 

mile-long track, built in 1870, was 

part of the Montana racing circuit. 

Portions of the track survive at the 

Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. 


1887. MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

Above: Helena’s racetrack was the 

only mile-long regulation track in 

Montana and the surviving sections 

represent the oldest existing track west 

of the Mississippi. 

COURTESY OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF 

TRANSPORTATION, AERIAL VIEW, 1971. 

C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 1 7

✧ 

Right: Second generation buildings, 

no longer made of log, stretch to the 

north on Main Street, c. 1874. 

E. H. TRAIN PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA 954-200. 

Below: Roads, including the Helena 

to Benton Road, from all directions 

entered town via North Main Street. 

In the grid, top to bottom, are Park, 

Main, Rodney and Davis Streets. 

General Land Office Map drawn 

by B. E. Marsh, 1868. 

COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL 

RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION, HELENA. 

The Benton Road, not the same as Helena’s 

Benton Avenue, entered Last Chance Gulch via 

North Main Street as did the other major 

routes to Prickly Pear 

Canyon and Gallatin City, 

Deer Lodge, and Virginia 

City. The popular notion 

that the Benton Road 

entered Helena by way 

of Benton Avenue and 

wound its way down 

through Reeder’s Alley 

is physically impossible. 

Until 1893, buildings 

spread into and up the 

alleyway toward the dead 

end that was Benton 

Avenue, preventing all 

types of traffic except 

horseback. Freighters 

could never bring six or 

eight span of oxen, or 

a mule team, or several 

thousand-pound wagons 

hooked together down 

that steep, narrow alley. 

The well-traveled North 

Main Street route into Last 

Chance Gulch was flat and 

plenty wide enough. 

Freighters coming into town pastured their 

animals on the outskirts of Helena and camped 

overnight in the wide open spaces north of 

town. Sometimes the gentle, distant lowing of 

the oxen carried on the breeze as the animals 

bedded down in the evenings. The next morning, 

freighters hitched up the animals—but not 

necessarily the entire team—and brought the 

heavy freight wagons into town to unload. 

Virginia City continued to lose population as 

Helena grew. In 1867, discussions of relocating 

the territorial capital to Helena began. Virginia 

City won the first election. Put to a vote again 

in 1869, the ballots mysteriously burned in a 

suspicious fire in Virginia City. At this same 

time, completion of the first transcontinental 

rail service from Sacramento, California, to 

Omaha, Nebraska, heralded changes that were 

to come. Helenans dreamed of the day the railroad 

would directly link Montana and Helena 

to the States. 

Transportation was a major obstacle not only 

to commerce but also to personal travel. Stages 

departed daily from Helena for the Union 

Pacific railhead at Corinne, Utah, but it was 

a long and arduous journey to get there. 

“First class” fare—on the best coach—was $55 

($980 modern currency) and it took four days 

and nights when the weather cooperated. 

Inclement weather could indefinitely delay 


travel stretching four days into eight or nine 

in way stations that were crowded, dirty, and 

uncomfortable. Travel to St. Louis and the 

States via steamboat, restricted to summer 

months, cost $100 (approximately $1,785 

today) and took between four and eight weeks, 

not including travel costs and time from Helena 

to Fort Benton. The railroad was a major topic 

of conversation. Helena was on the projected 

route, and the town held its collective breath to 

see if it really would come to be. 

Meanwhile, depletion of the easily obtained 

placer gold prompted some miners to sell their 

claims and others to open businesses as the 

town grew over the diggings. Miners resorted to 

the second phase of placer mining: hydraulic 

mining. Placer gold—loose and close to the 

surface—is the heaviest element in the soil and 

therefore is the residue in the pan or the sluice 

box. There is only so much placer gold, and 

miners wanted to be sure to extract all of it. 

Hydraulicking, or power washing, was one 

method used extensively in the hills surrounding 

the gulch. Miners created a reservoir, and 

then water wheels channeled water under 

tremendous pressure into huge hoses. These 

were then directed to the hillsides to power 

wash the soil down to the bedrock. A series of 

sluices filtered the dirt. This destructive mining 

method drastically changed the landscape, 

reducing and leveling the once-timbered hills. 

Legislators ordered a third election for 

August 1874 to finally decide if the capital 

should move to Helena. The ballot included 

incorporation of the City of Helena. Helena 

administrators were county officials, and incorporation 

would create new city jobs. Editorials 

in the Herald warned against incorporation, 

maintaining that prospective officeholders 

wanted to create jobs for themselves and the 

burden would fall on the taxpayers. Voters 

defeated incorporation 910 to 105. The city 

remained under county administration until 

incorporation finally came in 1881. 

Unofficial election returns revealed Helena 

the capital winner, but later official returns 

from Meagher County were found to be mysteriously 

transposed, giving Virginia City the 

victory. The Territorial Supreme Court ordered 

re-canvassing of the Meagher County votes, and 

on January 2, 1875, Helena officially became 

the territorial capital. On April 2, Diamond “R” 

freighters, loaded with the territorial archives, 

books, papers, and furniture of the territorial 

officials, left Virginia City without fanfare. 

On April 15, the capital officially arrived in 

Helena and moved into the new “Capitol” in the 

Blake Block on Broadway. 

✧ 

Top: Taylor & Thompson extensively 

worked Last Chance placers in the 

area where the Great Northern 

Town Center is today. 

F. A. GREENLEAF PHOTOGRAPH. 

MHS PA LOT 26 BOX 3 FOLDER 3. 

Above: Helena’s growth is obvious in 

this 1875 map, but the mining scars 

on the landscape are also easily 

visible. On the right, major hydraulic 

operations include a reservoir and 

elevated flumes. After depletion of 

the placer gold, the neighborhood was 

then platted as the Central Addition. 

E. S. GLOVER MAP OF HELENA, 1875. 

MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 1 9

✧ 

Right: By 1900, $30 million 

(or $833 million in today’s currency) 

had passed through the melting ovens 

in the basement of the federal assay 

office. The ovens melted gold 

until 1934. 

F. A. GREENLEAF PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA 953-881. 

Below: Federal treasury architects 

drew the plans for the federal assay 

office at 206 Broadway, Helena’s 

first architect designed building. 

The former assay office now 

houses apartments. 


1887. MHS RESEARCH CENTER. 

As the new capital city, Helena wanted to be 

worthy of the honor. Several significant projects 

were soon underway. Excavations began for the 

foundation of Helena Graded School Number 1 

(later, Central School) in July. City fathers chose 

the most prominent location. The site presented 

problems as this was the city’s first cemetery. 

Many of the interments were removed to the 

Benton Avenue Cemetery. The school’s opening 

in January 1876 gave the capital city the lead in 

public instruction and put Montana’s educational 

facilities on a par with other communities 

in the United States. It was the first school 

in the territory to separate students by grade 

and the first to offer a high school curriculum. 

The first high school graduates, all girls, completed 

the three-year course in 1879. 

The dangers of transporting gold to the 

Philadelphia mint prompted western territories 

to lobby for their own mints. After much discussion 

in 1874, Congress passed a bill that 

allowed a federal assay office at Helena. This 

was not a mint, where gold could be converted 

to paper currency, but it was the next best 

thing. This was a tremendous boon to miners. 

The assay office evaluated and converted 

unwieldy dust and nuggets, at values of fifty 

dollars or more, into bullion which could then 

be directly deposited into the miner’s local 

bank. The building at 206 Broadway, designed 

by federal architects, opened in 1876 taking 

its place among only five others in the nation 

at New York City, St. Louis, Charlotte, North 

Carolina, Deadwood, and Boise. The chief assayer 

was appointed by the president. The office 

assayed gold until 1934. The office was the first 

federal presence in the Territory of Montana, 

with the exception of the federal penitentiary 

at Deer Lodge, which accepted its first prisoners 

in 1871 and later became a state institution. 



A CULTURAL PORTRAIT 

Helena’s eclectic population formed a boisterous community. The voice of the Sunday auctioneer 

disturbed religious services and many foreign languages added to the cacophony of music from 

the dance halls and livestock in the streets. Helena was the territory’s largest urban area. Men 

outnumbered women three to one, and residents came from nearly every country and every state. 

Between 1866 and 1869, there were perhaps 10,000 residents, maybe more, but by 1870 when 

the first census was taken, Helena’s population was approximately 3,106. The sharp decrease 

reflects the usual ebb when the placers began to dwindle. 

Throughout its history, varied ethnic and immigrant groups—both small and large—have helped 

build Montana’s capital city in various ways. Among the smaller, more itinerant groups, for 

example, were the Japanese. In 1910 when the Northern Pacific Railroad revamped its line across 

Montana, some forty Japanese workers, all male, were housed in railroad “warehouses” and boxcars 

along the Northern Pacific tracks in the Sixth Ward. 

Hispanics form another small group. Mexican vaqueros brought their wild broncos into the gold 

camp, but few Hispanics settled in Helena until the 1960s. During that decade, Catholic Charities 

in Montana took in more than one hundred young Cuban refugees. These homesick children were 

among 14,000 youngsters sent to the United States by parents who feared Fidel Castro’s communist 

regime. President John F. Kennedy determined that the children were not safe in Miami, and so they 

were portioned out to other places across the United States. Helena took in more than sixty-six of 

these youngsters, included them in family celebrations, and taught them English. They, in turn, 

brought their own culture to the community and inspired others to learn Spanish. In more recent 

years, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics make up the largest minority ethnic group in 

Helena at 2.8 percent. 

✧ 

At 540 West Main Street, 

German-born Emil Kluge added 

a half-timbered upper story to an 

abandoned miner’s cabin using a 

technique he learned in his native 

Prussia. It is one of only several such 

examples in the United States. 

Long abandoned, vandalized, 

and nearly destroyed by fire, initial 

1970s restoration saved this 

cultural treasure. 

COURTESY DENNIS H. MCCAHON. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 2 1

Among the more than ninety percent white 

residents, Helena has been home to many 

immigrant groups, too numerous to mention in 

detail here. They include Danes, Finns, Swedes, 

French, Slavs, Swiss, Italians, Irish, Scots, and 

Canadians. Helena once supported Norwegian, 

Scandinavian, and Swedish Lutheran and 

Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal churches. 

German immigrants especially arrived in significant 

numbers and established German 

Lutheran and German Methodist churches. In 

the mid-1890s, St. Helena’s Catholic Church 

on Hoback Street offered Mass in German. The 

Helena Turnverein—a German athletic club— 

built a boxing ring and gymnasium in 1890. 

A German school opened in 1893, and the 

state’s only German language newspapers 

were published in Helena from 1886 to 1916. 

Carriage maker John Wick, confectioner 

Arthur Seiler, saloonkeeper William Kranich, and 

furniture and casket maker George Herrmann 

were among the many German immigrants 

who established businesses, raised families, and 

carved new lives in Helena. Many continued 

to speak German at home. This community 

flourished until WWI when anti German 

legislation outlawed use of the German 

language. Of Helena’s white population, it is 

the largest ancestral group. More than onequarter 

of Helena residents claim German 

ancestry. Irish Catholics are the next 

largest group comprising more than one fifth 

of residents. 

Helena was home to other significant immigrant 

and ethnic groups that included Chinese, 

Jews, blacks, and Native Americans. Chinese 

were by far the largest group in the nineteenth 

century. Many arrived with the first waves of 

miners. Some were veterans of other gold 

camps in California, Colorado, and Idaho 

and others came directly from China. In 1870 

the federal census recorded 666 Chinese 

residents, almost exclusively male, comprising 

twenty percent of the overall Helena population. 

Culture, religion, and language bound 

these sojourners together at the gulch’s south 

end where extensive gardens provided an 

important commodity to local residents. 

There were doctors, tailors, herbalists, grocers, 

restaurateurs, and laborers as well as Chineserun 

laundries and gambling houses. 


As in most frontier communities, Helena’s 

red-light district evolved adjacent to “Chinatown” 

where these two outcast populations depended 

upon each other. Public women settled along 

Clore Street (now South Park) during the 

1880s. Chinese businesses relied upon the 

women’s patronage and the women likewise 

needed these services. Not only did the noodle 

parlors offer cheap and hearty meals, but 

women of the district also depended upon 

Chinese herbalists, doctors, and pharmacists. 

These skilled professionals provided birth 

control and treatments for venereal diseases. 

The use of opium, as important to Chinese 

culture as whiskey was to miners, served 

medicinal as well as recreational use. Taken 

under the care of a skilled professional, opium 

could induce spontaneous abortion. 

Helena’s substantial Chinese community 

contributed to the economy and paid local 

taxes. Yet they endured discriminatory legislation 

and animosity. The few Chinese women 

enumerated in Helena in the 1880 federal 

census, for example, are all categorically 

labeled “prostitutes.” White women known to 

be prostitutes are not so labeled. Other ethnic 

groups shared anti-Chinese sentiments. In 

1892, African American A. F. Smith declared 

in the press that cooks and waiters should 

“form a union that they might stand solidly 

against the Chinese.” 

In 1890, Chinese operated twenty-six laundries 

in Helena; in 1892, there were sixteen; 

in 1911, five, and only one in 1940. Some 

longtime Chinese residents passed away, and 

some, following their original intent, returned 

to their families in China. In the 1970s urban 

renewal erased all vestiges of the early Chinese 

community. Their presence and culture in 

Helena, as in most other towns and cities across 

Montana, is shrouded in myth. Contrary to 

popular belief, “Chinese tunnels” do not run 

beneath streets and neighborhoods in Helena 

or elsewhere. Chinese often rented basement 

spaces because they were cheap, not because 

they gave access to tunnels. Chinese did sometimes 

mine underground claims, but so did 

white miners. 

There are only two physical remnants of 

Helena’s historic Chinese community. One is 

the Yee Wau Cabin at the foot of Reeder’s Alley. 

Its occupants in the 1870s, the Yee Wau brothers, 

operated a grocery on South Main Street. The 

other is a small cemetery known as China Row, 

outside the tended grounds of Forestvale 

Cemetery where a few headstones remain 

among some two hundred unmarked graves 

dating from 1892 to 1941. 

Although legislation made it difficult to 

bring spouses and relatives from China to the 

United States, there were a few families who 

either married stateside or managed to bring 

family members to Montana. These Helenans 

operated the Wing Shing Grocery, the House of 

Wong, and Yat Son’s. All three businesses were 

✧ 

Opposite, top: Germans built the 

Helena Turnverein, a popular athletic 

club, at Warren and Helena Avenue in 

1890. In the early 1900s the building 

was part of the Wesleyan University 

campus, and for many decades it 

has been familiar as Helena Body 

and Paint. 

H. J. LOWRY PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA PAC 80-27.F10. 

Opposite, middle: George Scherer 

and the Kranich brothers were 

German immigrants who operated 

the I.X.L. Hotel on Main Street. 

The partners founded Kranich’s 

Grove, a popular recreation area. 

An 1880s handbill. 

COURTESY OF LESLEE COLEMAN. 

Opposite, bottom: Kranich’s Saloon 

and recreation area became Central 

Park in the 1890s. The site is now 

Green Meadow Country Club. 

Photograph taken in 1884. 

COURTESY OF LESLEE COLEMAN. 

Above: The Yee Wau Cabin at 

300 South Park is Helena’s only 

surviving Chinese-associated building. 

The Yee Wau brothers had a grocery 

store on South Main Street. 

MHS PA PAC 80-27.F15. 

Left: The Fred Wong family operated 

Yat Son’s on South Main Street. 

MHS PA 953-209. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 2 3

✧ 

Left: Last Chance Creek flowed 

through the Chinese settlement 

providing water to the truck gardens 

that supplied local markets. 

Unlike any other ethnic enclave, 

Sanborn-Perris maps consistently 

label Chinese-occupied structures. 

SANBORN-PERRIS FIRE INSURANCE MAP OF 


Top, right: Chinese and red-light 

neighborhoods are almost always 

adjacent. These buildings on 

Clore (now South Park) Street in 

1890 reveal the close association. 

“Female Boarding” is the Sanborn 

euphemism for red-light properties. 

The Pioneer Cabin (206 South Park), 

is at far left. 

SANBORN-PERRIS FIRE INSURANCE MAP OF 


longtime fixtures on South Main Street. Chinese 

immigrants, however, could not become United 

States citizens until the Magnuson Act in 1943 

allowed naturalization. 

Montana’s dynamic Jewish pioneers came 

west from Prussia, Bavaria, Austria and Poland. 

Opportunity drew them to the brand-new 

mining settlements where business as well as 

religious beliefs brought them together. 

Between 1865 and 1869, many came to Helena 

from Virginia City. Lewis Hershfield opened 

a Helena branch of his Virginia City bank; 

Marcus Lissner operated the International 

Hotel; Samuel Schwab and his son-in-law 

Edward Zimmerman ran the Cosmopolitan 

Hotel; Jacob Feldberg, Israel Israel, and Herman 

Gans each had retail clothing businesses; the 

Morris brothers established a crockery and 

mercantile business; the Sands brothers had 

one of Helena’s first mercantiles; and Louis 

Kaufman invested his Alder Gulch mining profits 

in the Helena Meat Market. 

From the town’s first formative years, 

Helena’s Jews, although never a large population, 

contributed in major ways to the local 

economy. When fires repeatedly claimed 

uninsured businesses, Jewish businessmen 

had ties to large banking houses in Chicago, 

New York, and San Francisco that allowed 

them to rebuild again and again. Marcus 

Lissner’s International Hotel burned and was 

rebuilt so many times that it was renamed 

“the Phoenix.” The Jewish community thus 

helped maintain Helena’s economic stability 

and kept the town from the fate of so many 

other gold mining camps. 

Right: Jewish merchant George 

Grossberg’s Globe Clothing Store at 

Lawrence and Last Chance Gulch 

operated from 1918 to 1986. 

It is now the site of Bert and Ernie’s. 

COURTESY OF THE DEWOLF FAMILY. 


The close knit Jewish community formed 

the Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1866. In the 

absence of a rabbi, its members maintained Jewish 

traditions and holidays, offered assistance and saw 

to the medical care of the needy, and buried those 

who died. Jews founded the Home of Peace 

Cemetery, tucked next to present-day Capital 

High School, in 1867. At that time, Jews owned 

seventeen of Helena’s twenty dry goods stores. 

In 1877 when the Helena Board of Trade— 

forerunner of today’s Chamber of Commerce— 

was founded, twenty percent of its membership 

was Jewish. Jews served in public offices, 

maintained some of Helena’s most beautiful 

homes, and were well respected by the gentile 

community. Jews were lawyers, judges, bankers, 

merchants and service providers. The fraternal 

Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (AF & AM), 

so important to Helena’s early community, 

embraced Jewish members. Most of Helena’s 

Jewish men were Masons and many achieved 

the order’s highest degrees. Many Jewish 

women belonged to Eastern Star, the female 

counterpart. Jews were key to the founding of 

the Masonic Home in the Helena valley and 

Shodair Children’s Hospital. The Independent 

Order of Odd Fellows and the prestigious 

Montana Club also welcomed Jews. 

✧ 

Above: The Temple Emanu El at 

515 North Ewing figures prominently 

in this overview of Ninth Avenue. 

Dedicated in 1891, it was the first 

Jewish synagogue between St. Paul 

and Portland and serves today as the 

Office the Catholic Diocese of Helena. 

Also prominent is the German 

Lutheran Church at Ninth and 

Rodney Streets. Photograph taken in 

1891. 

MHS PA 954-261. 

Left: The Jewish Home of Peace, 

founded in 1867 and tucked next 

to Capital High School, is the oldest 

Jewish cemetery in Montana and 

Helena’s oldest active cemetery. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ELLEN BAUMLER. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 2 5

✧ 

Above: J. P. Ball photographed 

James Wesley Crump wearing a 

fraternal vest and apron. Crump, 

whose descendants still live in Helena, 

was a prominent member of the 

black community. 

J. P. BALL PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA 957-605. 

Below: Patrons and local 

businessmen pose at the Broadway 

Market Fish Market, 122 Broadway, 

on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 

1889. African American Joseph 

E. W. Clark, in the white coat at right, 

was a longtime barber, chiropodist, 

and chauffeur. 

MHS PA 953-137. 

In October 1890, Governor J. K. Toole laid 

the cornerstone for the first Jewish temple 

between St. Paul and Portland. But within the 

decade, economic difficulties and lack of local 

job opportunities diminished the congregation. 

Marriages between Jews and gentiles among 

Helena families became frequent. The once 

stringent cemetery rules relaxed in 1916 to 

permit burials of non-Jews linked in legal 

marriage and their unmarried children, and to 

allow non-Jewish funerals. In the 1930s, temple 

ownership passed to the State of Montana and, 

in 1980, to the Catholic Diocese of Helena. 

Helena today is home to a small but strong 

Jewish community that remains at the forefront 

in business and civic leadership. Some pioneer 

families have maintained their Helena roots and 

others are newcomers to the community. The 

former temple and the Home of Peace recall an 

ethno-religious group who forged new lives on 

the western frontier and helped lay the cornerstones 

upon which Montana’s capital city rests. 

Another small population but strong presence 

was that of African Americans. Joseph 

Allen of Saratoga Springs, New York, arrived 

with the Holmes train in September 1864. Allen 

moved on, but others followed. Clarissa Jane 

Powell, born a slave in Virginia, was en route to 

Fort Benton with her owner in 1865. On the 

steamboat Lily Martin, she learned of the 

Emancipation. She married Civil War veteran 

James Crump in 1869 and settled in Helena 

where five subsequent generations of the family 

have lived. By 1870 when the Fifteenth 

Amendment granted suffrage to black males, 

seventy-one African Americans resided in 

Helena. When the city defeated the first bid 

for incorporation in 1874, opponents wrote 

in votes for black barber E. W. Johnson. The 

election judges issued him a commission and 

Johnson became Helena’s first mayor. 

Black citizens never lived in segregated 

neighborhoods, yet visible prejudice occurred 

in social segregation. In 1872 territorial law 

imposed school segregation on Montana communities. 

Helena was divided on this issue. The 

Republican Herald editorialized that public 

schools should be open to all, while the 

Democratic Independent, which included southern 

sympathizers, voiced the opposite opinion. 

Electorate vote in 1882 rejected this mandate 

because separate schools were cost prohibitive. 

In Helena as elsewhere in Montana, African 

Americans served the community. The Dorseys 

operated a neighborhood grocery, Julian 

Anderson was the Montana Club’s bartender for 

sixty years, Miles York and his family operated 

a laundry, photographers J. P. Ball and son 

documented Helena with their cameras, and 

Joseph Bass was an attorney and newspaper 

editor. Even so, the black population was in 

some respects invisible. A 1908 promotional 

pamphlet praised Helena’s churches, fraternal 

organizations, benevolent societies, civic 

improvement groups, and social clubs, but 

ignored the progressive African American 

population that boasted similar institutions. 

In 1888 the St. James AME Church at Hoback 

and Fifth Avenue organized, and by 1894, it had 

earned sufficient national prestige to host the 

annual national convention. The Second Baptist 

Church organized in 1887 and during the 1910s, 

served a congregation of about thirty members. 

Helena’s black women participated in social 

organizations and literary groups including the 

Pleasant Hour Club, the local chapter of the 

Montana Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs. 

The Colored Citizen, published for several 

months in 1894 with J. P. Ball, Jr., as editor, 

promoted Helena as capital during the vitriolic 

fight between copper kings William A. Clark 

and Marcus Daly. Ball urged his “fellow colored 

citizens” to vote for Helena as capital. 


In 1902 the buffalo soldiers of the 24th 

Infantry, Company B, arrived at Fort Harrison 

after their return from the Spanish American 

War. Among the veterans stationed there was 

Samuel Bridgewater whose wife Mamie and 

five children remained in Helena long after his 

death in 1912. 

Joseph Bass, publisher of the black newspaper 

Montana Plaindealer, proudly claimed in 1907 

that Helena’s blacks could compete with anyone. 

When Charles Mason and his professional crew 

of black waiters from Hot Springs, Arkansas, 

came to Helena’s famed Broadwater Hotel, 

Bass could not resist comparing their skill 

and expertise to the “bum” service previously 

provided by “the young white men who were 

imported as waiters.” 

Helena’s black community was at its height 

in 1910 numbering 420 persons out of a total 

population of 12,515. Its active, civic-minded 

residents were articulate and outspoken through 

the voice of the Plaindealer, protesting acts 

of prejudice and discrimination. The Colored 

Progressive League had sixty active members 

who pledged to expel troublemakers and defend 

local African Americans unjustly harassed. 

With the onset of WWI, Montana experienced 

heavier draft calls than other states and 

many Helena blacks were called into service. 

War-related jobs out of state likely drew others 

away from Montana. As a result Helena’s black 

population grew smaller, to 220 in 1920, and 

only forty-five in 1970. 

In an interview in 1979, James Crump’s 

grandson, Norman Howard, reflected on what 

it was like to be black in Helena. While 

Montana never had signs for “Whites Only” as 

in the South, the rules still applied. Most blacks 

found menial employment as waiters, janitors, 

and hotel workers. Blacks were excluded from 

restaurants, bars, and barber shops. 

When Lieutenant Octavia Bridgewater 

returned to Helena after service in the Army 

Nurse Corps in 1945, she found the racial 

barriers she grew up with were beginning to 

soften. St. Peter’s Hospital began to hire black 

personnel, and Bridgewater served there for 

many years as a registered nurse. But as the civil 

✧ 

From the beginning, Helena was a 

settlement of cultural diversity. 

Wagon Trains on Main Street, 

William de le Montagne Cary 

lithograph, 1874. 

MHS MUSEUM. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 2 7

✧ 

Above: Indians frequently camped 

on the outskirts of town as shown here 

in 1874. Mount Helena forms 

the backdrop. 

BUNDY AND TRAIN PHOTOGRAPH. 

MHS PA 953-370. 

Below: Helen P. Clarke (also spelled 

Clark) served three terms as Lewis 

and Clark County’s superintendent of 

schools. She was the only person of 

Indian descent to hold an elective 

position in Montana Territory. 

MHS PA 941-742. 

rights movement brought changes for the better, 

Helena’s black community began to disappear. 

A lack of job opportunities drew second and 

third generation African Americans elsewhere. 

According to the U. S. Census in 2010, this 

ethnic group in Helena made up 0.4 per cent of 

the population. 

Generations upon generations of Native 

Americans frequented the Helena valley. Their 

presence in the area reaches back thousands of 

years. The McHaffie Site near Montana City is 

evidence that these early travelers stopped to 

quarry chert for tools and weapons at least 

nine thousand years ago. Before the demise of 

the buffalo and the creation of reservations, 

Montana’s native people were nomadic. The 

Helena valley was a travel corridor on the way 

to hunt buffalo. Its abundant wildlife and water 

provided a good place for seasonal camping. 

When gold discoveries upset nature’s balance, 

those passing through paused to watch the 

rapid destruction of the landscape and the 

progress that would change a lifestyle practiced 

for thousands of years. 

Salish, Blackfeet, and other tribes were well 

known to the first settlers at Last Chance. 

Family bands and groups frequently camped 

nearby. They brought furs and robes to trade for 

sugar, coffee, and other supplies and fine 

ponies to sell or trade. In the 1890s, displaced 

Cree were familiar to Helena residents. These 

homeless travelers brought polished and ornamented 

buffalo horns into town to sell to help 

sustain a meager living. 

Native American households in Helena were 

not common, but there were some notable 

mixed families. These included Lucinda 

Hereford, Indian wife of Lewis and Clark County 

assessor Robert Hereford, and their five children. 

The large family of Awbonnie Stuart, a Shoshone 

woman, and her prominent husband, Granville, 

included the Stuarts’ nine children, Awbonnie’s 

sister Mary Burr, and Mary’s two sons. 

Helen Piotopowaka Clarke, highly educated 

daughter of trader Malcolm Clarke and his 

Blackfeet wife, Cothcocoma, taught in the Helena 

public schools. Not all Helenans accepted her 

mixed ancestry. Elizabeth Chester Fisk, wife of 

Helena Herald editor Robert Fisk, withdrew her 

children from public school in protest. However, 

in 1882, Clarke was one of the first women to 

run for public office and the only person of 

Indian descent to hold an elective position in 

Montana Territory. Accepted by most of the 

community, she served three terms as Lewis 

and Clark County superintendent of schools. 


In the early 1880s, Métis leader Louis Riel 

stayed in Helena at a Catholic safe house on 

Rodney Street. In 1885 he led the Métis and 

other Indian groups in the Northwest Rebellion 

against the Canadian government. Riel was 

hanged for treason. The aftermath of his death 

brought “landless” Cree and Métis people to 

North Dakota, to Montana, and to Helena. 

In 1892 the federal government dropped 

many from the tribal rolls at the Turtle 

Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota, 

and with the creation of Rocky Boy’s 

Reservation in 1916, many more were left out 

of the land transfers. These landless Indians, 

destitute and homeless, settled in urban 

areas like Helena where they lived on the 

community’s fringe, in makeshift housing 

under deplorable conditions. While Native 

Americans as group suffered discrimination and 

disenfranchisement, unlike other ethnic 

groups, landless Indians in particular also 

endured extreme poverty. Most of these 

impoverished Indian settlers were ancestors 

of today’s Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians 

of Montana, finally recognized as a tribe by 

the State of Montana in 2003. 

By 1941, fifteen Native American families 

lived in Helena’s well-established area north of 

Custer Avenue, historically known as Moccasin 

Flats. Helena’s Indian community grew between 

1940 and 1970 as federal policies changed and 

the need for employment forced some to leave 

their reservations in search of jobs to support 

their families. The American Indian Movement 

(AIM) in 1968 brought national and local issues 

to the forefront. Leaders emerged to found 

the Helena Indian Alliance in 1969, one of 

five in Montana. This not-for-profit advocacy 

organization provides social services and 

educational opportunities to landless and 

reservation Indians living in the local urban 

area. The Montana United Indian Association, 

also established in 1974, is a resource and 

advocacy program. Local Indian families founded 

the Leo Pocha Memorial Clinic in 1981, 

Montana’s first medical clinic for urban Indians. 

Helena is also home to the Indian Law Resource 

Center which provides legal assistance on land, 

resource, and human rights issues. 

According to the U.S. Census, 2.3 percent of 

Helena’s population was American Indian and 

Alaska Native in 2010. Of all Helena’s rich 

ethnicities, Native Americans were the first 

and have proven the most enduring as a group. 

By sharing their carefully maintained traditions 

at annual pow wows and by participating in 

public functions and celebrations, the Indian 

community has impacted and contributed to 

Helena’s modern character. 

Many Helenans have maintained their family 

traditions and cultures over the last 150 years. 

The fascinating diversity contributed by so 

many forms a complex, multi-hued tapestry. Its 

many textures blend today into the wonderful 

mix that is Montana’s capital city. 

✧ 

Helena’s contemporary Indian 

community maintains its rich cultural 

heritage and shares its traditions 

through annual pow wows and other 

local events. 

COURTESY OF LAST CHANCE COMMUNITY 

POW WOW. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 2 9


FOUNDERS AND FRIENDS 

✧ 

Even before its designation as 

territorial capital in 1875, Helena 

was at the forefront in social and 

medical services. The 1885 Lewis and 

Clark County Courthouse served not 

only as the territorial capitol building 

and Montana’s first state capitol 

building, but also as a grand symbol 

of the heart and pulse of Montana. 


Helena has long been the heart of Montana, not only as the capital city, but also as the true pulse 

of the state. No other community has a longer or more stellar record of social service, healthcare, and 

educational opportunity. The institutions that took root in Helena for the good of Montana residents 

and beyond speak to the caring groups and individuals who left important sustainable legacies. 

Healthcare providers, religious groups, educators, social workers, and private citizens have time and 

again come together for the good of the greater community. These founders and friends—both men 

and women—are not often recognized, but their contributions have been monumental and their 

influence far reaching. 

As Helena evolved from mining camp to town, some were concerned about the influence of the 

rough-and-tumble population on the town’s youth. Jesuit priests, an important presence from at 

least 1865, conducted a boys’ school very early on. But the priests saw the need for a dignified, 

female presence to temper the wild, uncouth citizens and serve as a role model for youth. 


Perhaps taking a suggestion from Rocky 

Mountain Gazette editor Peter Ronan, Father 

Pierre-Jean De Smet requested help from the 

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kansas. Ronan 

had become acquainted with the Catholic order 

when he was in Kansas during the tumultuous 

Civil War. His Democratic views had landed him 

in the Fort Leavenworth jail where the sisters 

cared for the prisoners. Ronan knew that their 

threefold mission—to teach, minister to the sick, 

and care for orphans—fit the health and social 

services the frontier territory desperately needed. 

Five Sisters of Charity arrived from Kansas in 

1869 to plant the first seeds from which many 

Catholic institutions later grew. 

Settling in Helena, the sisters traveled on 

horseback to far-flung mining camps begging 

funds for a school and hospital. St. Vincent’s 

Academy, the first boarding school in the 

territory for white girls, opened in 1870. Several 

more sisters—Montana’s first apprentice-trained 

nurses—arrived to staff St. John’s Hospital, 

the first of many Catholic hospitals in Montana. 

On the gentle rise above Last Chance Gulch 

known as Catholic Hill, the sisters tended gardens, 

raised chickens, and kept cows branded 

with “SC” on the hip and a cross on the shoulder. 

In their familiar black habits, the sisters 

ministered to the marginal elements of society: 

the sick, the poor, the orphaned, and the 

cast-off children of the desperate and destitute. 

The sisters cared for the indigent mentally 

ill until the founding of Warm Springs in 

1877. They then outfitted their former mental 

hospital for orphans and took in the first three 

in 1881. The Sullivan brothers from Butte were 

three, five, and six. Their mother had died 

and their miner father could not care for them. 

The sisters nurtured these boys; two became 

priests and the third, a doctor. By 1935, 

St. Joseph’s Home had long moved to the 

Helena valley and had served 4,000 children. 

The Sisters of Charity went on to found 

schools of nursing at St. John’s in Helena, 

St. James in Butte, St. Vincent’s in Billings, 

and, in the 1940s, began the nursing program 

at Carroll College. They staffed Catholic 

elementary and high schools in this community 

and others. The Sisters of Charity Healthcare 

System continues to administer hospitals in 

Billings, Miles City, and Butte. 

Bishop John Brondel, first leader of the 

Helena Diocese created in 1884, was concerned 

about young girls who might be enticed into 

the lifestyle found in the red-light districts 

of nearly every Montana community. At his 

invitation, five Sisters of the Good Shepherd 

arrived in Helena in 1889. The home accepted 

“penitents” (women wishing to reform), 

reformatory children, and “children committed 

to the nuns’ care for preservation.” The home 

immediately filled to capacity. In 1909, it 

moved to expanded facilities in Kenwood 

west of the city. Eventually the emphasis 

shifted to teens at risk and the House of 

the Good Shepherd took in girls until 1967. 

The former gymnasium survives today as 

St. Andrew School. 

✧ 

Above: Sisters of Charity of 

Leavenworth, Kansas, arrived in 

1869 to carry out their threefold 

mission: to care for the sick, teach 

children, and care for orphans. 

They built St. John’s Hospital in 1870 

on Catholic Hill. Dr. W. L. Steele 

poses with St. John’s staff, c. 1890. 

MHS PA 953-522. 

Below: The Sisters of Charity took in 

their first three children in 1881 and 

by the early 1890s, St. Joseph’s Home 

moved from Catholic Hill out to the 

valley where Shopko is today. 

MHS PA 953-390. 

C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 3 1

✧ 

Above: Looking across Broadway to 

Catholic Hill in 1890, St. Vincent’s 

Academy is at the left across South 

Ewing. The Cathedral of the Sacred 

Hearts, the bishop’s residence and 

St. John’s Hospital overlook Vawter 

Street. At the left edge is St. Paul’s 

Methodist Church. Directly behind it 

is St. Paul’s two-story parsonage, the 

only structure of these which survives. 

MHS PA PAC 80-27 F14. 

Episcopalians saw the need for a Protestant 

hospital to complement St. John’s. Bishop Leigh 

Brewer suggested the idea to his board of 

trustees in 1883. While men made up the 

board, it was the churchwomen who did the 

real work. Bishop Brewer’s wife Henrietta, 

Mary Pauline Holter, Dr. Maria Dean, and 

Georgia Young stand out as the cornerstones 

upon which today’s St. Peter’s Hospital rests. 

The hospital located in the Holters’ former 

home at Jackson and Grand Streets in 1884. 

Of the 225 patients treated that first year, 

eighty were East Helena smelter workers sick 

with lead poisoning. Henrietta Brewer and 

Mary Pauline Holter had no hospital training 

and hired Georgia Young, a graduate of the 

New Haven, Connecticut, nurses training 

school, as supervisor. She was Helena’s first 

professionally trained, graduate nurse. Hospital 

conditions were horrific; Miss Young later 

recalled that when she undressed after her first 

day, she was covered with lice. 

Right: Women of the Episcopal 

Church founded St. Peter’s Hospital 

in 1884. The sprawling complex sat 

at the corner of today’s Cruse and 

Eleventh Avenue from 1887 until 

1968 when it moved to its current 

Broadway location. Photograph 

taken in 1931. 

MHS PA 953-533. 


Dr. Dean joined the cause to build a better 

hospital. In 1887, St. Peter’s moved to its longtime 

location at Logan and Eleventh Avenue. 

The first photographs show the building starkly 

resting upon tailing piles left over from the gold 

rush. Under Georgia Young’s supervision, 

Henrietta Brewer and Mary Pauline Holter 

organized their friends as “lady visitors” who 

cooked for patients, cleaned, and conducted 

weekly inspections. Nursing supervisor Georgia 

Young nurtured St. Peter’s for three decades. 

Dr. Dean, who specialized in women’s and 

children’s health, did the same. These four 

founders left a living legacy to the Helena 

community that continues at St. Peter’s present 

eastside location. Its women’s health facility is 

appropriately named for Dr. Maria Dean. 

Helena was a hub of social services that continued 

to evolve especially with reform movements 

in the 1890s. The Florence Crittenton 

Home (FCH), much like the House of the Good 

Shepherd, originally offered sanctuary to "fallen 

women and wayward girls.” The non-denominational, 

Christian organization spread west in 

the 1890s. Homes opened in Butte and Helena 

in 1896 or 1897 to serve local girls needing 

sanctuary. But Crittenton rules required strict 

anonymity and prohibited referring girls to 

homes in their own communities. The Butte 

home was short lived, but the Helena home 

flourished. Crittenton Home Circles formed 

across the state to raise funds and refer girls 

to the Helena home. Local women, especially 

those already involved in Helena’s active chapter 

of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union 

(WCTU), took up the cause. The first board 

members, some of them wealthy women from 

the city’s exclusive west side, walked to the 

home in Kenwood to cook and clean. They 

often paid maternity fees from their own 

pockets, and employed the girls in their own 

homes. Residents included orphaned, homeless, 

and wayward girls as well as pregnant girls 

and women, and mothers with children. 

Longtime matron Lena Cullum and the 

Crittenton board developed 

close reciprocity 

with the sisters of the 

House of the Good 

Shepherd whose mission 

closely paralleled 

the FCH but did not 

include pregnant girls. 

Men and women in 

the Helena community 

rallied around the home, 

holding annual teas and 

showers to raise funds and buy supplies. As 

the national mission thrived, refocused, and 

changed, the Helena home mirrored these 

changes. Historically it was unique to Montana in 

its broad acceptance of girls, women, and mothers 

and provided critical, far-reaching services. 

✧ 

Above: A doctor makes a house call 

at the first Florence Crittenton Home, 

1814 Hauser, in the early 1900s. 

The home, founded in Helena, 

c. 1897, offered a broad range of 

services for women and teens. 

LILA ANDERSON ALBUM, COURTESY JUDY JOHNS. 

Left: Sisters of the House of the Good 

Shepherd cared for women wishing to 

reform at Ninth and Hoback for more 

than a decade. The complex, which 

included the convent and chapel 

(pictured) and a dormitory to the 

south, moved out to Kenwood in the 

early 1900s where sisters took in girls 

until the 1960s. 

NATIONAL REGISTER FILES. SHPO. 

Below: The Crittenton Home’s 

second location was the Kleinschmidt 

Mansion at 22 Jefferson Street. 

The strict policy of anonymity allowed 

only photographs from the back. 

COURTESY FLORENCE CRITTENTON HOME. 

C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 3 3

✧ 

Above: The Wesleyan University 

campus on Sierra Road in the Helena 

valley opened in 1890. It later 

occupied several locations in town, 

and the Montana Deaconess School 

took over this campus in 1909. 

Earthquakes destroyed the newly 

completed Van Orsdel Hall, right, 

in 1935. Only the building’s shell 

survives. Photograph taken in 1935. 

COURTESY INTERMOUNTAIN. 

Below: The Deaconess School was 

not an orphanage, but rather a 

protestant boarding school run by 

Methodist deaconesses from the 

Chicago Training School. 


The Helena home even provided daycare to the 

greater community. Today’s FCH still provides 

sanctuary, but focuses on parenting teens. And 

its services transcend generations. 

The Montana Children’s Home Society, 

founded in 1896 at about the same time as the 

FCH, offered a non-denominational alternative 

to the Catholic St. Joseph’s Home. Dr. Elizabeth 

Holden, like Maria Dean, had a private practice 

specializing in women and children and offered 

her home at the corner of Raleigh and Eighth 

Avenue. In the early 1900s, like the FCH and 

the Good Shepherd, the home moved out to 

Kenwood and, later, was at Helena Avenue and 

Warren Street. Shodair Hospital for Crippled 

Children, completed in 1938, provided the 

only care in Montana for polio victims. Built 

largely with funds given by former Helena 

resident Louis Shodair, it operated as a unit of 

the Montana Children’s Home. Like many 

Helena institutions, its focus has shifted and 

today Shodair provides genetic services and 

treatment for children and teens with a variety 

of mental, emotional, and physical conditions. 

Education also evolved 

in the private sector. 

As superintendent of the 

Methodists’ North Montana 

Mission, William Wesley 

Van Orsdel founded scores 

of churches and many 

hospitals, but he also did 

very important work in 

Helena. “Brother Van” often 

lamented that the Roman 

Catholics established many 

schools, but there were 

no Protestant counterparts 

in the entire Northwest. 

In 1890, “Brother Van” was 

a founder of Wesleyan 

University in the Prickly Pear Valley. When the 

trolley line out to Sierra Road closed, the campus 

relocated in town. The original university 

campus then stood empty. 

In 1909, Brother Van convinced the 

Wesleyan board that the empty college in the 

valley was a “black eye” on Methodism. He 

recruited several Methodist deaconesses, the 

Protestant equivalent of Catholic nuns, to staff 

the Montana Deaconess Preparatory School. The 

deaconesses were professionally trained social 

workers and teachers. The school accepted 

boarding and day students, ages five to fourteen, 

or through eighth grade. It was the only 

Protestant boarding school west of the 

Mississippi. The school catered especially to 

rural children and those whose parents, for a 

variety of reasons, were unable to care for them. 

Like the FCH and the Good Shepherd, there was 

sometimes reciprocity between St. Joseph’s 

Home and the Montana Deaconess School. 

Locals perceived the school as an orphanage 

which it technically was not, but because of this, 

donations and bequests kept the school afloat. 

In 1937 the school moved to Mills Hall on 

Eleventh Avenue, the former home of Wesleyan 

University (by this time renamed Intermountain 

Union College). The campus spread out where 

the Capital Hill Mall was later built. By 1944 

“the Deac” had educated 3,000 children from 

Montana and beyond. In 1954, Deaconess 

students began attending public schools, and 

the name changed to Intermountain Deaconess 

Home for Children. House parents replaced 

deaconesses and courts and public welfare 

agencies began referring troubled adolescents 

to the home. In 1971, Intermountain moved to 

its present cottage-style campus at 500 South 

Lamborn. Professional counselors replaced 

house parents and services further evolved. 

Today, non-profit Intermountain is nationally 


ecognized specializing in nurturing, therapeutic 

environments for children under severe emotional 

distress. As the first deaconesses strove to comfort 

and nurture needy children, Intermountain’s 

modern mission is not so different. 

Catholic education also evolved. Bishop 

Brondel saw a need for Montana to train its own 

priests and worked to found such a school. 

He died in 1903, before he could realize the 

dream. John Patrick Carroll, president of 

St. Joseph’s College in Iowa, became bishop in 

1904. Bishop Carroll, experienced in academia, 

took up the cause. On September 27, 1909, 

President Howard Taft was visiting Helena. 

Senator Thomas Carter diverted the president’s 

motorcade to the ceremony in progress, 

and President Taft then had the honor of laying 

the cornerstone. The school, named for 

St. Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of 

seminarians, opened in 1910. It was originally 

intended to groom boys and young men for 

the priesthood. At first it offered a preparatory 

and high school curriculum, but the first 

college students enrolled in 1911. The name 

changed to Carroll College in honor of its 

founder in 1932. 

Carroll College also adapted to changes and 

needs. The first women on campus were the 

Sisters of St. Dominic who arrived 

in 1925 from Germany to provide 

domestic services. The Sisters of 

Charity of Leavenworth affiliated 

with Carroll in the 1940s, opening 

a nursing school. However, the 

student body was still men only and 

the nursing school was held in 

Immaculata Hall on Catholic Hill. 

By the 1950s, Carroll was coeducational. 

The private Catholic liberal 

arts college today enrolls about 

1,400 students who are an integral 

part of the Helena community. 

As more women entered the workforce 

in the early 1900s, a need for 

safe housing arose. Helena saw many 

young women seeking employment, 

students attending the Helena 

Business College, and young girls 

from rural communities who boarded 

in town while attending Helena High 

School. Dr. Maria Dean saw the 

YWCA as a solution and became the driving 

force behind the organizing of the Helena Young 

Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). 

Billings, Missoula, and Great Falls all had 

early YWCA chapters, but Helena’s is unique. 

Until 1987, it was the nation’s only independent 

chapter, unaffiliated with the national organization. 

The decision not to affiliate was a bold 

expression of tolerance. It went beyond that 

implicit in the national YWCA’s mission 

“to draw together women and girls of diverse 

experience and faiths…in order that they may 

struggle for peace and justice, freedom and 

dignity for all people.” 

In January 1911, members organized. They 

chose two young women from every church in 

Helena, including the Jewish Temple Emanu-El, 

to solicit members. Dr. Dean hired Frieda 

Fligelman, a young and prominent member of 

the Jewish community, as secretary. It was 

Frieda’s job to find safe lodging for girls and 

women, collect information, and counsel girls 

away from home. The Helena “Y” soon rented a 

house at 220 Fifth Avenue. Tenants immediately 

filled its nine sleeping rooms and members 

opened a public cafeteria in the dining room. It 

became a popular, income-generating venture 

serving Courthouse Square. 

✧ 

After 1935, the Deaconess School was 

for many decades at 1539 Eleventh 

Avenue, across from where the Capital 

Hill Mall was later built. Deaconesses 

strived to enrich the children’s lives 

with the arts. A. I. “Daddy” Reeves 

regularly volunteered his 

musical talents. 


C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 3 5

✧ 

Right: Mount St. Charles College, 

founded in 1909 as a preparatory 

school for young men and boys who 

wished to become Catholic priests, 

evolved into the coed Catholic liberal 

arts college that it is today, c. 1930s. 

MHS PA PAC 97-41.1. 

Below: The Helena YWCA, founded 

in 1911 by local women, was the 

nation’s only independent chapter 

until it affiliated with the national 

organization in 1987. 

COURTESY HELENA YWCA. 

Incorporation in 1912 led to the decision to 

remain independent. At that time, the national 

YWCA allowed only Christian members to 

participate in chapter management. Some of 

the members who pioneered Helena’s YWCA 

were of divergent faiths. Frieda Fligelman 

in particular had already done tremendous 

work for the Helena Y. 

Through the efforts of investor 

John H. Empson, businessman 

J. E. Bower, and many community 

supporters, the present YWCA was 

completed in February of 1919. 

Throughout its long history, the 

home has sheltered hundreds of 

women, served as a gathering place 

for service clubs, housed dance studios 

and a preschool, and offered 

occupational skills. 

The Montana legislature created 

the Boys and Girls Industrial School 

at Miles City in 1893. Some, however, 

felt strongly that boys and girls 

should have separate facilities. 

Again, it was Dr. Maria Dean who 

took up the cause. Working with 

other women’s groups, legislator Emma Ingalls 

sponsored the bill establishing the Mountain 

View Vocational School for Girls in Helena. It 

served hundreds of girls until 1996 when the 

facility was no longer needed. The campus now 

houses the Montana Law Enforcement Academy. 

Fraternal groups also provided services for 

their elderly and destitute members and their 

families. The Masons opened the Masonic Home 

in 1909 originally to provide housing not only 

for the elderly but also for women and children. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows opened 

a similar facility in 1910 for both children and 

adults who needed a home. The Masonic Home 

still provides housing for the elderly. 

Over the last 150 years, Helenans have 

rallied to fulfill medical, social, and educational 

needs. Many partners, individuals, and 

groups have contributed to the broad services 

Montana’s capital city has offered. Despite the 

town’s relatively small size, Helenans can be 

proud that the Town That Gold Built has not 

only made the lives of local residents better, 

but has also significantly contributed to the 

comfort, safety, education, and betterment of 

all Montanans as well. 



A CAPITAL EMERGES 

Helena quickly settled into its new role as territorial capital. The next year, 1876, citizens turned 

out to celebrate the centennial of the nation’s independence on July 4. In the midst of the 

celebration, headlines of the mid-day issue of the Helena Herald left the crowd aghast. 

“A TERRIBLE FIGHT,” in boldface type told of the deaths of five companies, fifteen officers, and 

Lieutenant Colonel George Custer of the 7th Cavalry. The horrifying news of the battle at Little 

Bighorn put a damper on the festivities. It was a day that no one could forget. The Herald’s correspondent 

dated the story July 2, but the battle occurred on June 25 making the news ten days old. 

Although this news was incredibly slow in reaching Helena, the coming decade saw real strides in 

improving communication. Before the advent of the railroad, household electricity, and indoor 

plumbing, the first telephone came to Helena. A few residents experimented with home telephones 

in 1877, and a makeshift telephone service arrived in 1878 tapping into telegraph lines. The line, 

however, was garbled and so full of static that its use required a kind of “desperate patience.” 

Telephone service was temporarily on hold. 

✧ 

John C. Paulsen designed the fanciful 

1888 Novelty Block which stood at 

35-37 South Last Chance Gulch. It is 

a good example of how Helena earned 

the title “Queen City of the Rockies.” 

Demolished during urban renewal, 

one of its two cupolas currently 

crowns the kiosk on the North 

Walking Mall. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 3 7

✧ 

Right: John Ming opened his 

far-famed opera house at 15 North 

Jackson in 1880. The Ming’s original 

interior was semi-circular, based on 

European models. Entertainers came 

from all over the world to grace the 

stage. The Masons remodeled the 

theater in 1915 to house the 

Consistory Shrine Temple. 

COURTESY DEWOLF FAMILY. 

Below: Advertisements and a 

scene from Glacier National Park, 

established in 1910, adorn a Helena 

theater curtain, c. 1913. 

EDWARD REINIG PHOTOGRAPH. MHS PA 940-039. 

Helena was a relatively quiet, friendly place. 

Carrie Strahorn, traveling through with her 

husband in the summer of 1878, stayed at the 

Cosmopolitan Hotel and was amazed that 

although they were issued a key to their room, 

no one expected them to lock their door. 

Mrs. Strahorn wrote that they encountered 

no tramps, no beggars, and no burglars during 

their stay. Unlike other towns along the railway 

routes where crime and poverty were part and 

parcel, Helena, although isolated, had a sense of 

freedom and trustworthiness. “It seemed a pity,” 

Mrs. Strahorn wrote, “to propose a railroad to 

such a happy community.” 

The opening of John Ming’s opera house on 

Jackson Street in September 1880 helped put 

Helena on the map as a cultural center. The Ming 

hosted many famous performers including Otis 

Skinner, Eddie Foy, Marie Dressler, and Katie 

Putnam. The theater, renowned throughout the 

Pacific Northwest, followed a circular seating 

plan modeled after fashionable European opera 

houses. It was state-of-the-art at the time, featuring 

thirty-two sets of elaborate, hand-painted 

silk scenery; seating for 900; and gas lighting. 

Innovative stage lighting included twenty-six 

movable border lights. Rubber tubing delivered 

gas to the house and stage lights from a plant in 

the stone cellar. However, the gas lighting and 

lack of exits soon became a safety concern. After 

a horrific opera house fire in Exeter, England, 

claimed one hundred victims, Ming added ample 

exits and updated the gas lighting system. 

Montana’s first railway, the Utah & Northern, 

reached Dillon in 1880 and Butte in 1881. 

Helenans continued to await the transcontinental 

Northern Pacific. Although the territorial capital 

was secure, if and when Montana was granted 

statehood, who knew what might transpire? In 

1882 the town of Townsend was laid out with 

the hope that it would become the “major 

metropolis of the Missouri Valley.” It would be 

one more possible competitor for Montana’s 

capital city, along with Bozeman, Boulder, Deer 

Lodge, and Missoula, when that day arrived. 


The first electric lighting arrived in the form 

of streetlights on August 28, 1882, when Stella 

Knight, daughter of Mayor E. W. Knight who 

was president of the Brush Electric Light and 

Power Company, tripped the lever. Street lights 

thereafter illuminated Main Street from State to 

Edwards, roughly from today’s Lewis and Clark 

Library to the Livestock Building. Hundreds 

crowded downtown to witness the historic 

occasion. The electric current came from a 

dynamo housed at Gebauer’s planing mill at 

Eleventh Avenue and Main Street that had a 

fifty horsepower boiler and forty horsepower 

engine. The Straight Line engine weighed 

5,500 pounds and could only light forty lamps. 

✧ 

Above: Northern Pacific Depot on 

Railroad Avenue served passengers 

until it was replaced, c. 1904. 

Moved to 1328 Lyndale in 1903, 

the old depot served as the Central 

Presbyterian Church (1903-1914) 

and now houses apartments. 

The two-story Grand Pacific Hotel, 

center left, is now the 

Larson Block’s eastern end. 

H. J. Haynes photograph, 1885. 

MHS PA H-1570. 

Middle: Arrival of the 

Northern Pacific opened many 

new doors. Circuses were among the 

entertainment that traveled by rail. 

The Robinson Circus, parading on 

Main Street in 1890, was an annual 

event everyone looked forward to. 

MHS PA 953-276. 

Bottom: Helena boasted horse-drawn, 

coal-fired, and electric trolleys that 

all operated more or less at the same 

time until electric conveyances like 

this one eventually took over and 

served a wide area. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 3 9

✧ 

Helena’s early telephone exchange, 

located on the second floor of the 

First National Bank (Securities 

Building), provided women with a 

new job opportunity in the 1890s. 

MHS PA 953-158. 

Telephone technology rapidly improved and 

during the summer of 1882, poles and crossbars 

were strung along Main, Grand, and State Streets. 

The opening of the first commercial exchange 

was somewhat delayed because the switchboard, 

which arrived via the Utah and Northern 

Railroad at Dillon, had no wagons available to 

freight it to Helena. By September, the Helena 

exchange had twenty-eight connected customers. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad was on its way 

to Helena and the town prepared for its arrival. 

In the spring of 1883, new commercial and residential 

neighborhoods sprang up around the 

proposed depot which was about a mile from 

the heart of the city. Some hoped that this new 

neighborhood would eventually become the 

city’s center and the heart of a new downtown. 

Hotels, saloons, and businesses waited to serve 

passengers and crews. The town’s first horsedrawn 

omnibus, christened the Helena, stood 

poised to ferry passengers to Last Chance 

Gulch. The town waited anxiously for that 

moment when the first locomotive pulled up 

to the depot’s platform and linked Helena at last 

to outside markets, the States, and the world. 

June 12, 1883, was a beautiful day with a 

perfect blue sky. Hundreds packed picnic baskets 

and hiked to the summit of Mount Helena to 

watch for the first wisps of smoke on the eastern 

horizon. In the new commercial neighborhood 

near the makeshift platform where the depot 

would soon be built, people crowded in wagons, 

in carriages, on horseback, and on foot to get a 

better view of the first iron horse. The construction 

locomotive blew its whistle at precisely 

11 o’clock, steamed into town, and pulled up to 

the platform. The crowd cheered wildly. 

The transcontinental line soon reached completion 

and officials drove the golden spike on 

September 8, at Independence Creek between 

Gold Creek and Garrison. It is hard to imagine 

the changes the railroad brought to Helena and 

to Montana. Before its arrival, travel to the States 

could take weeks, even months. Stage travel 

became a thing of the past. A person could 

travel to Chicago and back again in days, 

before his neighbor even noticed his absence. 

For decades after the arrival of the Northern 

Pacific, people talked about time in terms of 

“before the railroad” and “after the railroad.” 


Building commenced in earnest to accommodate 

the flood of newcomers arriving on four 

daily trains. The population boomed. By 1885, 

Helena’s aspirations had grown and its residents 

aimed for a cosmopolitan city that could rival 

any other in the States. Some of its most prominent 

businessmen met in December to found an 

exclusive men’s club. It was time Helena shed its 

frontier image and promoted its economic success. 

The Montana Club’s founders based their 

goals on enrichment, not riches; elegance, not 

ostentation; and the good of the community. The 

exclusive club hosted foreign royalty and politicians, 

copper kings and cattle barons, famous 

artists and actors, and was renowned across 

the Northwest for its fine hospitality. Some have 

claimed that its members were all Republicans, 

all Democrats, all attorneys, all Masons, or all 

millionaires. None of that is true, although 

there were members in all those categories. 

The prestige of the Montana Club bolstered 

Helena’s reputation as its founders had hoped. 

✧ 

The Iron Front, originally called the 

Windsor House, opened in 1888 to 

serve passengers arriving on the 

Montana Central Railroad a few 

blocks north. John De Haas 

photograph, 1964. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 4 1

✧ 

Right: The Broadwater Hotel opened 

in 1889. Founder Charles Broadwater 

had little time to revel in its luxury. 

He died, weakened by influenza, 

in 1892. His funeral at the hotel 

was widely attended. 


Bottom, left: Grand Street ran 

east and west between the Securities 

Building and the Placer Hotel. 

Looking east in 1908, before the 

Placer was built, Grand ran past the 

Helena Hotel and the Methodist 

Episcopal Church. The church, at 

114 North Warren, now houses the 

Big Sky Central Labor Council. 

MHS PA 954-190. 

Bottom, right: A few months before 

statehood, Helena celebrated its silver 

anniversary and that of the territory 

on Independence Day, July 4th, 1889. 

July 4, 1889 photograph. 

MHS PA 953-604. 

The notion that Helena had more millionaires 

per capita than any city its size is not a 

proven fact; rather, it comes from a remark 

Samuel Hauser once made promoting the 

capital city. Helena did, however, have many 

wealthy residents whose lavish homes began to 

grace the west side in the mid-1880s. Ranchers, 

politicians, bankers, investors, mining men, 

and many others whose fortunes were either 

made in mining—or in mining the miners— 

built homes in this section of Helena. A number 

of these same wealthy citizens also heavily 

invested in Helena’s downtown. Flamboyant 

architecture, elegant sprawling mansions, and a 

booming economy earned Helena the designation 

“Queen City of the Rockies.” 

Helena had several transportation systems 

that included the first horse-drawn streetcars, 

running on tracks, which made their inaugural 

trips to the Northern Pacific depot on 

September 11, 1886. Six-year-old William 

LeGrande Cannon pounded the final spike. His 

father, Charles W. Cannon, was a major stockholder 

in the street railway. Four horses pulled 

the twenty-passenger cars from the Cutler Street 

station to the depot; with fifteen stops, the trip 

took eighteen minutes. A steam motor line 

began operating between the Kessler Brewery 

and the new smelter with its attendant community 

at East Helena in 1888. Citizens detested 

the steam railway because it belched clouds of 

smoke that covered laundry hung out in yards 


and frightened the horses on public streets. An 

all-electric system took over in 1890 and horsedrawn 

streetcars became obsolete. The Montana 

Central Railroad, later the Great Northern, 

arrived late in 1887. The depot area at the 

end of North Main Street, hardly developed at 

the time, grew to serve the passenger trains. 

By the end of the year, fourteen passenger 

trains arrived and departed daily from Helena’s 

two depots. 

As Montana Territory and Helena celebrated 

their silver anniversaries in 1889, the fabulous 

Broadwater Hotel and Plunge, the world’s largest 

at that time, opened in August. On November 8, 

Montana officially became the forty-first state 

with Joseph K. Toole at the helm as governor. 

The first state legislature convened in Helena 

November 23. However, Montana politics were 

so contentious that the Democratic minority 

refused to sit with Republicans for this legislative 

session and the next two. The two houses 

were not seated under one roof until 1895. 

Helena’s population stood at about 13,000 in 

1890, but supporters promoted the town 

extremely well as a cosmopolitan city worthy 

of the nickname “Queen City of the Rockies.” 

J. E. “Eddy” O’Connell, founder of the Eddy’s 

Bread empire, often told about a visitor’s 

impression that illustrates the point. As the 

story went, some Helena entrepreneurs hosted a 

potential investor from back east. His train 

arrived after dark. The hosts took their guest to 

the Montana Club and wined and dined him 

like royalty, then whisked him to the “Castle,” 

an elegant bordello at 101 Wood (now Miller) 

Street where the ladies entertained him till 

dawn. The hosts returned their visitor to the 

depot to catch an early morning train. Returning 

east, an acquaintance asked the visitor where he 

had been. When he answered Helena, Montana, 

the acquaintance asked. “How large a town is 

Helena?” “Well,” answered the visitor, “from what 

I saw, I’d say at least half a million.” 

In 1894, the venomous fight for state capital 

pitted arch-rival copper kings against each 

other. Marcus Daly backed Anaconda and 

W. A. Clark backed Helena. Corruption and 

✧ 

Left: The Civic Center and the 

Great Northern Depot form the 

backdrop for the Confederate 

Fountain in Hill Park, c. 1920s. 

George Carsley designed the granite 

and copper fountain in 1920 for the 

Daughters of the Confederacy who 

donated it to the City of Helena. 

Edward Reinig photograph. 

MHS PA PAC 74-104.273N. 

Below: Kessler School students plant 

a tree in the new park fronting the 

Great Northern Depot. After Great 

Northern president James J. Hill’s 

death in 1917, the park was named 

Hill Park in his honor. Edward Reinig 


MHS PA 953-669. 

C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 4 3

✧ 

Above: When the Montana State 

Capitol was under construction, the 

surrounding views were spectacular 

but the area was undeveloped. 


Below: The Montana State Capitol, 

completed in 1902, was the first 

capitol in the nation to be wired for 

electricity. John De Haas 


NATIONAL REGISTER FILES, SHPO. 

bribery were rampant while thousands of 

dollars changed hands and liquor flowed. 

Marcus Daly reportedly spent $2.5 million but 

lost the election by a mere 1,906 votes. Helena’s 

13,000 plus citizens and 5,500 out-of-town 

visitors celebrated mightily. The late Dave 

Walter noted that in spite of the vicious, 

corrupt election campaign, “…Helena supporters 

organized and executed s classy victory demonstration—one 

truly worthy of a community that 

captured the permanent capital.” 

On August 29, 1895, the Capitol Site 

Commission accepted Peter Winne’s offer of 

land on Sixth and Montana at a cost of one 

dollar. On the site of the future capitol, a huge 

bonfire lit up the area in celebration. From 

the site to the east one could see the smoke of 

the East Helena smelter and the grand houses 

of the new Lenox Addition. Montana Avenue, 

the state’s longest straight street, stretched 

north for seven miles. Elegant mansions and 

Kenwood lay visible to the west; to the south 

lay timbered peaks. 

Although Helena reveled in all this good 

fortune, the 1893 Silver Panic took a toll on the 

Queen City. Some of the wealthy lost fortunes, 

and building projects came to a halt. The 

exception was the building of the State Capitol 

and that is primarily because wealthy Thomas 

Cruse carried the bonds that allowed its 

construction. Plans finally came together after 

Governor Toole appointed a second Capitol 

Commission when the fraudulent practices of 

the first commission were exposed. Officials 

laid the cornerstone on July 4, 1899, and the 

dedication took place in 1902. It was the first 

capitol in the nation to be wired for electricity. 

Opposite, top: The Cathedral of 

St. Helena, patterned after the 

Votive Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, 

is a community centerpiece. 


Opposite, bottom: The first WWI 

draftees parade down Main Street. 

Red Cross volunteer women, left of 

troops, carry a blanket into which 

spectators tossed coins, 1917. 

MHS PA 953-648. 


The City Beautiful Movement introduced at 

the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair began to impact 

Helena’s urban landscape in ways that continue 

to benefit us today. Supporters believed 

that urban beauty fostered social harmony. 

Beautification efforts in the late nineteenth and 

early twentieth centuries in Helena were part of 

this movement. One of these projects was the 

creation of Mount Helena Park. 

A mountain park was an idea that had been 

proposed several times since the 1880s. The 

trees that once covered Mount Helena’s slopes, 

long cut down by the first miners and settlers, 

were now stumps ravaged by lightning-sparked 

fires. On Arbor Day in 1899, Helena schoolchildren 

armed with baskets of evergreen 

seedlings, hiked the scorched slopes. Teenager 

Fred Kuphal, later a renowned musician, played 

his violin as the children began reforestation. 

The city constructed Mount Helena Trail in 

1903 and through the cooperative efforts of 

the Helena Improvement Society and the newly 

created U.S. Forest Service, 30,000 seedlings 

were hand-planted upon the eastern slope. 

Many still flourish today. 

In 1906, visiting landscape architect Henry 

Turner Bailey suggested that the abandoned 

Chessman reservoir ditch around Mount Helena 

would make a wonderful scenic drive. Charles 

and Catherine Cannon had been searching for 

a suitable memorial for their son who had died 

of tuberculosis in 1903. They gave the city 

$5,000 and LeGrande Cannon Boulevard 

opened in 1910. Hill Park, named for Great 

Northern Railroad president James J. Hill, was 

another project inspired by City Beautiful in 

1915. Today Helena boasts more than fifty 

city parks, some of which were an outgrowth of 

that movement. 

Montana and Helena slowly recovered from 

the depressed mid-1890s. In 1898 the Canyon 

Ferry Dam began supplying Helena with hydroelectric 

power. Old timers mourned the passing 

of the old to make way for the new. One example 

was the demolition of the Paynes Hotel at 

the head of Sixth Avenue to make way for the 

federal building (today’s city-county building), 

completed in 1903. Several generations of 

youngsters spent hours hanging on the fence 

around the Paynes’ corrals where much of the 

early-day horse trading was done. Many a stage 

coach dropped off its passengers at the hotel. 

Nate Vestal, owner of the Penobscot Mine, back 

in the mining heyday once got off the stage and 

checked into the hotel, forgetting his leather 

satchel. It contained $12,000 in gold dust he 

had won in a card game. The stage driver, 

unaware of its contents, tossed the satchel on 

the sidewalk. Vestal awoke the next morning 

and remembered the satchel. His heart racing, 

he found it where it had lain all night 

undisturbed. Folks hated to see the Paynes go. 

St. Helena Cathedral, although 

not completely finished until 1924, 

celebrated its first mass at Christmas 

in 1914. Thomas Cruse was a major 

benefactor, having donated nearly 

two-thirds of the construction costs. 

The bells in the north spire, given 

in memory of his recently departed 

daughter, were a tribute to the 

little girl he had tried to bring up 

alone. She grew to live a life he did 

not approve of and died in 1913 

amidst scandal. A year later on that 

Christmas morning, “Mamie’s Bells” 

summoned worshippers for the first time. 

Cruse, a sad and lonely man, succumbed to 

pneumonia a few days later. His was the first 

funeral held in the church he helped build. 

During the early 1910s, many Helena women 

campaigned for suffrage. They spoke on street 

corners and in front of saloons to anyone 

who would listen. Belle Winestine stood on a 

C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 4 5

packing crate at the corner of Park and Sixth 

Avenues where she addressed a crowd for the 

first of many times. Her mother was horrified. 

When suffrage finally came in 1914, Helena 

women joyously paraded wearing colorful 

banners of bright suffrage yellow. However, it 

was a double-edged victory because suffrage 

was tied to Prohibition, and Montana voters 

approved a referendum prohibiting the sale of 

liquor in 1916. Montana, and Helena, went 

dry on December 30, 1918. The Eighteenth 

Amendment made the “noble experiment” federal 

law in 1920. Among its unforeseen outcomes 

was the rise of illegal activities including moonshining, 

prostitution, and organized crime. 

Federal law closed Helena’s old red-light 

neighborhoods along Wood (now Miller) Street 

and South Park Avenue in 1917, pushing the 

women into dilapidated South Main Street 

rooming houses and cheap hotels. Pearl Maxwell, 

Ida Levy, and Georgia Lee emerged during the 

1920s as “landladies” in some of these establishments, 

posted as furnished rooms. People 

joked that no one ever said exactly what was 

“furnished.” Ida Levy went on to operate above 

the St. Louis Block until the 1950s when 

Dorothy Putnam (a.k.a. “Big Dorothy” Baker) 

took the reins and operated her well-known bar 

and “house” until 1972. 

In 1929, as Helena grappled with Prohibition 

and the stock market crash lay just ahead, local 

crimes left the community reeling. An organized 

gang robbed the Ronan State Bank and committed 

other crimes. Most gang members were 

apprehended and sent to prison by fall. In 

November, Bobby Kelly, a local floozy who 

stood accused of playing a decoy in some of 

these crimes, was acquitted. By December, 

Kelly and her partner, Jean Mills, were working 

as prostitutes out of an upper floor apartment 

in the Novelty Block. Kelly apparently knew 

too much and was murdered, execution style, 

in December. Jean Mills was also shot but 

survived. Nick Jancu of Townsend stood trial 

and the town went wild. Women packed the 

courtroom, swooned over Jancu’s good looks 

and flashy clothes, and cheered when he was 

acquitted. The crime was never solved. 

Through the efforts of Norman B. Holter, 

Helena secured a branch of the Federal Reserve 

Bank of Minneapolis. Holter proposed the capital 

city to the Reserve’s Minneapolis directors arguing 

that Helena sat atop veins of gold, that it had once 

been touted as the richest city per capita in the 

world, and that it was the financial center that was 

the farthest distance from any Federal Reserve. 

The branch opened in 1921. Helena’s population 

then was 12,377 and it was the nation’s smallest 

city to secure a Federal Reserve branch. In 1930, 

rumors surfaced that the famous gangster 

John Dillinger had rented a room across from 

the Federal Reserve Bank so that he could 

“case the joint.” The bank hired extra security 

for several months, but no crime materialized. 

During the depressed 1930s, Prohibition 

ended, Helenans greeted Amelia Earhart at the 

Helena Airport, mourned the death of State 

Senator Thomas Walsh whose political career 

spanned two decades, and saw the construction of 

a new Helena High School (now Helena Middle 

School) under Works Progress Administration 

funds. The second half of the decade saw recovery 

and repairs after the 1935 earthquakes. 

Helena reached a population peak in 1940 at 

15,046 and experienced the impact of World 

War II at close range. Fort Harrison, established 

in 1894, was an active army post until 1913. 

But, in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 

activated the First Special Service Force, an elite 

group of Canadian and U.S. Army personnel. 

The group trained at Fort Harrison before 

serving with distinction in both the Pacific and 

European theaters. At Camp Rimini, formerly a 

CCC camp, the army trained thousands of sled 

dogs for arctic war conditions. Carroll College 

served as a V-12 training school and housed 

the Civilian Pilot Training program instructing 

civilian, navy, and army pilots. 

Dredging, the final stage of placer mining 

after panning/sluicing and hydraulic mining, 

left huge tailing piles in the area that is now 

Nature Park adjacent the Bill Roberts Golf 

Course north of the city. Porter Brothers 

Corporation dredged the Helena valley from 

1935 until gold mining ended with the 

Gold Mine Closing Order in 1943. After one 

more season in 1945, the operation netted 

$2.5 million. Destruction of the landscape 

is still evident, although now vegetation 

somewhat covers the tailing piles and nature 

is reclaiming the area. It is a visible legacy of 

the last vestige of the Last Chance gold rush. 


By the 1950s, the Queen City’s downtown 

was seedy and deteriorating. City officials 

renamed Main Street hoping the new name, Last 

Chance Gulch, would attract tourists. However, 

the old business section, once the heart of 

Helena, needed more than a new name. 

Crumbling, empty buildings sat abandoned at 

the south end of Main Street. A little farther 

south, Reeder’s Alley was home to elderly 

pensioners who lived in the tiny, unheated 

apartments with no plumbing. Town demographics 

began to shift and move north and 

east. The present Helena High School opened 

and its former home on Rodney Street became 

the Helena Junior High School. In 1959, 

Governor Hugo Aronson moved from the 

deteriorating executive mansion on Ewing 

Street, home to Montana’s governors since 1913, 

into the ultra-modern “ship of state” with its 

prow-shaped front. These events seemed to 

signal unprecedented transitions ahead. 

The 1960s ushered in some milestones. A 

campaigning John F. Kennedy visited Helena in 

1960 just before his nomination as a presidential 

candidate. In 1964, Helena celebrated the 

centennials of both the territory and the Last 

Chance discovery. Construction of the Interstate 

highway system brought better roads and more 

travelers to Montana and Helena. Closure of 

Catholic institutions including St. Joseph’s 

Home, House of the Good Shepherd, St. John’s 

Hospital, and a newly-opened Catholic high 

school (which became Capital High School in 

1973), marked the end of an era. Suburbs began 

to spread east and north into the valley, and the 

Capitol Hill Mall and Lundy and Hustad 

Centers drew the focus away from downtown. 

In 1968, Helena applied for federal funds 

under the Model Cities Program. When the 

official designation came, it launched a windfall 

from the federal government. One of the 

branches of Model Cities was Urban Renewal. 

Local opinions are still vehemently divided on 

the architectural merits of this program, but it 

did transform Helena’s downtown from a 

crowded, depressing, abandoned, and rundown 

area to the present walking mall that so 

many enjoy today. The loss of more than 230 

historic buildings was a tall price to pay, yet 

many historic landmarks like the First National 

Bank, the Atlas Block, the Masonic Temple, and 

the Diamond and Power blocks escaped the 

wrecking ball and eventually received much 

needed rehabilitation. 

Today Helenans argue the pros and cons of 

the walking mall. Some residents familiar with 

Helena before its transformation believe that 

restoring traffic on Last Chance Gulch would 

benefit businesses and restore the ambience 

and bustle that downtown once enjoyed. 

Others who arrived after the urban renewal 

makeover can’t imagine Helena without its 

walking mall. Whatever the outcome, there will 

always be two sides. Helenans have never been 

shy of expressing their opinions. 

✧ 

Left: John F. Kennedy was 

photographed in Helena on a visit in 

1960, shortly before his nomination as 

a presidential candidate. 


Below: South Last Chance Gulch 

including the Novelty, St. Louis, and 

Boston Blocks, had seen better days 

when photographed before urban 

renewal, c. 1970. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 4 7

✧ 

Left: Fire destroyed Colonel Charles 

Broadwater’s Montana National Bank 

at Main (Last Chance Gulch) and 

Edwards Streets in 1944. John C. 

Paulsen designed the 1889 building 

that was famous for the huge buffalo 

above the entry. The buffalo is now at 

the Lewis and Clark Library. 


Right: Two people died when the 

Montana National Bank burned 

in 1944. 

MHS PA 953-482. 


IN THE FACE OF DISASTER 

Helena is no stranger to disaster. Fires, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, bursting dams, train 

wrecks—the community has seen it all. And in the face of these traumatic events, citizens have time 

and again proven themselves brave, determined, and above all, resilient. From the very beginning, 

residents faced potential dangers that might have discouraged less hardy folks. Indians passing 

through cautioned the new settlers that the valley was not a good place for a permanent home. 

“It is a place,” they declared, “where the earth trembles.” In time, their assessment proved correct. 


For the first residents, however, fire was the 

grim reaper that stalked all western mining 

camps. Hastily-built log cabins, crowded 

together along the streets, created a constant 

hazard. Miners relied on fire for cooking and 

heating, and they were sometimes careless; 

their tiny cabins of tinder-dry wood bred a 

dangerous combination. When one building 

caught fire, like a row of dominoes, the rest did, 

too. Residents quickly learned that there was an 

added danger: the wind whipping through 

gulch could carry firebrands to neighborhoods 

not even close to the source of the blaze. The 

camp at Last Chance was therefore even more 

vulnerable than most. Nearly every cabin had a 

fire bucket hanging within easy reach. 

There were numerous fires when Helena 

was in its infancy. The worst were in 1869, 

1871, 1872, and 1874. Helena suffered greatly 

from these conflagrations and lost chunks of 

the community. It was a critical situation if a 

citizen lost precious supplies or a store lost its 

inventory. It could be months and months 

before replacements arrived. Citizens organized 

a warning system and built the first fire tower 

upon the hill in 1868. Volunteers took turns 

scanning the gulch for wisps of smoke where 

none should be. 

Unexpected heroes sometimes emerged. 

Jacob Feldberg, for example lost his clothing 

store in 1869 and understood the devastation 

fire could cause. In 1871, as another fire 

threatened Main Street, Feldberg ran to help. 

“Go away and leave us alone,” the firemen told 

him. “You are too small to be of any help.” 

Feldberg was small-statured, but fiercely 

determined. When he saw burning embers 

flying up Broadway, he gathered onlookers to 

follow him up the hill as firebrands struck 

their backs and sizzled at their feet. There 

were few houses except for a row in the first 

block of Fifth Avenue behind the courthouse. 

✧ 

The aftermath of one devastating 

unidentified conflagration, possibly 

1872, left cavernous holes in the 

downtown area. 

MHS PA 953-427. 

C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 4 9

✧ 

Right: In 1880, firefighting 

equipment was housed next to the 

county jail on the site of the current 

Myrna Loy Center. 


Below:The Guardian of the Gulch 

on Fire Tower Hill has been Helena’s 

protector since 1874. 

COURTESY KATIE BAUMLER-MORALES. 

Feldberg and his followers 

led horses to safety 

and turned out the 

cows, pigs and chickens 

to fend for themselves. 

He found his way into 

a kitchen, gathered all 

the pots he could 

find, organized a bucket 

brigade, and saved 

the neighborhood. After 

that, Jacob Feldberg 

earned the nickname 

“Helena’s Paul Revere.” 

Another destructive 

fire in January 1874 

began in a Chinese dwelling and quickly 

destroyed $900,000 (more than $18 million 

in modern currency) in property including 

the Montana Historical Society’s archives, the 

entire public library, and Marcus Lissner’s 

International Hotel. The fire claimed one life. 

Three weeks later one chicken, buried under 

debris, was discovered alive. This hardy 

survivor brought renewed vigor, and citizens 

hoped to start a new breed. They called it the 

“hunger defier, fireproof, double-breasted pullet.” 

The watchtower also burned in the fire of 

1874. It was rebuilt and improved with a 

guardroom and a mechanized bell, added in 

1886. Each neighborhood had a designated 

number of rings. The bell also sounded the 

evening curfew for Helena’s youngsters. When 

gasoline engines replaced horses in 1916, 

neighborhood alarm boxes replaced the tower 

bell. The bell, however, continued to toll 

the curfew every evening at 8:45 until the 

mechanism froze in 1931. Children rejoiced 

when the curfew bell rang no more. 

When the city incorporated in 1881, its seal 

portrayed a phoenix, rising from the ashes as 

did the town so many times. And fire was a 

continued theme into the twentieth century. 

In 1903, fourteen-year-old Harry Anderson, 

who liked to start fires and help the firemen 

put them out, started a small fire on the 

sixth floor of the Montana Club. Within 

minutes the building was fully engulfed. The 

fire department had no ladder tall enough, nor 

water pressure strong enough, to reach the 

flames. Members watched aghast as the fire, 

fanned by strong winds, gobbled their club 

floor by floor. In the aftermath, one said to 

another, “What will we do now?” The other 

answered, “We’ll build again.” And so they did. 


In July 1928, Helena’s terrible incendiary 

history continued when a lightning sparked fire 

destroyed most of the block of Last Chance 

Gulch north of the present Holiday Inn. 

Summer rain drenched everything except the 

fire. When it was finally out, only the Power 

Block still stood. Fortunately there was no loss 

of life, and owners—like others before them— 

immediately rebuilt. 

The next disastrous fire claimed two lives, 

caused multiple injuries, and destroyed Colonel 

C. A. Broadwater’s Montana National Bank 

building at Edwards Street (which no longer 

exists) and Last Chance Gulch. In the 1940s, 

the five-story building housed offices and 

apartments. On the bitter-cold morning of 

January 9, 1944, fire broke out in the basement 

and quickly enveloped the building. Trapped 

residents leapt from the fire escape to the roof 

next door and one person swung from the fifth 

floor to the neighboring roof on an electrical 

cable. The bodies of two elderly residents were 

recovered from the ice encrusted building the 

next day. The eight people injured included 

several children and two firefighters. Fourteenyear-old 

Patricia Desonia jumped twenty-five 

feet to the next roof with her four-year-old 

cousin in her arms. She later received a 

Carnegie medal for her heroic actions. 

Even in recent years, fire has impacted the 

downtown streetscape. Late in the evening of 

June 17, 1980, fire began in the Coast to Coast 

Building in the 300 Block of Last Chance Gulch 

and jumped to the Horsky Block next door. 

Although firefighters pumped two million 

gallons of water on the fire, both buildings were 

total losses. The blackened ruins created an 

unsightly depression on the corner of Sixth and 

Last Chance Gulch. It came to be known as the 

Horsky Hole. In 1987, lack of funds stymied 

plans to create a park commemorating the 

nation’s bicentennial. The Friends of L. Ron 

Hubbard came to the rescue. Hubbard, who 

spent his childhood in Helena in the 1910s, was 

the founder of the Church of Scientology. Before 

he died in 1986, he expressed the wish to give 

back to his childhood community. His organization 

donated $25,000 to create Constitution Park, 

a welcome replacement for the Horsky Hole. 

Fires have been the most frequent disasters, 

but other incidents have taken tolls on the 

community. On August 8, 1876, the Chessman 

Reservoir on Tenmile Creek burst sending a 

ten-foot wall of water carrying logs, boulders, 

cattle, and everything in its path. The flood 

swept away John Merry’s home and deposited it 

a hundred feet downstream. Mrs. Merry and 

two others died in the flood. The raging waters 

left a great swath of debris in its wake and 

deposited the cows, mostly unharmed, on flat 

ground where the water’s fury was finally spent. 

Flash floods on Main Street several times 

claimed precious merchandise. In 1878, a 

violent cloudburst sent a torrent rushing 

into the commercial district. In places the 

muddy water was six feet deep. Dry goods 

boxes, doors, chicken coops, clothing, kitchen 

utensils, and debris rushed along Main Street. 

✧ 

Above: Lightning sparked a fire in 

1928 that destroyed a number of 

business blocks along North Last 

Chance Gulch. Building owners 

immediately rebuilt. Herman 

Fligelman added charming 

sculpture to his New York Store at 

44-46 North Last Chance Gulch. 

A tailor (top) and seamstress at the 

cornice advertise his clothing. 


Left: Helenans were never shy of 

seizing opportunities. After a 

rainstorm flooded Broadway in 1915, 

passersby combed the muddy street 

for gold. They found some, too, 

proving that there was still treasure to 

be found. L. H. Jorud photograph. 

MHS PA 954-186. 

C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 5 1

✧ 

Above: Norma Alada and Felix 

Kuehn were among the many victims 

of a diphtheria epidemic that swept 

through Helena in 1885. This mailorder 

tombstone is one of three nearly 

identical children’s monuments in 

Benton Avenue Cemetery. 

COURTESY CHARLEEN SPALDING, BENTON AVENUE 

CEMETERY: A PIONEER RESTING PLACE. 

Opposite: The 1889 Atlas Block is 

a reminder of Helena’s fiery history. 

Winged Salamanders, mythical 

creatures immune to fire, play as 

stylized flames lick at the cornice. 

A centrally placed Atlas carries 

the weight of the building on 

his shoulders. 

HELENA ILLUSTRATED, BOARD OF TRADE, 1890. 


Among the casualties was the trousseau of 

eighteen-year-old bride Emma Morris. Her 

precious trunks and boxes from St. Louis 

had just been unloaded on the street. They 

tumbled end over end to the prairie and 

burst open where her delicate linens decorated 

the sagebrush. 

Like all frontier communities, Helena battled 

epidemics. Whooping cough, measles and 

diphtheria struck particularly hard in the 

winter of 1880-1881. Newspapers never fully 

covered these incidents for fear of community 

panic. But another crisis affected so many 

children that it was impossible to keep it out of 

the press. Five children of Elizur Beach, two of 

Dr. Ben Brooke, two of R. T and M. A. Kuehn, 

and the Kuehn children’s middle-aged nurse 

all died of diphtheria in 1885. During that 

epidemic, the Board of Health instituted 

quarantine for the first time, placing red flags 

on houses where diphtheria was present. Airing 

bedding on the sidewalks, a common practice, 

was prohibited. Violators incurred a twenty 

dollar fine. The public did not understand 

contagion, and complained bitterly. However, 

the measure saved lives, and the medical 

community learned from it. 

In 1918 when the deadly Spanish flu struck 

the Capital City, Montana’s “clean mountain 

air”—considered so healthful—was no protection. 

Helenans were lucky, however, to be at 

the seat of state government. At the time, 

Dr. William F. Cogswell was the head of 

entomology for the State Board of Health 

and heavily involved in spotted fever research. 

He was also Helena’s highly experienced city 

health officer. Dr. Cogswell’s quick actions no 

doubt helped prevent the spread. He closed 

schools, churches, theaters, the YMCA, Carroll 

College, the public library, pool halls and 

card rooms, removed tables and chairs from 

saloons to discourage congregating, and 

banned public gatherings. Because it was the 

capital, Helena received 1,000 doses of the 

Rosenow Anti-influenza Vaccine developed at 

the Mayo Clinic. In spite of all these precautions, 

1,252 residents, or six percent of the 

population, contracted the flu between October 

10 and November 12. Seventy-two county and 

city residents died. It could, however, have 

been much worse. 

The worst accident in the history of Helena 

occurred in the very early morning hours of 

February 2, 1989. The town slept while 

thermometers dipped to thirty degrees below 

zero. That morning is etched in the minds of 

many Helenans. A runaway freight train with 

forty-nine cars gathered speed as it came 

barreling down from Mullan Pass and slammed 

into an idling work train. Fifteen cars were 

derailed at Benton Avenue. Moments later a 

terrific explosion sent black smoke and 

potentially toxic fumes spewing over the 

Carroll College Campus. The explosion jolted 

residents and plunged the entire town into 

darkness. Windows shattered and shrapnel shot 

in all directions, but miraculously no one was 

critically hurt or killed. The frigid weather 

prevented a worse explosion, but without 

power, pipes froze in homes all over town. 

In characteristic fashion, Helenans rallied, 

welcomed displaced Carroll College students 

into their homes and took it all in stride with 

the knowledge that this disaster, too, could 

have been much, much worse. 

Earthquakes, as the Indians predicted, 

proved the Helena valley a place of “trembling 

earth.” Residents from the earliest period 

experienced jarring. In 1869, Reverend D. S. 

Tuttle and his wife were eating breakfast in 

their Jackson Street home when they heard a 

loud rumbling. It sounded like a huge piece of 

furniture had fallen over or a freight wagon 

had hit the house. They soon learned they had 

experienced a tremor. 

In 1872, Helenans felt a strange vibration. 

Mary Daugherty recalled that her mother was 

sewing and the machine kept inching away 

from her. Her mother grabbed the children and 

ran outside. In 1878, hunters in the mountains 

north of town discovered a monstrous landslide 

that had sent one of the two teeth of the 

Bear’s Tooth, a landmark so named by Lewis 

and Clark, tumbling down the mountain. 

Years later, an observer noticed that the 

re-shaped mountains suggested the form of 

a sleeping burgomaster. That became known 

as the Sleeping Giant; the remaining bear’s 

tooth is his nose. And in 1925, a strong 

tremor felt as far away as Glasgow caused 

wells in the Helena area to dry up and 

chimneys to topple. 


The worst disaster the Queen City endured, 

however, occurred in October of 1935 when a 

series of earthquakes traumatized the community 

and indelibly changed the Queen City’s appearance. 

The first small tremors began on October 3. 

These were a prelude to October 18 at 9:47 p.m. 

when a Magnitude 6 quake sent Helenans fleeing 

from their homes. Two people died and the damage 

was extensive. There were many close calls. 

Drama students rehearsing in the brand-new 

Helena High School auditorium (now Helena 

Middle School) had just gone home when the 

roof caved in and the school was nearly demolished. 

Girls at St. Vincent’s Academy were getting 

ready for bed when the electricity went out. 

In total darkness, the sisters led the girls from 

the second floor to the street without incident. 

The next morning, they discovered that the path 

they had taken was the only safe way out. A wall 

had fallen away and had they taken the other 

route, they would have stepped out into nothing. 

The sisters believed that Providence guided them. 

The clock tower on the county courthouse was 

destroyed, but the Civic Center, the west side, and 

the downtown were relatively unscathed. The 

south central area and the Sixth Ward, however, 

sustained some major damage. Many thought 

the danger had passed. Then on October 31 at 

11:37 a.m., another Magnitude 6 earthquake 

struck the city. In nineteen seconds there were 

two more fatalities and extensive damage. 

Catholic Hill lost most of its buildings including 

St. John’s Hospital. Carroll College, Bryant 

and Hawthorne schools, St. Paul’s Methodist 

Church, the Sixth Ward, Ninth Avenue, and 

Main Street all sustained major damage. 

Helenans were shaken and bruised but not 

defeated. Rebuilding began immediately and 

the face of Helena changed forever. Helena High 

students attended class in donated boxcars until 

the school was rebuilt, and many homes were 

stuccoed, erasing unsightly cracked walls. As 

the town settled back to normalcy, humor 

helped lighten the situation Some said that 

ducks approaching Helena turned around and 

flew the other way, exclaiming “Quake! Quake!” 

And rumors were that the town’s name changed 

to Lena, not because the town leaned, but 

because during those very dark hours when 

the earth rattled and rolled, earthquakes shook 

the Hel out of it. 

C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 5 3

✧ 

Above: An earthquake in 1878 

destroyed the Bear’s Tooth and created 

the Sleeping Giant. While the missing 

tooth was noted, it was not until the 

early 1890s when a visitor noticed 

that the mountains resembled a 

sleeping burgomaster. He’s been the 

Sleeping Giant ever since. 

COURTESY ELLEN BAUMLER. 

Right: Earthquakes damaged and 

destroyed numerous Helena homes 

and businesses including the campus 

of the Montana Deaconess School. 




ARCHITECTURAL AND 

ARTISTIC LEGACY: A BRIEF OVERVIEW 

Helena is, above all, a survivor. Despite earthquakes, fires, and urban renewal, what remains is 

an astonishing legacy that tells Helena’s history better than anything. Miners, in their frenzied 

search, cut the pristine forests and reduced the hills to a nearly blank canvas on which the city 

arose. The Queen City’s built environment uniquely reflects the layers of time, from the miner’s 

earliest cabins to the modern Great Northern Town Center. These architectural layers hold the 

key to Helena’s history and to its 150-year journey from gold camp to capital city to modern 

metropolis. Likewise, the art that has emerged deserves no less attention and cements Helena’s 

position as a creative hub with treasures unique to Montana. 

Helena’s historic neighborhoods feature more than half a dozen districts encompassing hundreds 

of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These include the West Main, South- 

Central, Rodney Street, Railroad Depot, House of the Good Shepherd, Mount Helena, and Helena 

historic districts, as well as three cemeteries and many individually listed buildings and homes. 

✧ 

Renowned architect Cass Gilbert 

designed the second Montana Club 

after fire destroyed the club’s first 

building in 1903. The 1905 club is 

one of Helena’s architectural stars. 

COURTESY DENNIS MCCAHON. 

C h a p t e r 7 ✦ 5 5

✧ 

Above: Reeder’s Alley is Helena’s 

oldest intact territorial period 

neighborhood, dating to the 1870s 

and early 1880s. Its row house 

architecture and small false fronts are 

a unique combination. 

NATIONAL REGISTER FILES, SHPO. 

Below: Ghost signs like this one on 

the Parchen Block’s east wall recall 

nineteenth century advertisements 

and illustrate the skills of local 

sign painters. 

ELLEN BAUMLER PHOTOGRAPH. 

Among the Capital City’s important historic 

assets are the Pioneer Cabin, Caretaker’s House, 

Yee Wau Cabin, and Reeder’s Alley. These 

form Helena’s oldest, intact, territorial period 

neighborhood spanning the first two decades 

from 1864 to 1884. The hand-hewn logs of the 

primitive cabins and the soft, locally-produced 

bricks of Reeder’s Alley represent the first 

placer mining phase of Helena’s development 

and the early Chinese occupation. Louis Reeder 

built the tiny row house style apartments to 

provide miners better housing. The quaint 

architecture, unique to Montana, incorporates 

the row house style Reeder brought from 

his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the 

western vernacular. Brick false fronts on two 

alley apartments recall the need to make early 

buildings appear larger and grander than they 

really were, offering residents a sense of security 

and civilization in the wilderness. 

In the aftermath of Helena’s early fires, 

citizens built more fireproof structures in brick 

and stone. The lime kilns at the south end 

of West Main Street toward Grizzly Gulch, 

active from the 1860s through the 1890s, 

produced the necessary mortar. Examples of 

fine, early rubble stone masonry, like the 

1873 Child Carriage House at 318 East Sixth 

Avenue, are scattered around town. As the 

settlement evolved into a proper town, architect 

designed buildings signaled permanence. U.S. 

Treasury architects drew the blueprints for the 

Federal Assay Office at 206 Broadway; built in 

1875, it was Helena’s first professionally 

designed building. 

The arrival of the Northern Pacific in 1883 

dramatically changed Helena’s commercial 

landscape. Flamboyant architectural pieces and 

parts and large glass display windows, shipped 

from distant places, transformed the town. 

Handsome brownstone 

from Bayfield, Wisconsin, 

for example, trims the 

First National (Securities) 

Bank Building and the 

Lewis and Clark County 

Courthouse. Commercial 

false fronts with typical 

French doors and small 

panes of glass were 

remodeled or replaced 

with two-story buildings 

and large storefront display 

windows. The three 

storefronts at 36, 38, and 

40 South Last Chance 

Gulch represent the oldest 

stretch of surviving 

downtown buildings. 

Although the 1860s 

facades have long been 


emodeled, the original brick and stone work 

at the rear lie beneath modern stucco and paint. 

The Sixth Ward’s depot area contains 

Helena’s only remaining wooden false fronts. 

They survive along Railroad Avenue where 

trolley tracks are still embedded in the 

last remaining brick-paved street. The 1935 

earthquakes also changed Helena’s appearance. 

Damage is readily visible in the replacement 

bricks on the 1904 Northern Pacific Depot 

(now Montana Rail Link) and in the 

stucco used to cover cracked walls in many 

Helena neighborhoods. 

preserve the character of another time. These 

nineteenth century jewels especially illustrate 

why Helena became the Queen City of the 

Rockies. Later twentieth century homes built 

between some of the sprawling mansions reveal 

another layer of time as open spaces offered 

residents new building opportunities. 

Twentieth century architecture—equally 

significant—underscores the reasons that 

Helena maintained the “Queen City” epithet. 

The 1905 Montana Club, designed by nationally 

renowned architect Cass Gilbert; the 1913 

Placer Hotel, the work of Gilbert’s protégée 

George Carsley; and the strikingly unusual 

1921 Moorish Revival style Algeria Shrine 

Temple (now the Civic Center) designed by 

Carsley and C. S. Haire, strengthen Helena’s 

rightful claim to architectural excellence. 

However, it is the magnificent St. Helena 

Cathedral, built between 1908 and 1924, 

that epitomizes the vast wealth some poured 

into the Town That Gold Built. 

Architect Albert O. Von Herbulis designed 

the cathedral and at the same time prepared the 

plans for St. Charles Hall on the Carroll campus 

and the former St. Mary’s Church at 1421 North 

Roberts in the blue collar Sixth Ward. The 

careful differences among these three Catholic 

institutions and their roles in the community 

reveal an architect who well understood the 

importance of a sense of place. 

✧ 

Left: The Lewis and Clark County 

Courthouse, Montana’s territorial 

capitol and first state capitol, is often 

overlooked as a significant landmark. 

The decorative terra cotta plaque east 

of the north entry preserves the 

archaic spelling of Lewis and 

Clark County. 


Below: Wealthy residents built lavish 

homes on Helena’s west side, fueling 

its reputation as Queen City of the 

Rockies. Thomas C. Power, one of 

Montana’s first two U.S. senators, 

built this home in the year of 

statehood, 1889. 


While other gold camps dwindled into ghost 

towns, fortunes made in mining, cattle, and 

banking financed Helena’s opulent west side 

mansions and striking architect-designed 

downtown business blocks. Survivors of the 

1880s and 1890s include the Lewis and Clark 

County Courthouse; St. Louis, Boston, Atlas, 

Goodkind, Diamond, and Power blocks; the 

Securities Bank Building; Iron Front Hotel; 

Lewis and Clark County Jail (Myrna Loy 

Center); and the Moorish/Romanesque style 

Jewish synagogue. Fragile “ghost signs” on 

some of these commercial buildings enhance 

the ambience of Helena’s built environment. 

On the west side, handsome homes, carriage 

houses, brick sidewalks, and tree-lined streets 

C h a p t e r 7 ✦ 5 7

The spectacular art of the St. Helena Cathedral 

includes exquisite interior and exterior statuary. 

But the focal point and its crowning achievement 

are the fifty-nine stained-glass windows that 

comprise a breathtaking, irreplaceable collection 

of imported German art. The firm of F. X. Zettler, 

whose “Munich style” glasswork is found in 

St. Peter’s Basilica at Vatican City in Rome, crafted 

the windows between 1908 and 1926. Zettler’s 

studio blended nineteenth-century Romantic and 

German Baroque styles with Italian Renaissance 

artistry. Painting on large sheets of glass and firing 

them at high heat allowed fantastic portraiture 

and detail. Zettler windows are still in place in 

many American cathedrals, but the artist himself 

believed that St. Helena’s windows were the finest 

his company ever turned out. 

✧ 

Above: Zettler’s windows are among 

Helena’s most rare and valuable 

treasures. Zettler designed windows 

for many American institutions, 

but he did not always sign his work. 

The Zettler signature, however, 

graces St. Helena’s windows, 

increasing their value. 


Right: The former Temple Emanu El 

at 515 North Ewing is a stunning 

example of Helena’s historic 

cosmopolitan streetscape. Star-studded 

onion domes no longer crown the 

square towers, but stunning stained 

glass in the front keyhole windows 

have been preserved. 



The remarkable work of renowned Montana 

artists C. M Russell, Edgar S. Paxson, and Ralph 

DeCamp, as well as that of Amédée Joullin and 

Charles Pedretti, in the Montana State Capitol 

complement and personalize Montana’s Classical 

Revival style state house. The scenes and 

vignettes tell the state’s stories, making its 

capitol uniquely western. The heroic-size cast 

bronze of the flamboyant and controversial 

Thomas Francis Meagher on the lawn is one 

of Montana’s few equestrian statues. Meagher, 

an Irish Civil War general, territorial secretary 

and acting governor, mysteriously disappeared 

off a steamboat in 1867. His Irish friends 

commissioned Charles J Mulligan to create 

the statue in 1905. Across Roberts Street at 

the Montana Historical Society, founded in 

1865, features one of the finest collections of 

C. M. Russell art on permanent display in the 

Mackay Gallery. The collection includes oil and 

water color paintings, sculpture, and sketches 

and some of Russell’s most celebrated works. 

Tucked along Tenmile Creek west of town, 

the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic 

Arts preserves an industrial landscape where 

Nicholas Kessler manufactured many of the 

bricks that built Helena’s buildings. This industrial 

legacy inspires a creative energy that 

attracts ceramic artists from around the world 

who come to teach and to work. 

Grandstreet Theatre, originally the Unitarian 

Church and later the public library, boasts an 

exquisite stained glass window given in memory 

of Clara Bicknell Hodgin, wife of Reverend 

✧ 

Above: High school students have 

shown their appreciation for Helena’s 

history since 1924 when the first 

annual Vigilante Day parade was 

held. Originally intended to stem 

rivalry between junior and senior 

classes at Helena High School, the 

tradition continues to encourage 

creativity. Photograph taken in 1964. 


Left: Once a year the public can 

view the 1880s hand painted scenery 

at the former Ming Opera House at 

15 North Jackson, now the Consistory 

Shrine Temple. The Masons perform 

an Easter tableau using the historic 

backdrops. L. H. Jorud 


C h a p t e r 7 ✦ 5 9

✧ 

Right: Lyndon Pomeroy’s sculpture 

Kinetic Fountain on the South 

Walking Mall recalls Helena’s 

mining roots. 


Below: Artists from around the world 

come to work and teach at the Archie 

Bray Center for the Ceramic Arts. 

The historic industrial grounds 

include spectacular, eclectic, outdoor 

art by many different artists. 


Stanton Hodgin, in 1905. Louis Comfort Tiffany 

crafted the window to resemble the Helena valley. 

Tiffany’s artistry adds to the special ambience 

of Helena’s longtime community theater. 

At the south end of the South Walking Mall, 

the massive carved buffalo that rested over the 

entry of Broadwater’s Montana National Bank 

now guards the Lewis and Clark Library. At the 

south end, Lyndon Pomeroy’s Kinetic Fountain 

depicts miners at their sluice box. Along the 

North Walking Mall, architectural pieces and 

parts from buildings long gone form benches 

and ornamental sculptures. The cast bronze 

Bullwhacker by John B. Weaver commemorates 

a character essential to successful freighting and 

familiar to the first community. Becky Eiker’s 

1999 newsboy sculpture captures the enthusiasm 

of Helena’s early youthful work force. 

The Women’s Commemorative Mural, painted 

in 1979 on the Livestock Building, has 

become an icon depicting Helena history from 

a feminine point of view. Murals usually last no 

longer than twelve years, but more than thirty 

years later, the colorful characters still enliven 

the building’s south façade. The Montana Arts 

Council, the Helena Indian Alliance, President 

Carter’s CETA program, and other sources 

provided funding. Many Helena women put 

their brush strokes on the mural. The figures 

represent the diversity of women who 

contributed to the community. Central to the 

mural is the mother with her newborn, 

wrapped in the quilt of the past. The quilt symbolizes 

things handed down and quilting bees 

where women came together in the spirit of 

community. The last panel recalls the unspoiled 

wilderness, its first people, and the generations 

who knew and loved the valley long before 

miners and settlers arrived. 

Collectively, Helena’s architectural and artistic 

assets help define Montana’s Capital City, but 

in end it is the story of its rise from humble 

diggings to a town of distinction that sets it 

apart from all the others. 


✧ 

Above: Many Helena women 

put their brushstrokes on the 1979 

Women’s Mural. A lone surviving 

column, preserved on the southeast 

corner, marks the location of 

Colonel Broadwater’s Montana 

National Bank. 


Left: Horses once pulled this trolley, 

a gift to the City of Helena from 

Charles and Sue Bovey, which ran 

on tracks along Main Street. 


C h a p t e r 7 ✦ 6 1

EPILOGUE 

✧ 

C. J. Geier’s 1920 theme song, 

Beautiful Helena, is a fitting tribute 

to the Town That Gold Built. 


Tales of lost mines, hidden channels, and an underground river that still flows beneath Last 

Chance Gulch have fueled fireside discussions since the Georgians’ 1864 discovery. There was a 

time when the ground gave up its gold, when gold was the only currency, and dust and nuggets 

filled many a miner’s leather poke. Several times over the gravel beds of Last Chance have yielded 

fortunes for those willing to work for it. The water sources have been long diverted underground, 

but there are several places where the old stream bubbles forth north of town. The facts of Helena’s 

golden history are more than enough to generate legends. 

Among the legends is a tale—perhaps it is more than just a tale—about several prospectors who 

came along and made a fabulous discovery in the hills above Last Chance. When they returned to 

work the claim, they could not locate it. Some believed that earthquakes caused streams to change 

course, leaving dry channels full of gold. The old streambeds lie hidden, awaiting discovery. 

Respected citizens spent fortunes trying to locate the fabled dry beds, but always to no avail. Search 

areas ranged from the near west side to the dredging areas out beyond the current fairgrounds. 

These stories, now mostly forgotten, persisted through most of the twentieth century. 

Helenans should not believe that the Last Chance placers completely played out. There is proof 

enough that they did not. The clay-like soil from the discovery site, used as mortar for Samuel 

Hauser’s 1866 First National Bank, for example, revealed a high content of the precious metal. 

The same is true of soil elsewhere along Last Chance Gulch. 

In the 1880s as construction began in earnest along the gulch and further covered the old 

diggings with gold of a more commercial kind, excavation proved lucrative. When workers dug 

the foundation for the Union Block—roughly where the Livestock Building is today—in 1885, 

excavators put seventy-one loads of dirt through sluices and netted $504 in gold dust, or 

$12,204 in modern currency. And again several decades later in 1912, the Placer Hotel was under 

construction. The hotel earned its name during the excavation of its basement. An old timer 

gathered quite a crowd demonstrating just how panning was done. According to some, enough 

gold came from the basement excavation to finance the building and then some. 

Boosters played upon Helena’s golden theme, dubbing it the City of the Golden Glow for the 

golden flowers horticulturists planted all over town in the 1910s. C. J. Geier’s Beautiful Helena, 

published in 1920, illustrates the indelible 

footprint gold has left on Montana’s capital city. 

Who can tell if precious minerals still lie 

beneath the century-old buildings or beneath 

the paved streets of Last Chance Gulch? One 

thing is certain: when the snows melt and 

spring brings rainstorms to the gulch, put your 

ear to the grates that can be found in a few 

places along downtown curbs. You can hear the 

water rushing along its old familiar underground 

pathway where some made fortunes and dreams 

came true. 

As long as the Town That Gold Built preserves 

its historic streetscapes, no more gold will 

surface on the gulch. Whatever treasure may 

still lie along that underground channel 

remains an intriguing mystery, enough of a 

mystery to fuel campfire tales for the next 

150 years. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Axline, Jon, Ellen Baumler et. al. More from the Quarries of Last Chance Gulch. 3 vols. Helena: 

Independent Record (1995, 1996, 1998). 

Baucus, Jean and Vivian Paladin. Helena: An Illustrated History. Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1996. 

Baumler, Ellen and Dave Shors. Lost Places, Hidden Treasures: Rare Photographs of Helena, Montana. 

Helena: Farcountry Press, 2002. 

Baumler, Ellen. “Montana Deaconess School to Intermountain: A Centennial of Restoring Hope for 

Children, 1909-2009.” Montana The Magazine of Western History 1:59 (2009): 23-41. 

Baumler, Ellen. “The Making of a Good Woman: Montana and the National Florence Crittenton 

Mission.” Montana The Magazine of Western History 4:53 (2003): 50-63. 

Campbell, William C. From the Quarries of Last Chance Gulch. 2 vols. Helena: Montana Record 

Publishing, 1951 and 1964. 

Malone, Michael, Richard B. Roeder and William L. Lang. Montana: A History of Two Centuries. rev. ed. 

Seattle: University of Washington, 1991. 

Petrik, Paula. No Step Backward: Women and Family on the Rocky Mountain Mining Frontier, Helena, 

Montana, 1865-1900. Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1987. 

Ronan, Mary. Girl from the Gulches: The Story of Mary Ronan As Told to Margaret Ronan. Ellen Baumler, ed., 

Helena: Montana Historical Society, 2003. 

Swartout, Robert R., Jr. “From Kwangtung to Big Sky: The Chinese Experience in Frontier Montana,” 

Montana Legacy: Essays on History, People and Place. Harry Fritz, ed., Helena: Montana Historical 

Society, 2002. 

Spalding, Charleen. Benton Avenue Cemetery: A Pioneer Resting Place, Helena, Montana. Helena: Pioneer 

Tales Publishing, 2010. 

Wolle, Muriel Sibell. Montana Pay Dirt: A Guide to the Mining Camps of the Treasure State. Chicago: 

Swallow Press, 1983. 

White, Helen McCann, ed. Ho! For the Gold Fields: Northern Overland Wagon Trains of the 1860s. 

St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1966. 

B i b l i o g r a p h y ✦ 6 3

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

H i s t o r i c p r o f i l e s o f b u s i n e s s e s , o r g a n i z a t i o n s , 

a n d f a m i l i e s t h a t h a v e c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e d e v e l o p m e n t 

a n d e c o n o m i c b a s e o f t h e H e l e n a a r e a 

✧ 

The view to the north from Fire Tower Hill affords a spectacular panorama. 



Lewis & Clark County ....................................................................6 6 

Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, PLLP ...................................7 0 

McHugh Mobile Home Partnership ....................................................7 4 

Bill and Becky Eiker.......................................................................7 8 

Great Northern Town Center ...........................................................8 2 

Carroll College ..............................................................................8 5 

Alpine Animal Clinic Veterinary Hospital and Luxury Boarding .............8 6 

Morrison-Maierle, Inc. ...................................................................8 8 

St. Peter’s Hospital ........................................................................9 0 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana .............................................9 2 

Montana Historical Society .............................................................9 4 

Rocky Mountain Credit Union ..........................................................9 6 

Beartooth NBC ..............................................................................9 8 

Helena Community Credit Union ....................................................1 0 0 

Davis Business Machines, Inc. ........................................................1 0 2 

Helena Sand & Gravel, Inc. ...........................................................1 0 4 

Dowling Studio Architects, PC 

(DSArchitects, DSA) ...............................................................1 0 6 

Ruckers Furniture ........................................................................1 0 8 

AAA MountainWest ......................................................................1 1 0 

Helena Business Improvement District & Downtown Helena Inc. ..........1 1 2 

The Montana Club .......................................................................1 1 3 

Home Beautifiers .........................................................................1 1 4 

Last Chance Tours of Helena .........................................................1 1 5 

Helena Area Chamber of Commerce ................................................1 1 6 

Sullivan Financial Group ..............................................................1 1 7 

American Federal Savings Bank ......................................................1 1 8 

Browning Kaleczyc Berry & Hoven, P.C. ..........................................1 1 9 

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. .................................................................1 2 0 

Pierce and Associates–Builders, LLC ...............................................1 2 1 

On Broadway Restaurant ...............................................................1 2 2 

U.S. Bank of Helena .....................................................................1 2 3 

Allegra Print & Imaging ...............................................................1 2 4 

Big Sky Brokers, LLC Real Estate ...................................................1 2 5 

Shodair Children’s Hospital ...........................................................1 2 6 

Trico Community Federal Credit Union ............................................1 2 7 

Mosaic Architecture ......................................................................1 2 8 

Nitro-Green of Helena ..................................................................1 2 9 

Luxan & Murfitt, PLLP .................................................................1 3 0 

Stahly Engineering & Associates .....................................................1 3 1 

Green Meadow Country Club .........................................................1 3 2 

AAA Quality Sprinkler and Landscape .............................................1 3 3 

CWG Architects ...........................................................................1 3 4 

Helena Regional Airport ...............................................................1 3 5 

Bert & Ernie’s .............................................................................1 3 6 

The Parrot Confectionery ..............................................................1 3 7 

Leslie’s Hallmark .........................................................................1 3 8 

Gayle Grimsrud State Farm Insurance.............................................1 3 9 

Pan Handler Plus .........................................................................1 4 0 

Big Dipper Ice Cream ...................................................................1 4 0 

Ghost Art Gallery ........................................................................1 4 1 

Windbag Saloon & Grill ................................................................1 4 1 

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 5

LEWIS & 

CLARK COUNTY 

By Paul Putz and Pam Attardo 

✧ 

Above: First Territorial Governor, 

Sidney Edgerton. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE 

MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES. 

Bottom, left: Deer pictograph. 

Bottom, right: Mullan Road today. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PAUL PUTZ. 

The area that became Lewis & Clark County 

was created within Montana Territory in 1864. 

Originally titled Edgerton County after the 

first Territorial Governor, Sidney Edgerton, 

the jurisdiction was renamed in 1867 for the 

Lewis & Clark expedition, which traversed it 

twice, once in 1805 and again in 1806. In 1872 

its boundaries were redefined, taking on, for 

the most part, its current appearance. Covering 

over 3,000 square miles, it occupies sections of 

such famous land forms and features as the 

Rocky Mountain Front, the Continental 

Divide, the Big Belt Mountains, the 

Over-thrust Region and the Missouri 

River. Rich in resources and scenic 

beauty, the County has attracted the 

attention of people from the earliest 

known times of North American 

human occupation to the present. 

An increasingly diminished theory 

of North American human occupation 

brings people into the area about 

12,000 years before the present (BP) 

via land. The theory considers evidence 

that people walked over receding continental 

glaciers and between two glacial 

lobes that left much of prehistoric 

Lewis & Clark County clear of ice. Now 

the evidentiary tide, and direction of 

population, is reversing, bringing people into 

upper North America earlier and from the south. 

However they arrived, the earliest humans here 

seemingly followed the glaciers while hunting 

‘big game’—Pleistocene elephant, elk and other 

large animals. This way of life never really ended 

as later animal forms evolved into those we 

know today, bison in particular. For millennia, 

people wandered in small groups over the lands 

of later Lewis & Clark County pursuing game, 

picking fruit and gathering foodstuffs such as 

camas. Small campsites characterize the archaeological 

record of those years, along with 

artifacts from activities such as stone mining 

(for tools and hunting equipment) and camas 

roasting along the Missouri. 

Prehistoric travel was far reaching. The county’s 

boundaries contain segments of two major 

overland routes: the Old North Trail, connecting 

Canada with the Southwestern United States 

and running just east of the Rocky Mountain 

Front and west of the Missouri River, and the 

“River Road to the Buffalo” followed by Lewis in 

1806 along the Big Blackfoot River past presentday 

Lincoln and over Lewis & Clark Pass onto 

the vast eastern prairie. The first route promoted 

trade, the latter allowed mountain-dwelling 

tribes access to buffalo herds. All this activity 

went on unaltered for hundreds of centuries. 

Then there came a change—transportation 

by way of the horse. By the late 1700s horsemanship 

was profoundly influencing Native 

American lifestyles, complementing existing 

life ways and creating new aspects of cultural 

practices, warfare and hunting. The source of 

horses, European people, quickly entered the 

area, bringing overwhelming technological 

and numerical forces and swiftly establishing 

cultural dominance. Between 1850 and 1950 

this new culture superseded the old completely, 

leaving virtually no land form or life form 

unaffected by its presence. 

European settlement reportedly occurred in 

the area of Canyon Creek, north of Helena, just 

over the mountain pass leading to the “River 

Road” where white fur trappers and Native 

Americans formed a small mixed community 

around 1840. In the late 1850s a wagon road, 

the Mullan Road was cut over Mullan Pass west 


and slightly north of Helena. It drove northeast 

to near Silver Creek and then passed over the 

highlands west of Prickly Pear Canyon to 

emerge near the Missouri River south of Great 

Falls and on to the steamboat landings at 

Fort Benton. Settlers used this route in the early 

years to access mining regions in Idaho and 

southern Montana. 

Gold and silver deposits found where Silver 

Creek exited the mountains some fifteen miles 

northwest of Helena encouraged Silver, 

later Silver City, the first permanent 

settlement in the County. From 1862 to 

1865 it was the seat of local government 

until voters selected Helena for that 

distinction. Helena itself was built on a 

much richer placer deposit complemented 

by ore bodies to the south. An 

ambitious and well seasoned population 

of investors and businessmen took root 

there after many years of surviving the 

rigors of gold camp living and eventually 

made Helena the financial, political 

and cultural center of Montana. Located 

on the main wagon road from Fort 

Benton to points south, Helena was 

positioned as a commercial distribution 

point. The Northern Pacific Railroad 

arrived in 1883, assuring the city permanency. 

J. J. Hill’s Great Northern soon 

followed, devising a locally supported 

north to south route from Butte to Great Falls 

to feed his overland route. Locally, a light rail, 

or streetcar system connected newly built 

Fort Harrison (1890), the sprawling State 

Nursery, suburban developments and a large 

ore smelting works at East Helena to Helena 

itself. Thus, Helena ascended to join the 

constellation of ‘civilized’ communities, its 

most fortunate inhabitants enjoying the finest 

lifestyles Victorian America offered. 

✧ 

Above: Last trip of the stage from 

Fort Benton to Helena, Prickly Pear 

Canyon, 1883. 

COLLECTION OF CHUCK JEZICK. 

Below: American Smelting and 

Refining Company or ASARCO 

Smelter, East Helena. 


✧ 

Above: Drum Lummon 

Mine, Marysville. 

Below: Whitlatch Union 

Mine, Unionville. 

COLLECTION OF WALLY JESTER. 

Development occurred throughout Lewis & 

Clark County between 1868 and 1893, fueled 

largely by gold and silver mining, although 

agriculture swiftly followed, first as a supplement 

to the mining camps and then as a source 

of exported goods. Lode (hardrock) mining 

followed placer finds around extruded stocks 

and dikes that shattered overlying rock layers 

in the Boulder Batholith to the west and 

north and the Big Belt Mountains to the east 

of Helena. Hand labor placer operations were 

replaced by powerful water pressure systems 

that rapidly reduced natural streambeds. The 

regions around Unionville, Rimini, Marysville, 

York and, to a lesser degree, Lincoln, were 

designated large mining districts, peppered 

with shafts and adits surrounded by camps 

ranging from a few rude huts to sizeable 

communities with platted streets, schools 

and proper stores. Enclosed ore processing 

facilities, or mills, operated at several localities, 

their workmen adding to the population. 

Each mine and its 

immediate community 

required lumber, supply 

access, means of power, 

communication lines 

and water in great 

quantities. Around each 

grew a spider web of 

roadways, telegraph and 

often electric lines, water 

ditches and flumes, as 

well as the attendant 

trails answering to 

sawmills, fields, pastures, 

farms and ranches. As 

early as 1866, overland transport into the area 

had been advanced by the Kingston & Gillette 

toll road up Prickly Pear Canyon and after 1883, 

rail lines quickly extended away from their main 

tracks and wove up narrow canyons to serve 

these outlying regions. In Helena, entrepreneurial 

bankers Samuel Hauser and Colonel Charles 

Broadwater, representing the Northern Pacific 

and Great Northern railroads respectively, 

aggressively vied for such markets, at times 

laying rails on either side of the same valley. 

Vast ranches developed in the county’s 

central and the northern plains, feeding the 

expanding population and shipping wool, 

mutton, and beef to urban markets by the 

trainload. At the head of the Prickly Pear Valley, 

Malcolm Clarke’s ranch set the foundation 

for the Sieben holdings of the next century, 

beginning a phase where many local financiers 

branched out into grazing. They were soon 

joined by increasing numbers of small 

operations as public land offerings and railroad 

land grant sales attracted homesteaders. 

Communities like Wolf Creek, Augusta, Gilman, 

Craig, and Canyon Creek formed to serve 

agricultural neighborhoods. Lincoln, in the 

meantime, developed a logging industry and 

later became a favored summer resort. 

The national ‘silver panic’ of 1893 ended the 

County’s accelerated development. Virtually all 

silver mines closed, affecting the Rimini area 

and places west of Marysville in particular. 

Many Helena fortunes were ruined and the 

collateral economic effects prompted entire 

communities to be abandoned in an exodus 

of population never seen since. Struggling 

survivors held onto gold production, still vital 

at places like Marysville’s Drum Lummon 

mine and Spring Hill south of Helena, but the 

industry was much reduced. Agriculture 

surfaced as the major industry. Helena’s political 

and financial status buffered the impact but the 

days of confident wealth were over. Rail lines 

withered, schools closed and the importance of 

formerly marginal influences such as recreation, 

public service, lumbering and small business 

rose to the fore. Mining continued on a sporadic 

basis and reworking old mine leavings, mechanized 

placer mining (dredging) and, later, some 

mineral mining (sapphires) remained active. 

The early twentieth century heralded 

unprecedented effects on land, culture and 

lifestyles fostered by rapid technological 

advances tempered by global economic stress 

and war. Large institutions were created to 

respond to and harness forces of such 

magnitude. In Lewis & Clark County, Federal 

government agencies, the National Forest 

Service, Bureau of Land Management and U. S. 

Bureau of Reclamation took on significant roles 

in administering unsettled and abandoned 

lands, complementing State Fish and Game 

programs of wildlife reintroduction that 

regenerated hunting and fishing on a recreational 

plane. The Great Depression of the 1930s 


eintroduced an atmosphere of economic 

stultification but it accelerated major irrigation 

developments, road building and similar public 

works of lasting influence. The first half-century 

saw small electrical generating dams on the 

Missouri River followed by large water management 

systems directing runoff on the Missouri 

and Sun rivers into wide-reaching irrigation 

regions. Agricultural production was influenced 

by federal controls during the Depression and 

later crop support programs. Rural living 

information extended out of the land grant 

colleges to considerable effect. Nonetheless, 

agricultural areas declined in population as 

production margins narrowed. 

Military events influenced much in this era, 

bringing various changes. During World War II, 

Fort Harrison supported combat training teams 

and dog team units stationed near Rimini. 

In the closing decades of the twentieth century, 

Fort Harrison expanded as a post, supporting 

an ever more sophisticated and militarily 

engaged Montana National Guard to local economic 

advantage. Carroll College, an emerging 

institution of higher learning in Helena, closed 

to train Naval officers and emerged into 

an altered post-war society to develop as a 

co-educational, university level school. 

America’s economic prowess and status as 

world leader in the late twentieth century 

energized life in Lewis & Clark County, as 

elsewhere. Expanded federal and state governmental 

programs exerted broad influence on 

rural development and infused Helena’s economy 

with new residents and wealth. Regenerative 

federal funds were directed at Helena’s decaying 

commercial center. Suburban growth ballooned, 

sprawling into the Helena Valley, the surrounding 

hills and reaching far out into the County. 

Ranch and farmland were thus equally reduced. 

In response to human impact on natural 

systems, federal and state regulations attempted 

to protect land by managing its use, resulting 

in issues of magnified intensity highlighting 

recreational, developmental, agricultural, conservation 

and industrial interrelationships. The 

County benefitted greatly when a segment of 

the national interstate highway system passed 

through Helena and along the Missouri River 

toward Great Falls. Tourism, long an aspirant 

industry in a county aware of its recreational, 

scenic, historical attributes, was thus enhanced, 

along with those commercial fronts reliant on 

surface transportation. 

At present, Lewis & Clark County faces 

challenges of expansion rather than decline. 

Evolving global relationships in the areas of 

commerce, security and environmental management 

will still dominate the County’s future 

and land use questions will form around the 

resultant pressure points. Whatever periods of 

boom, bust, natural disaster and relative 

quietude might come, the people of Lewis 

& Clark County, well tested over countless 

generations, will no doubt persevere. 

✧ 

Louise Ogemahgeshig Fisher, Lewis & 

Clark County History Fair, 2013. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PAM ATTARDO. 


GOUGH, 

SHANAHAN, 

JOHNSON & 

WATERMAN, 

PLLP 

✧ 

Edwin Warren Toole. 

The Helena law firm of Gough, Shanahan, 

Johnson & Waterman, PLLP, is celebrating its 

150 year anniversary in tandem with the City 

of Helena. Both trace their respective origins 

to the Four Georgians’ gold discovery in 

August 1864, which caused the birth of Helena, 

and inspired Edwin Warren Toole, an adventuresome 

lawyer from Missouri, to start a law 

practice on Last Chance Gulch that continues 

to the present. 

Known as Warren Toole, he became one of 

Montana’s most celebrated early lawyers. 

Warren was born on March 24, 1839, to Edwin 

and Lucinda Shepard Toole of Savannah, 

Missouri, where they lived and reared a 

large and highly respected family, most of 

whom eventually followed Warren to Montana. 

The eldest son, Warren was educated at the 

Masonic College at Lexington, Missouri, and 

admitted to the bar in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 

1861. He attended college with the Honorable 

William Y. Pemberton, his future law partner 

and Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme 

Court from 1893-99. Both Warren and 

Pemberton arrived in Virginia City in 1863, 

after the discovery at Alder Gulch, and 

opened one of the early law firms, Pemberton 

& Toole. Both spoke at the first Democratic 

Convention in the new Territory in 1864, and 

Warren was elected party secretary. Pemberton 

was an accomplished lawyer and achieved 

local fame as he was present and recorded the 

proceedings at the trial of the infamous 

road agent, Henry Plummer during the days of 

the Vigilantes. 

Warren moved to Helena in the winter of 

1864 and started a law practice shortly 

thereafter along with pursuing various mining 

interests. He quickly earned the respect of 

his fellow lawyers and the residents and was 

selected to read from the Declaration of 

Independence on Helena’s first Fourth of 

July celebration in 1865. It appears that he 

maintained the Virginia City practice in 

addition to a new Helena firm, Woolfolk & 

Toole, opened with Alexander Woolfolk. 

The first civil case ever tried in Last Chance 

Gulch was on March 7, 1865. It was a mining 

suit filed to determine ownership of a mining 

claim that had been jumped in Nelson Gulch. 

Warren argued the case for the defendant 

and Cornelius Hedges argued for plaintiff. 

According to Hedges the case was tried before 

one Squire Miles who was not trained in the 

law; as such, it appears the matter was settled 

later at the saloon and the claim sold to a third 

party with the proceeds used to pay the 

lawyers. The first criminal case tried in Helena 

was U.S. vs. James Daniels for murder. William 

Chumasero and John Shober prosecuted and 

the defense was handled by Warren and 

Woolfolk. Daniels was taken to Virginia City 

and convicted of manslaughter. However, there 

he was pardoned by the Territorial Governor, 

General Francis Meagher. Daniels returned to 

Helena for reasons of his own, and was hanged 

by the Vigilantes on the old Hanging Tree in 

Dry Gulch soon after. According to Shober, 

“he was convicted of all he was guilty of under 

the circumstances.” 

Warren took more than a passing interest 

in helping young people who wished to enter 

the legal profession. At that time, one became 

a lawyer by “reading the law” as an associate 

with a practicing attorney. The early Montana 

Supreme Court ledgers have a number of 

lawyers admitted to the bar that read law under 

Warren. His younger brother Joseph K. Toole 

joined Warren in Helena after graduating from 

the Western Military Academy in Kentucky in 

1869. After studying law with Warren, Joseph 

was admitted to the Territorial Bar on August 

11, 1870, and besides practicing law at the 

firm, now Toole & Toole, Joseph took an active 

interest in politics, serving as District Attorney 

for the Third Judicial District, which included 


Helena, in 1872-1876; he was elected to the 

Territorial Legislative Assembly in 1881; served 

as member of the Constitutional Convention 

for Montana’s first Territorial Constitution 

in 1884 and later in the Constitutional 

Convention after statehood in 1889. He 

was also elected as the Territorial Delegate 

to Congress in 1884. Joseph traveled to 

Washington on behalf of the Territory to 

argue before the Congress on the matter of 

statehood, which advocacy was very well 

received, resulting in Montana’s admission 

to the Union as the forty-first state in 1889. 

Joseph went on to serve as Montana’s first and 

fourth governor, the only governor to serve 

three terms. 

Other notable early Montana lawyers that 

studied under Warren include Massena Bullard 

who went on to establish his own practice after 

being admitted to the bar in August 1871. 

Bullard was active in mining and real estate 

and built a thriving practice that survives to 

this day as Smith Law Firm. Also young 

William Wallace studied law under Warren. 

A precocious young man and New Yorker 

by birth, Will graduated from Harvard at age 

fifteen and traveled west by steamer to work on 

his father’s sheep ranch in Montana. His parents 

later moved to Helena and young Will went to 

work at Toole & Toole as a law clerk, gaining 

admittance to the bar in 1882 and joining the 

firm, now Toole, Toole & Wallace at the age of 

eighteen. At age twenty-one, he was elected 

County Attorney. After statehood Wallace was 

elected to the first legislature in 1889 and 

served one term. He subsequently married 

Elizabeth Floweree and served as division 

counsel for the Northern Pacific Railway Co. for 

fifteen years until 1911. In November 1913, he 

accepted the position as Assistant Attorney 

General of the United States under President 

Wilson and served until 1917. 

From 1887-1890 the firm name was Wade, 

Toole & Wallace with offices located in the First 

National Bank Building on Main at the north 

east corner of Grand. Decius S. Wade joined the 

firm as a partner after serving as Chief Justice of 

the Territorial Supreme Court from 1871-1887. 

The Territorial Justices also sat in the three 

Territorial district courts; Judge Wade recounted 

that at the time, it was common for the lawyers 

and the judge to travel together riding the 

circuit to a given district to attend court. Wade 

recounts the coach being stopped at gun 

point by masked robbers, and standing outside 

the stage coach with hands held high he and 

the other lawyers watched Warren approach 

the masked men without visible fear and 

successfully argued their release. Judge Wade 

✧ 

Above: William Wallace. 

Below: Joseph K. Toole. 


ecalled being ordered back into the stagecoach 

and the driver instructed to drive down the 

mountain “like hell and not look back.” 

From 1890-1897 the firm name reverted 

back to Toole & Wallace; in 1897 Joseph 

returned to private practice and the Toole 

brothers joined with Thomas C. Bach under 

the name of Toole, Bach & Toole located in 

the Bailey Block at 40-44 North Main Street. 

Their firm changed to Toole & Bach when 

Joseph was elected governor in 1900. Thomas 

Bach was another noted Montana lawyer, 

✧ 

Above: Left to right, Thomas C. Bach, 

William J. Galbraith, Decius S. Wade, 

and James H. McLeary. 

Bottom, left: Newell Gough. 

Bottom, right: Ward Shanahan. 


having arrived in the Territory in 1884 and 

setting up a practice in Butte. President 

Cleveland appointed him Judge of the 

Territorial Supreme Court in 1886. He held the 

office of Supreme Court Justice until 1889 

when Montana was made a State. In 1892 he 

was elected a member of the State Legislature 

and was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. 

Bach was an early district court judge in Helena 

as well. 

In 1905, Warren died and Bach moved to 

California in 1910. Warren is buried in the 

Benton Avenue Cemetery with his father and 

little brother. William was joined by Charles 

Donnelly and the firm was known as Wallace & 

Donnelly, the first time that one of the brothers 

Toole was not partners. In 1908, Taylor B. Weir 

began working as a clerk for William having 

been admitted to the Montana Bar in that year. 

In 1913 the firm became known as Wallace, 

Brown & Weir. That same year Wallace left 

Helena to become First Assistant United States 

Attorney General in the Wilson administration 

in Washington, D.C. In 1920, Brown became 

a partner with former Governor Stewart in 

the firm of Stewart & Brown continuing until 

1933 when Governor Stewart was elected to 

the Supreme Court. With Wallace in New York 

and Brown joining Stewart, Taylor Weir 

practiced alone for a while beginning in 1920. 

In 1925, Harry P. Bennett associated with 

Taylor Wier. 

Weir was appointed counsel for the Great 

Northern Railway in 1935 and began the 

firm’s long association with James J. Hill 

and Montana railroads. At the same time the 

recently graduated Newell Gough became 

associated with Weir and was sent to the 

Great Falls office. At that time the firm was 

known as Weir, Clift, Glover and Bennett. 

Jack Burke joined the firm in 1956 and 

Edwin S. Booth in 1957; Booth was subsequently 

appointed secretary of counsel for 

the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners. 

In 1958, Ward A. Shanahan associated with 

the firm which had changed its name to 

Weir, Gough, Booth and Burke. In 1960, 

Burke moved to Butte to join the law department 

of the Montana Power Company and 

Cordell Johnson became an associate with 

the firm now named Weir, Gough and Booth. 

In 1962, Weir died and in 1964 both 

Ward Shanahan and Cordell Johnson became 

partners of the firm in 1965. Ronald F. 

Waterman joined the firm in 1970 and became 

a partner in 1974. The firm name changed 

its name to Gough, Shanahan, Johnson and 

Waterman in 1978. 

In addition to Governor Toole, four lawyers 

from the firm have also served Montana as 

Attorneys General: Wellington Rankin, Enor 

Matson, Joseph Mazurek, and Timothy Fox. 

Wellington Rankin also served as Montana’s 

U.S. Attorney for a term. 

✧ 

Left: Cordell Johnson. 

Right: Ron Waterman. 


✧ 

Above: McHugh Mobile Home 

Partnership entrance. 

Below: McHugh Trailer Park, 1971. 

Bottom: McHugh Trailer Park, 1975. 

MCHUGH MOBILE HOME PARTNERSHIP 

Edward P. (Ed) McHugh’s father, Peter J. 

McHugh, was raised in the 6th Ward area of 

Helena—the area around the Northern Pacific 

Depot in the northeast corner of town. It was 

a tough neighborhood. When the kids went 

uptown they literally had to fight their way 

out of the neighborhood. In 1925 he acquired 

some land north of town, on a road that would 

become McHugh Lane, and started the Clover 

Leaf Dairy. Peter and his wife Lucy had four 

sons, Ed, John, Peter, and Tommy. Ed’s father 

was a true Irishman, so land was very dear to 

him. As you will see, this legacy was passed 

down to Ed. 

Ed was in 4-H for ten years while he was 

growing up and going to school in Helena. He 

graduated from Montana State University with 

a degree in Dairy Manufacturing and eventually 

took over management of the family business. 

Ed began getting involved and recognized as 

a young man. He is a veteran of the Army 

Air Corps; was a member of the Montana 

State University Boxing team, where he became 

the State AAU Light-Heavy Novice Boxing 

Champion; managed the MSU basketball team; 

and later was the owner of a small herd of 

registered Jersey dairy cattle. He was chosen 

as State Outstanding Dairy Herdsman in 1943, 

and his herd won many blue ribbons. 

Not being content to just work and coast 

through life, Ed became very active in local 

organizations. Ed was a fifteen year member of 

the Helena Jaycees, becoming a board member, 

local president and state president. While with 

the Jaycees he was involved in development 

of the travel bureau and was its president in 

1960. He received the following Jaycee awards: 

president of Montana’s Top Jaycee Club, a 

distinguished Service Award, the Kenneth E. 

Johnson Award, United States First place Jaycee 

Travel Promotion Award, and was chosen as the 

Jaycee Boss of the Year in 1980. 

When Ed was an active participant and 

developer in the Jaycees, the organization had 

more than 100 members. They operated three 

tourist-booth visitor centers, one at the west end 

of town by the Nite Owl, one on north Montana 

Avenue, and one on Highway 12 at the east 

end of town—with an antique wagon nearby to 

attract the tourists. The booth operators were 

trained to get the tourists to spend one more day 

in Helena. Tourists were strongly encouraged to 

do things like tour the Gates of the Mountains, 

Frontier Town, and the Cathedral of St. Helena. 

To direct more people to Helena, the Jaycees 

erected highway signs at Garrison and Three 

Forks. Jaycees sponsored a Guest of the Week 

program—a tourist family was selected for a 


night of free lodging, a day of free meals, and 

free tours. The newspaper would take pictures, 

publish an article on the family and give them 

multiple copies to distribute in their hometown 

to show what an exciting time could be had in 

Helena. At one point, the Jaycees had a budget 

that rivaled that of the Chamber of Commerce. 

In addition to the 

work with the Jaycees, 

running the dairy, and 

being an active husband 

and father, Ed was: a 

ten year board member 

and past board president 

of the United Way; 

a member and past 

president of the Model 

Cities Board; a forty 

year member of the 

Helena Kiwanis Club; 

an original board member 

and past president 

of the Helena Property 

Owners Association; a 

member of the Florence 

Crittenden Home board; on the Shodair Hospital 

board, where he was vice president, chairman of 

the personnel committee, and instrumental in 

beginning the current mental health program 

for youth; a member and past president of the 

Helena Chamber of Commerce ambassadors; 

chairman of the city water planning committee, 

✧ 

Above: Peter J. McHugh, father of 

McHugh Mobile Home Park. 

PAINTING BY SHORTY SHOPE. 

Below: Ed McHugh. 


✧ 

Above: Park residents out on a stroll. 

Below: View of the park. 

and instrumental in changing the city well drilling 

regulations to allow domestic wells for irrigation; a 

member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Economic 

Development Committee; a member of the Helena 

Community Advisory Group—Water Master Plan 

Update 1996-7; a member of the Helena 

Wastewater Improvements Project Advisory 

Council 1997; a board member of 

the Lewis and Clark County Water Quality 

Protection Advisory Council; a member of the 

Citizens Advisory Council, formed after the Model 

Cities Program was waning and which continues 

as the Helena Citizen’s Council; a member of the 

Urban Renewal Program board; a member of 

the Model Cities Development board; a certified 

water operator and member of the American 

Waterworks Association; a member of the 

American Legion; a member of the Cathedral of 

St. Helena Parish; and a nine year member and 

past president of the Helena Valley Dairy 4-H 

Club and a 4-H Club leader for two years. 

The Urban Renewal Program was a federal 

program primarily designed to remove or renovate 

blighted areas in the inner cities. It was 

brought into Helena to revitalize the downtown, 

especially the South Main area. It received federal 

funds and relied on contributions and local 

fundraising to provide the required fifty percent 

local funding match. Ed and others were able to 

bring in the federal Model Cities Program, the 

funds from which were used to provide Helena’s 

match for the Urban Renewal Program. 

During all of this, Ed maintained an active 

family life with his wife Jacquelin and 

daughters, Kathy and Shelley. Jackie has been a 

partner in all of Ed’s endeavors and managed 

and decorated the Ice Cream Parlour. 

Ed’s business acumen was displayed in 

many business ventures over the years. In 1950 


he joined the family business, the Clover Leaf 

Dairy, becoming manager-owner in 1970. 

Under his management, the dairy won 

numerous national awards for Excellence of 

Quality. Clover Leaf Dairy sponsored winner’s 

trophies for Little League Baseball and was 

an original sponsor of Small Fry Football in 

Helena. The dairy closed on June 3, 1994—the 

last independent dairy in the Helena area. 

In 1975, he opened and Jackie managed the 

Ice Cream Parlour in the old dairy processing 

plant. The Ice Cream Parlour was recognized 

nationwide for its exciting and innovative ice 

cream dishes and outstanding décor. It closed 

in 1996. 

Ed’s father obtained the old dredge tailings 

that became McHugh family land from the 

Porter brothers, who owned the land and did 

the dredging. Once or twice a year, when the 

brothers would come to town, Ed’s dad would 

make it a point to visit with the brothers and 

treat them to a bottle of fine whisky. He became 

their friend, and when they decided the gold 

was gone and they were pulling out, they sold 

the now “worthless” land to Peter McHugh. 

To Peter, the land was far from worthless. 

In 1945, he saw great potential in that land— 

that potential was realized by Ed. For years, 

the land languished—high piles of washed rock 

surrounding small ponds where local boys 

would sneak in to chase frogs and hunt ducks. 

Having inherited a reverence for land from 

his father, Ed became involved in land development 

in a big way. As managing partner of 

McHugh Mobile Home Partnership, he took 

200 acres of ugly, rocky, dredge tailings and 

developed it into a tasteful mobile home park 

and the upscale Cloverview Planned Unit 

Development next to the Bill Roberts Municipal 

Golf Course. Ed donated thirty-five acres to 

the City of Helena and sold forty more so the 

City could add another nine holes to the golf 

course. The 275 family housing units in the 

mobile home park increased the city tax base 

by $7,000,000, and the seventy-eight homes in 

Cloverview increased the property tax base in 

Helena and Lewis & Clark County from $235 

in 1965 to $10,000,000 in 1990. Ed helped 

softball in Helena by trading the city fifteen 

acres next to the golf course for ten acres, 

given to the city by the softball association, so 

the city could develop the four-field softball 

complex next to the golf course that is heavily 

used today. 

The McHugh Mobile Home Partnership is 

alive and well, operating under Ed, his nephew 

Peter J. McHugh, and managed by his grandson 

Jess Mortensen. 

✧ 

Custer Street. 


BILL AND 

BECKY EIKER 

✧ 

Right: Becky and Bill Eiker at a 

fundraiser for St. Peter’s Hospital 

in Helena. 

Below: Becky and Bill Eiker (far left) 

at groundbreaking of the 

Melodee House. 

Opposite, top: Becky and Bill Eiker 

“hanging out” with R. F. (Bob) Morgan. 

Opposite, center: Left to right, 

Beth Collier, Governor Judy Martz, 

Carla Love and Becky Eiker hanging 

art in the Governor’s Mansion 

Art Show. 

Opposite, bottom: Becky Eiker at her 

awards ceremony for the Governor’s 

Art Award. 

It would be hard to estimate how many lives 

have been touched by Bill and Becky Eiker, 

considering the number of high school students 

who studied math with Bill and Art with Becky, 

the many art aficionados who have enjoyed 

and collected Becky’s ceramics and bronzes 

over the span of their careers, and those who 

have benefited from their roles as avid Helena 

and Montana community supporters. 

Becky, a graduate of the University of North 

Dakota and Bill, a Michigan State graduate 

were teaching in Flint, Michigan, when they 

met. After they were married in 1967, they went 

to graduate school in Columbia, South Carolina, 

and in 1969, because the Helena Catholic 

schools were closing and those students were 

to be absorbed into the public schools, the 

Helena school district was hiring over 100 new 

teachers, Bill and Becky were both hired. 

Becky taught Art at C. R. Anderson Junior 

High and set up the ceramics unit at the high 

school when it became Capital High. Becky 

started in ceramics and transitioned into sculpture. 

Becky’s “ceraminals” whimsical animals 

made of hand thrown pottery components, were 

widely prized and collected. In the early years 

she made individual one of a kind clay pieces, 

mostly of live models, and fired them in the kiln 

when she fired the ceramics. One day in 1991 or 

1992 someone asked her if he could make a 

bronze of one of her sculptures. That opened up 

a whole new opportunity. Becky’s art became 

more widely available because there could be 

multiple bronzes made from one sculpture, and 

Becky became a full-scale bronze artist. She was 

accidentally instrumental in the founding of 

the Helena Public Art Committee. She wanted 

to give her Newsboy statue, which is currently on 

the downtown mall, to the city, but the city had 

no way to accept it, so the Public Art Committee 

was formed to receive the donation for the city 

to own and display. 

Bill is proud of the students he taught and 

mentored through the years. Bill taught math 

in Helena from 1969 to 1994, where he was 

very involved in school activities, including: 

chairman of the Helena School District math 

curriculum committee; co-chairman of the 

Vigilante Parade, representing Helena and 

Capital High; Helena High student council 

advisor; and State of Montana executive secretary 

of student councils. Bill took kids from 

statewide on trips all over the country, in buses 

by air. He says “It was a juggling act akin to 

herding kittens, but always worked out well.” 

Becky and Bill are partners, self-proclaimed 

DINKS (double income no kids) and they 

found it easy to invest their time, energy and 

resources into things they were most passionate 

about. They started the Becky Eiker Studio in 

1970, and in 1998, Becky created the Newsboy 

sculpture and started the nonprofit Becky Eiker 

Foundation. Becky made and sold 110 maquettes 

(small models of a planned sculpture or 

architectural work) with fifty percent of the 

proceeds going to the foundation. The foundation’s 

focus is on public art, making it more 

readily available and providing art and other 


education related activities. In 2014, Bill and 

Becky started to sell 200 prints of a painting of 

Helena Artist, Bob Morgan’s Paperboy and to 

donate the proceeds to the Montana Heritage 

Center. For each print sold, Dave Kettman, Ghost 

Art Gallery owner, will donate the wrapping of 

the prints, and Eikers will make a matching 

donation from print sales. A part of the proceeds 

from the sale of Becky’s bronzes is donated to the 

Montana Heritage Center also. 

Bill and Becky are very grateful to live in 

Helena, and their involvement in the community 

has been satisfying. They have contributed to 

organizations they believed in that served 

their common philosophies on community 

needs, including Melodee House, Carroll 

College, Babe Ruth Baseball, Habitat for 

Humanity, Montana Historical Society, State 

Capitol Renovation Fund, the Friendship 

Center, Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, and 

Memorial Park Children’s Frontier Fun Town 

(where they honored Becky’s father, Ken 

Raveling, fire chief in Valley City, North Dakota 

by contributing the playground fire pole). 

Becky has received many awards and recognitions 

including: Woman of the Year Salute to 

Women Award from the Soroptimists and the 

YWCA, Artist Woman of the year 2005, Helena 

Area Chamber of Commerce Artist of the Year 

2005, Governor’s Award of the Arts Lifetime 

Achievement Award 2005, featured in the 

Governor’s Mansion quarterly art shows, 

Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Featured Artist 

of 2009, and Mayor Colleen McCarthy proclaimed 

July 28, 1999, Becky and Bill Eiker Day. 

Over the years the Eikers hauled clays and 

bronzes of Becky’s work to far flung destinations, 

including Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, 

Washington D.C., Ellensburg and Spokane 

Washington, Lincoln, Choteau, Miles City, and 

Butte’s Columbia Gardens, Montana. 

Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, 

you will never have to work a day in your life.” 

Bill and Becky feel that they did just that. 

Bill enjoyed the outdoors, fishing, hunting, 

camping, and four-wheeling. Once, while ice 

fishing, he hooked and landed a 10-and-a-halfpound 

rainbow, pulling it through a six-inch 

hole in the ice. Becky preferred indoor pursuits, 

but she did once catch a 4-pound rainbow in 

the Missouri above Townsend. 


8 0 ✦ H E L E N A , T h e T o w n T h a t G o l d B u i l t 

Life has been full of little adventures as 

evidenced when Bill and Becky shared some 

anecdotes: Becky was once involved in outdoor 

art shows downtown. At one of the events, no 

one turned off the sprinkler system clock so 

the sprinklers went on, right on time, soaking 

some of the artists and their work. Becky served 

on the jury for the Velvet Touch Art Gallery 

(massage parlor) trial in 1985. She thinks it may 

have been the most entertaining jury trial ever 

held in Helena. Each morning before Becky’s 

semi annual sale at her home studio, Bill would 

plaster Broadway with signs advertising the sale. 

He was unaware that the city had passed a sign 

ordinance until he received a letter from a city 

official, (a former student of his) advising him 

to cease and desist, which he did posthaste. 

In 1968 while Bill and Becky were in grad 

school at South Carolina, John Kenneth 

Galbraith, an economics advisor to President 

John F. Kennedy, spoke there. Afterwards he 

invited those who wanted a more personal visit 

to meet him in the student lounge. Galbraith sat 

among them and spoke to the group. One quote 

the Eikers never forgot was, “American People 

have got to decide the difference and draw the 

line between what is enough and what is too 

much.” Bill and Becky kept this in mind when 

they established their businesses. Becky was 

represented by numerous galleries at one time 

in Scottsdale, Santa Fe, Seattle, Jackson Hole, 

Big Fork, Great Falls, Portland, and Helena— 

Dave’s Ghost Art Gallery, and the Artful Framer. 

She could have had many more and Bill could 

have purchased many more buildings, but 

they worked to achieve a balance so their lives 

were not consumed with business concerns. 

Becky participated in a weekly gathering of 

local artists, who would practice their art using 

a live model. When a model canceled, Becky 

would call the high school and the secretary 

would run down to Bill’s classroom and give 

him the high sign that Becky needed a model. 

Bill seldom had trouble finding a student 

who wanted to earn five dollars an hour for 

modeling. When a student volunteered, Becky 

would call the student’s mother to see if it was 

OK. In one instance the young man’s mother 

hesitantly asked, “Will the model be clothed?” 

Becky assured her he would be. That model 

later became governor of Montana.

Becky was always available to friends. One 

friend’s son who became a priest asked Becky 

to make his altar offertory vessels. Once a 

statue of the Blessed Mother in the Cathedral 

had a finger broken off—Becky was able to 

make a new one. The artist’s mini wax model 

for the prototype of the downtown mall’s 

Bullwacker was lost for many years at a foundry 

in New York. When it was finally located, it had 

one arm broken off. Becky was able to replace 

the arm and the wax model was used to make 

the sculptures the Civic Center board sells to 

raise money for upgrades to the Civic Center. 

When asked about their careers and lives 

in Helena, Montana, the Eikers respond, 

“It could be said that ‘somebody’ liked what we 

were doing.” 

✧ 

Opposite, top: Becky and Bill Eiker 

with Gary Coopbear, a Becky Eiker 

donation to downtown Helena. 

Opposite, bottom: Becky Eiker and 

EXTRA! EXTRA!, a bronze donated 

to the city of Helena. 

Above: Becky and Bill Eiker gifting 

Governor Judy Martz a Becky Eiker 

bronze Courage. 

Left: Becky Eiker receiving the 

Governor’s Arts Award from 

Governor Brian Schweitzer. 


GREAT NORTHERN 

TOWN CENTER 

BEFORE 

AFTER 

✧ 

Top, left: Future site of the 

Great Northern Town Center, 1972. 

Top, right: The Great Northern Town 

Center in 2014. 

Above: Alan Nicholson, visionary 

and developer of the Great Northern 

Town Center. 

By the 1970s, after decades of urban sprawl 

caused people to leave historic downtowns, 

abandoned areas of cities’ central districts were 

common across the country. Helena was no 

exception. Recent years, however, have seen a 

revitalization of these areas aided by Federal 

programs such as Urban Renewal and State and 

City incentives such as Tax Increment Districting. 

In 1975, Alan Nicholson left his job as 

math and science supervisor for Montana 

and began a long career in redevelopment 

of Helena’s historic downtown. There he 

renovated historic structures including the 

Power Block/Gold Block Complex, the New 

York Store, and the Securities Building and 

built new projects including the Medical Arts 

Block, Serendipity and Claimstake Apartments 

and Sylvanhouse Condominiums. 

The former site of the depot for the Great 

Northern Railroad lay at the North end of 

downtown. A barren and foreboding place 

about eleven acres in size, it became home to 

several abandoned buildings and a recycling 

center. In the mid-1990s, Mayor Kay McKenna 

spearheaded an effort to create a plan for 

development of the land by the city. Over many 

months and with the help of a consultant, 

a group including the mayor and city staff 

and many other area stakeholders including 

Nicholson, conceived an urban development 

plan for the site. 

When the land appraised for about half of 

what the new owner, Montana Rail Link, was 

willing to sell it for, the city, constrained to 

maximum appraisal price, could not proceed 

with the purchase. A few years later, Nicholson 

agreed to buy the property at asking price from 

Rail Link. 

By 1998, Nicholson presented several 

development options to the city giving 

preference to a dense urban development. 

Realizing that a plan similar to the one 

previously drafted by stakeholders was the 

right course of action, the city agreed to a 

tax increment loan for a portion of the 

public infrastructure costs and that it would 

build and operate a parking structure to 

accommodate the anticipated high density of 

the development. 

Nicholson’s vision was to create a great 

urban place. A great place is one: 

• Bustling with people coming to work, shop 

and play. 

• You want to be and where you want to take 

your friends and people you love. 

• Scaled for people and accommodating to 

automobiles. 

• With integrity, vitality and a feeling of 

enjoyment, safety and convenience. 

• With varied and interesting architecture 

inspiring a sense of permanence. 

In order to meet these criteria, Nicholson 

worked closely with the city to develop a 

Planned Unit Development with organizational 

and development requirements including an 

Owners’ Association, an Architectural Control 

Committee and a list of allowed uses. 

Infrastructure construction began in 1998 

and the first building, the Artisan Block, was 

occupied the following year. 

So, this once deemed blighted area became 

the Great Northern Town Center. It highlights 

modern urban revitalization and careful, 

mixed-use planning to foster community and 

a new cosmopolitan feel where one had never 

before existed. 


College’s new buildings now point towards the 

development, instead of away from the earlier 

unsightly view. Other new buildings include 

a large accounting firm, real estate offices, law 

firms, and a state-of-the-art, Gold LEED certified 

building for the Montana State Fund. Total 

private investment in the area since 1998 is 

more than $120 million and 2013 property 

taxes on the new buildings exceed $1 million. 

As the development has proceeded over the 

last decade, the surrounding area has benefited 

tremendously. Influenced by the integrity and 

class of the Great Northern Town Center, new 

construction, including a new Federal Building 

and Federal Courthouse, flourishes. Carroll 

✧ 

Clockwise, starting from the top left: 

Before and after (insert), the Carousel 

opened in the Spring of 2002. 

The Expedition Block opened in 2002. 

Best Western Premier Helena Great 

Northern Hotel opened in 2003. 

Empire Block opened in 2002. 

ExplorationWorks Science Center 

opened in 2007. 

Artisan Block was the first building to 

open in the Great Northern Town 

Center in 1999. 

Compass Block opened in 2009. 

Helena’s Cinemark Theater, opened 

in 2005. 


BEFORE 

AFTER 

✧ 

Top: Left to right, Kristin, Molly and 

Nancy Nicholson. 

Above: Bighorn sheep on the Carousel. 

Right: The showpiece of the 

Great Northern Town Center is 

the Carousel. 

The showpiece of the Great Northern Town 

Center is the Carousel. Completely handbuilt, 

the carousel is one of the world’s most 

stunning, with vibrant, hand carved animals 

and adornments. Judged by the National 

Carousel Association as the finest new carousel 

in the United States, the Great Northern Town 

Center’s carousel features traditional ponies and 

animals that call Montana home: buffalo, big 

horn sheep, antelope, otters, bobcats, a grizzly 

bear, a cutthroat trout and more. Playing off 

the rivalry between Montana State University 

and the University of Montana, the bobcat is 

chasing the grizzly bear around the carousel. 

The Great Northern Carousel is the Nicholson 

family’s gift to Helena’s children of all ages. Built 

and operated entirely with private funds, every 

family member was involved in its planning and 

execution. Paul Nicholson oversaw the construction 

and Heather, his wife, was its first 

manager. Helena’s Mary Harris made 

the fused porcelain glass rounding 

board inserts depicting area scenery 

and landmarks. The beautiful six panel 

stained glass window is from the 

Historic Broadwater Hotel, except for 

the transom window which depicts 

Carousel animals. Carpentry was done 

by Yak & Abe, the light panels and 

other cabinetry by Tim Carney and 

All Wood Designs, the painting by 

Dale Livezey, Bill Borneman and 

Kasey Bergum, the stained floors and 

footprints by Ray Powell, all Helena Artisans. 

Chuck Kaparich, who spearheaded the Missoula 

Carousel, oversaw the procurement of the machine 

and animals; the animals were painted by master 

painter Bette Largent from Spokane, Washington. 

The Carousel machine was built by Todd Goings 

from Marion, Ohio, whose Carousel machines are 

found all over the world. The animals were carved 

by the famed California wood carver Ed Roth. 

Today, in addition to the Carousel, the Town 

Center houses a first class convention center, 

the nation’s tenth Best Western Premier Hotel, 

an interactive museum of science and culture 

(ExplorationWorks), a first class Cinema, unique 

boutiques, galleries, salons, restaurants and 

some of the Northwest’s top accounting, financial 

planning and engineering firms. The Great 

Northern stands as a testament to Nicholson’s 

belief in Helena’s future as a thriving community. 


CARROLL 

COLLEGE 

In the early twentieth century, Bishop John 

Patrick Carroll aspired to create a Catholic 

college whose central purpose was to provide 

a thorough liberal education that would 

equip students with knowledge and virtue for 

their pursuit of leadership in any vocation. 

With the laying of Carroll College’s cornerstone 

in 1909, this vision took root. 

Forty-five years after gold was discovered 

in Last Chance Gulch, Helena would have its 

first institution for higher education, a place 

that Bishop Carroll proclaimed would “lift 

our youth up to those intellectual heights 

where knowledge is as pure as the air of our 

mountains, as sweet as the water that springith 

from the rock, as strong as the everlasting hills.” 

Inspired by Bishop Carroll’s aspirations for 

the college, Carroll is establishing itself both 

regionally and nationally 

as a preeminent 

institution of higher 

education in the West. 

One hundred years 

after its establishment, 

Carroll College has 

surpassed even the 

most ambitious hopes 

of its founders. 

Through thoughtful 

leadership and deliberate 

growth, the college 

has grown from 

an initial graduating class of one in 1916, to a 

campus of 1,500 bright and inquisitive men and 

women. Carroll also boasts over 14,000 alumni, 

many of whom have made their homes in Helena 

and the surrounding area after graduation. 

For over a century, Carroll alumni have been at 

the heart of the Helena community, serving 

as business owners, teachers, doctors, nurses, 

attorneys, engineers, city fathers, and more. 

While much at the college has changed 

since Bishop Carroll’s 1909 address, including 

the steady addition of numerous academic 

programs and the construction of more than 

fifteen new buildings, it is nonetheless 

remarkable that the Bishop’s vision—his call 

to search for knowledge while holding true 

to virtue—would remain the hallmark of the 

college to this day. 

✧ 

Above: St. Charles Hall on the Carroll 

College Campus. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN REDDY, 

COURTESY OF CARROLL COLLEGE. 

Below: Groundbreaking for Mount 

St. Charles College in 1909. Bishop 

John P. Carroll wields the shovel. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY KELLER OF HELENA, 

COURTESY OF THE CARROLL COLLEGE 

CORETTE LIBRARY ARCHIVES. 


ALPINE 

ANIMAL CLINIC 

VETERINARY 

HOSPITAL AND 

LUXURY BOARDING 

✧ 

Above: Alpine Animal Clinic at night. 

Below: The reception area featuring 

local artists’ artwork. 

With the belief that pets are family deserving 

of kindness, compassion and excellent care, 

Montana native Dr. Heidi Wampler built Alpine 

Animal Clinic in 2008. Her commitment to 

provide exceptional, affordable care for pets 

(and their humans) is the foundation and 

philosophy in providing all levels of care from 

the most basic to the most complex. 

Establishing the hospital in 2008 began by 

tearing down an abandoned gas station at the 

edge of town, just before the start of the Great 

Recession. From 1,700 square feet of derelict 

abandoned and boarded-up gas station to 4,800 

square feet of modern, cutting edge medicine, 

Alpine Animal Clinic changed veterinary 

medicine in Helena with a stunning new facility. 

Alpine Animal Clinic opened as the first 

veterinary hospital in Helena to become 

accredited by the American Animal Hospital 

Association, achieving the highest standard of 

veterinary care available, and one of only thirteen 

AAHA-accredited hospitals statewide. 

Growing up in Helena, Dr. Wampler wanted 

to give back to her community not just with 

compassionate and comprehensive veterinary care 

services at a great hospital, but in volunteerism, 

too. Dr. Wampler and Alpine’s caring staff provide 

many hours of volunteer services and support 

to many different organizations around the area, 

including the Lewis and Clark Humane Society, 

the local Police and Sheriff’s departments, local 

schools, and 4-H to name a few. A commitment to 

give back to our community is just one of the 

many things that make Helena a great place to 

live, share, and give great medical care. 

Their mission at Alpine Animal Clinic is to 

treat all patients and clients with dignity, kindness, 

and as integral members of a family. They strive 

to provide the highest standard of veterinary 

care possible with a commitment to excellence 

and professionalism. They are 

committed to being available at 

all times, providing emergency 

services to any dog or cat in 

need and recognize the privilege 

of being entrusted with the care 

of patients, improving lives and 

giving comfort. 

This philosophy became the 

basis for all decisions in building 

design, services offered, and 

management of the hospital. An emphasis on 

patient comfort and high-quality care is 

evident throughout with modern equipment 

and high-quality monitoring similar to human 

healthcare facilities. 

Alpine Animal Clinic offers an Intensive Care 

Unit machine that controls oxygen, carbon 

dioxide, temperature, and nebulized medications 

for critically ill patients. The hospital houses a 

complete laboratory for quick, accurate answers 

within a few minutes, and blood transfusion is 

also available. Modern dentistry with high-quality 

ultrasonic cleaning and instant digital dental x-ray 

bring animal dentistry up to the highest standard 

available locally. Twenty-four hour staffed care 

is available when needed. Rounding out its 

complete surgical and anesthesia care, Alpine 

Animal Clinic offers high-quality monitoring 

machines and modern patient warming devices to 

minimize risk from anesthesia. Hospital wards for 


inpatients are carefully designed and separated to 

maximize patient care, safety, and comfort, 

including a special cat hospital secluded far away 

from the dog hospital. 

Client comfort is also important throughout. 

A custom “coffee bar” greets clients with hot 

apple cider, tea, coffee, hot cocoa, ice water, and 

large, soft cookies. A children’s playhouse, 

stocked with children’s books, toys, small chairs 

and a video player makes both parents and 

children happy while the family pets get 

compassionate, complete care. The seating 

arrangement in the lobby creates separation 

between patients while waiting and a curved 

wall at the medical reception desk offers privacy 

when checking in or out at the desk. A wellknown 

local artist was hired to create custom 

artwork that is a bit playful and fun for the 

vaulted ceiling areas of the lobby, providing a 

unique Helena feel to this special place. 

An emphasis on quality of environment for 

staff, too, shows up throughout the facility with 

the multitude of features designed to improve staff 

enjoyment and comfort, efficiency, and sense of 

teamwork, including the many windows to let in 

natural light on all four sides of the building, a 

large conference room and staff lounge, custom 

cabinetry to store personal belongings for each 

staff member, and a quiet, secluded kitchen for 

meals. In a field traditionally with very low pay, 

high turnover, and few, if any staff benefits, Alpine 

Animal Clinic shows a commitment to the Helena 

community by enabling a higher standard of 

living for its employees with better pay, health 

insurance, IRA benefits, paid vacation and paid 

continuing education. 

This philosophy proved successful and the 

practice grew so rapidly it completed an expansion 

of the original building, more than doubling the 

size of the hospital to 11,000 square feet just three 

years after opening. It would take another full year 

for the United States economy to begin its 

recovery. Today Alpine Animal Clinic, with a team 

of five doctors and staff of nearly thirty members, 

offers a wide variety of healthcare services for pets 

previously not available in the region, including a 

CT Scanner and a complete Rehabilitation Center 

with water treadmill for swim therapy. The 

expansion of the hospital allowed the addition of 

grooming services, too, and more than quadrupled 

the size of the boarding kennel. 

The amazing luxury boarding kennel at Alpine 

Animal Clinic is truly unique with an indoor 

exercise area bathed in sunlight from a two-story 

sky light and window well, a custom metal bronze 

enclosure with self-flushing artificial turf, and 

finished with a “village with cottages” theme and 

“stone street” floor. The dogs enjoy central music 

directly into each glass-fronted private room with 

raised beds and lazy-Susan food and water dishes. 

Kennel staff provides multiple play sessions daily, 

complete with ropes, balls, and toys, and can 

arrange play groups and extra exercise for great 

social activity for the residents. 

Directly adjacent to the 

boarding kennel is professional 

grooming for complete, convenient, 

one-stop service. 

Away from all dog areas, 

boarding cats are treated to 

an indoor aviary, providing 

endless entertainment in a 

quiet, wonderful room with 

huge picture windows. 

Central music also features 

here for a relaxing, low-stress 

environment. Catnip and brushing with 

individualized attention gives feline residents 

special treatment that is second only to home. 

The staff at Alpine Animal Clinic is proud 

to celebrate our community by providing 

compassionate, exceptional patient and client 

care, and to give back to our Helena community 

through volunteerism, support, and leadership. 

✧ 

Above: The luxury indoor 

boarding kennel. 

Below: Water treadmill for 

swim therapy and rehabilitation after 

injury or surgery. 


MORRISON- 

MAIERLE, INC. 

✧ 

Above: Left to right, John Morrison, Sr., 

and Joe Maierle during the early years. 

Opposite, top: Helena office, 1958. 

Opposite, bottom: Left to right, 

Bob Morrison and Jim Maierle in 

front of the Helena office at 

One Engineering Place. 

A respect for communities and a commitment 

to excellence are what brought two 

friends together to form one of Helena’s longeststanding 

businesses. This respect, commitment 

and desire to create better communities are 

also what keeps the firm going today. 

Nearly seventy years ago, John Morrison, Sr., 

a fifteen-year bridge design chief at the Montana 

Highway Department, left state government to 

start a private engineering company in a spare 

bedroom of his home. A year later, in 1946, he 

persuaded longtime friend Joe Maierle to join 

him. They formed Morrison-Maierle, Inc., and 

never looked back. Morrison often said he and 

Maierle worked a long time for the highway 

department first to get “the state out of the mud” 

as driving on Montana’s clay roads was cumbersome 

and, secondly, to bring the infrastructure, 

which would in turn bring jobs, something 

desperately needed after WWII. 

The world of engineering was ingrained in 

both of the new business partners. Morrison, 

born in Bedford, England, settled in Connecticut 

with his family when he was ten. On a trip 

to the West with his brother, they stopped to 

talk to a highway department survey crew near 

Arlee. Arguing about their future, the brothers 

decided that a coin toss—work in Montana or 

move on to the coast—would dictate their 

future. Montana obviously won. 

Having worked for a civil engineer and with 

experience as a surveyor, Morrison eventually 

enrolled at Montana State College (now MSU) 

in 1923. Without a high school diploma, but 

lots of drive and ambition, he received his 

B.S. in 1927 followed by a professional civil 

engineering license in 1931. John Morrison was 

the first licensed engineer-surveyor in Montana. 

As the son of an Asarco worker, Maierle was 

born in East Helena. Because money was tight 

for the family, Maierle wound up dropping out of 

high school and starting to work. Three years 

later, he decided that to get ahead, he had to 

finish his education. He graduated from high 

school in 1927 and completed his college degree 

in basic engineering from Mount St. Charles 

College—now Carroll College—in 1929. Intending 

to finish his civil engineering degree at Montana 

State College, he then went to work at the 

Montana Highway Commission after his father 

died in 1929. He took a correspondence course 

to complete his engineering education. 

Starting a private firm in Montana was a 

big risk as consulting engineering was a littleknown 

profession in 1945. In a 1995 interview, 

Morrison said: “in my work with the state and 

through the traveling I had done, I’d observed 

that in many of the Montana communities there 

was quite a need for improvements; to the 

streets, their sanitary systems, water systems, 

and the other branches of infrastructure to make 

them meet the needs of modern-day conditions.” 

Both Morrison and Maierle shared a strong 

desire to serve others, which is one of the reasons 

they worked so well together and why Morrison- 

Maierle’s “client-centered” reputation is still 

applicable today. Morrison’s son, John, Jr., writes: 

“When my father and Joe Maierle went into business 

together in 1946, they had a partnership 

that many of us envy. I don’t think that they 

ever had an argument and both understood what 

they needed to be successful: a good staff, a 

genuine concern for clients, and the ability to 

agree upon and set a course of action for the firm.” 

Coupled with the desire to help communities, 

Morrison and Maierle introduced state-ofthe-art 

engineering techniques on their Montana 

projects. They were the first firm to use aerial 

photography as an engineering tool that helped 

them design projects like the four-lane bridge 

on Interstate 15 through Wolf Creek Canyon. 


While tackling numerous growth and 

development projects for the City of Helena 

over the years, Morrison-Maierle has also 

been involved in those with historic significance 

like Anchor Park, Women’s Park arch, 

Performance Park, and Old Glory Land Mark. 

Their preservation efforts—Montana Club, 

State Capitol, Atlas Building, Parchan Building, 

Power Building and others—have helped 

preserve the character of the city. 

Morrison-Maierle drew attention from 

around the country in 1972 as they received a 

national engineering award for the Lake 

Koocanusa Bridge on the Libby Dam. No 

small feat, this bridge has a continuous deck 

truss that is a half-mile long and 300 feet above 

the Kootenai River. This tradition of engineering 

excellence continues today. Morrison- 

Maierle’s projects are often recognized by the 

American Council of Engineering Companies 

for engineering excellence. 

From its modest beginning, Morrison- 

Maierle has been a leader nationally and internationally 

and has been consistently ranked in 

the top 500 engineering firms in the nation by 

Engineering News Record. In 2013, under the 

direction of Bob Morrison—John Morrison, Sr.’s 

grandson—Morrison-Maierle reaffirmed their 

core values of integrity, respect, commitment 

and excellence in order to pave the way for the 

firm’s next steps. It was these values that helped 

guide the founding Morrison and Maierle as 

they went into business together, and it is also 

the reason the firm is still in business today. 

For more information on Morrison-Maierle, 

Inc., visit them online at www.m-m.net. 


✧ 

ST. PETER’S 

HOSPITAL 

Right: St. Peter’s moved into its first 

purpose-built facility in 1887 at the 

corner of Eleventh Avenue and Logan 

Street. In 1894 the Hospital recorded 

238 inpatients; by 1901 the annual 

patient load had risen to 427. 

Below: A patient receives an X-ray in 

the old hospital. 

Bottom, left: Patients in the old 

hospital. Smoking was apparently 

not prohibited. 

Bottom, right: Nurses at work in 

the early days of the current 

hospital building. 

Soon after Henrietta Brewer arrived in 

Helena, Montana Territory in 1880, she 

observed the need for a second hospital to care 

for those in distress. The area’s only hospital 

at the time—St. John’s Hospital, founded by 

the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of 

Leavenworth—simply was not large enough 

to meet the needs of the growing city. 

And, thus, the story of 

St. Peter’s Hospital begins. 

As the wife of Episcopal 

missionary Reverend Leigh R. 

Brewer, Brewer went to work 

almost immediately and, with 

steadfast determination and 

great effort, St. Peter’s Hospital 

was founded in 1883. The 

earliest hospital building was 

the former Grange Hall, which 

was moved from the valley to 

the sixth ward. The hospital’s 

first patient was a miner 

named Robinson. 

The entire organization was later moved into 

a more accessible location on Jackson Street— 

the former residence of A. M. Holter—and, 

in 1887, moved into its first purpose-built 

facility at the corner of Eleventh Avenue and 

Logan Street. The newly constructed facility 

consisted of seven private rooms, a chapel, a 

reading room, a ten-patient ward and a room 

for contagious disease cases. An operating room 

was added in 1889. 

Yet, it was not long before even the new 

facility began to have growing pains and, as 

patients were turned away due to the lack of 

room, Brewer headed back to the drawing 

board to plan an expansion. She was forced to 

speed things up when a fire partially destroyed 

the existing building in 1901 and worked 

tirelessly toward her vision of a complete, 

modern hospital. Although she died before 

seeing her dream fulfilled, her efforts were not 

forgotten. The new hospital wing—opened 

in 1908—was officially dedicated as a memorial 

to the woman whose unshakeable faith and 


determination in the face of overwhelming 

obstacles established St. Peter’s a quarter of a 

century earlier. In 1931 the hospital’s board of 

trustees amended the articles of incorporation 

and transferred hospital ownership to the 

community and the hospital was renamed 

St. Peter’s Community Hospital. The hospital 

received two more additions over the years 

until ultimately moving to its current location 

at 2475 Broadway in Helena in 1968. 

Nestled on a twenty-seven acre site, the 

new Broadway facility had a one-floor design 

specifically created to be more economically 

expandable and engineered with the fortitude 

to withstand an earthquake. The project cost 

was $3.2 million, of which $750,000 was 

raised locally. The old St. Peter’s Hospital 

was razed and an apartment complex today 

occupies its site. 

As Helena has grown, so has St. Peter’s. The 

only adult acute care facility in Helena since 

St. John’s Hospital closed in 1973, St. Peter’s 

opened a new medical wing in 1992 to house 

expanding outpatient services. 

The Cancer Treatment Center 

opened in 1996, eliminating 

the daily van transportation to 

Butte, Montana, for radiation 

patients; and the Surgi-Center 

and Maria Dean medical office 

building, named after Helena’s 

first female physician, opened 

doors in 1999. In 2008, 

St. Peter’s celebrated its 125th 

anniversary with the current 

facility’s largest addition to 

date—a four-story, $43 million 

patient wing. Fitted out 

with the latest equipment and 

designed with patient care 

in mind, the tower creates 

a high-tech, yet comfortable, 

healing environment. 

Because of the changing dynamic of today’s 

healthcare and in efforts to provide more 

comprehensive physician services to Helena, 

St. Peter’s also opened its first Urgent Care 

Clinic and a physician clinic building on the 

north side of town in 2008. A year later, it 

completed construction of a three-story clinic 

building directly across from the hospital on 

Broadway. This new facility has the capacity to 

house thirty physicians. 

Indeed, from humble beginnings has risen 

a healthcare facility that today provides some 

of the best services in the state, including a 

top-rated Cancer Treatment Center. 

And, while St. Peter’s Hospital looks to the 

future to maintain the most advanced patient 

care for the community, it also heralds its 

past and the unwavering support from its 

community—a strong and steadfast foundation 

on which the hospital continues to grow. 

Henrietta Brewer would no doubt be proud. 

For more on St. Peter’s Hospital, please visit 

www.stpetes.org. 

✧ 

Above: In 1968, St. Peter’s Hospital 

moved from its historical downtown 

location to its current site at 2475 

Broadway. A fountain at the front 

drive had to be removed because 

cattle from the adjacent field kept 

wandering over to drink from it. 

In the hospital’s 100th anniversary 

year (1983), St. Peter’s treated 

approximately 6,000 inpatients. 

Below: In 2008, St. Peter’s celebrated 

completion of the new inpatient wings, 

emergency department and intensive 

care unit. Today, St. Peter’s treats over 

280,000 annual cases between its 

emergency department, urgent care 

clinics, inpatient and outpatient 

services. Approximately 800 babies 

are born annually. 


BLUE CROSS AND 

BLUE SHIELD OF 

MONTANA 

✧ 

Above: Group of men related to Blue 

Cross, seated at the Montana Club, 

January 19, 1953. 

COURTESY OF PHOTOGRAPHER L. H. JORUD, 

AND THE MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

RESEARCH CENTER PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES, 

HELENA, MONTANA. 

Below: Montana Physicians’ Service, 

Helena, Montana, May 4, 1962. 

The building is now occupied by Blue 

Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. 

COURTESY OF PHOTOGRAPHER H. JORUD, 




When the first trained doctors arrived in 

territorial Montana in the 1850s, the going rate 

for a doctor’s visit was about $1 and an arm 

amputation cost $75. 

Lewis and Clark County’s first doctor was 

Dr. William Steele, who arrived in 1864. By 

1866, Helena was home to the territory’s first 

hospital—the Miner’s Hospital—and in 1873, 

the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of 

Leavenworth founded St. John’s Hospital. 

A decade later, through the determination 

of Henrietta Brewer, the wife of an Episcopal 

missionary, St. Peter’s Hospital was established. 

As the population of Montana grew—along 

with the rest of the United States—so did the 

need for medical care. 

In 1929 a prototype prepaid hospital plan 

was created in Dallas, Texas, to help teachers 

pay for hospital costs. For a monthly contribution 

of fifty cents to the Baylor University 

Hospital, the teachers were guaranteed up 

to twenty-one days of paid hospital care. 

In 1934 the organization selected a blue cross 

as its logo. As the plan continued to grow, 

the blue cross began to show up in other parts 

of the country, and in 1946, the Blue Cross 

Commission was formed as the early national 

organization of Blue Cross Plans. 

In the early 1900s a health coverage plan 

was growing out of lumber and mining camps 

in the Pacific Northwest. Employers wanted to 

provide medical care for their workers, so they 

arranged to pay local physicians a monthly 

fee for the services the employees used. These 

pioneer programs provided the basis for what 

would become the modern Blue Shield Plans. 

The blue shield logo was inspired by the 

U.S. Army Medical Corps insignia and the 

serpent associated with Greek mythology. This 

image along with the blue shield would come 

to represent the Blue Shield Plans, the first of 

which was formed in 1947, as Associated 

Medical Care Plans. 

The Hospital Service Association (Blue 

Cross) entered Montana in 1940 and the 

Blue Shield (Montana Physicians’ Service) in 


1946. A local medical community of about 

200 physicians loaned the company $20,000 

(each contributed $100) and then agreed to 

accept MPS compensation as payment-in-full 

for their services, a standard which continues 

today for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of 

Montana customers. The two companies, the 

Hospital Service Association and the Montana 

Physicians’ Service, partnered from 1946 until 

1952, when the Hospital Service Association 

moved to Great Falls, and in 1964, became 

Blue Cross of Montana. In 1986 the two 

companies merged to form Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield of Montana (BCBSMT). 

After seventy-three years, the positive 

impacts of BCBSMT can be felt around the state. 

As Montana’s oldest and largest health insurer 

and third-party administrator, BCBSMT serves 

272,000 members. BCBSMT works with more 

than 1,900 physicians, 2,800 allied healthcare 

providers and all Montana hospitals. 

On a local level, BCBSMT continues to 

demonstrate its commitment to Helena by 

employing 455 people—some of whom have 

been with the company more than forty years. 

The collective years of service among BCBSMT 

employees amounts to almost 5,500 years. 

Additionally, BCBSMT sponsors one of the 

biggest annual events in Helena—the Governor’s 

Cup, which draws thousands of runners to its 

marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K and fun-run 

events. The event, entering its forty-first year in 

2014, raises nearly $40,000 every year to help 

fight childhood obesity and provide expanded 

access to affordable healthcare in Montana. 

BCBSMT is proud of its Montana roots and 

remains committed to investing in communities 

all across Big Sky Country through sponsorships, 

charitable giving and public outreach. 

From hospital foundations to community 

nonprofit organizations, BCBSMT continually 

strengthens its ties to the state by initiatives 

that improve local communities, expand access 

to quality healthcare, or stand by Montanans 

to help them lead healthier lives. 

To ensure its continued service to the health 

and wellness of Montanans, BCBSMT recently 

formed an alliance with Health Care Service 

Corporation (HCSC), which operates Blue 

Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New 

Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and now Montana. 

HCSC is the country’s largest customer-owned 

health insurer and fourth largest health insurer 

overall, with more than 13 million members. 

The alliance puts BCBSMT in a stronger 

position to fulfill its mission, which is “to do 

everything in our power to stand with our 

members in sickness and in health.” 

✧ 

Above: Steel frame of Western Life 

building during construction, 

Helena, Montana, August 5, 1955. 





Below: Front of the Western Life 

building, Helena, Montana, 

June 19, 1956. The building is now 

occupied by Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield of Montana. 





ALL PHOTOGRAPHS NOT FOR RESALE. 

PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR ONE USE ONLY. 

PHOTOGRAPHS MAY NOT BE RE-USED WITHOUT 

WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE MHS PHOTOGRAPH 

ARCHIVES. THIS MATERIAL MAY BE PROTECTED 

BY COPYRIGHT LAW (TITLE 17 U.S. CODE). 


MONTANA 

HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 

✧ 

Above: The Montana Historical 

Society just east of the State Capitol 

building is the home of Montana’s 

Memory, where Helena and Montana 

history lives. 

Below: The Lewis and Clark County 

Courthouse served as the first 

Montana Territorial and State Capitol 

as well as the first home in Helena of 

the Montana Historical Society. 

In Helena, as in all of Montana, history is all 

around you. You just have to want to look and 

you just have to know where and how to find it. 

The Montana Historical Society, just east of 

the State Capitol, is where many of the people 

who wrote the stories in this book took the first 

steps to find what they were looking for. MHS 

truly is Montana’s memory. You can find the 

archives, records, historic photographs, artifacts 

and other things to help answer your questions. 

Perhaps more importantly, you can find friendly 

and knowledgeable people who share your love 

for history to assist you in your search. 

The archives includes letters, diaries, records 

such as those of the Territorial Prison and much 

more. They are stored in twelve by twelve inch 

environmentally treated boxes that if placed end 

to end would stretch for more than six miles. 

There are nearly 500,000 images and historic 

photographs going back to the first gold strike in 

Montana history. About ninety-five percent of all 

of the issues of newspapers ever published in 

Montana are in the collection. When you include 

the museum artifacts and artwork, State Historic 

Preservation Office materials, oral histories, 

books, periodicals, maps and other printed 

materials in the collection you can see why the 

MHS Research Center and its sister programs 

are acclaimed as among the finest in the nation. 

There is no question too small or too large 

about Montana and the West to be asked of the 

MHS staff. Nearly every day the staff gets to celebrate 

with someone who has learned something 

about Montana and their own history. It is 

an experience that never gets old. 

So the next time you wonder about 

an historic building, the history of your 

own home, the people who founded 

your community, the artisans who built 

it, the Native Americans that lived here 

first, how your great-great-great uncle 

wound up in prison and a myriad of 

other questions come to the Montana 

Historical Society to look for the 

answers. There is a little detective in all 

of us. To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart, 

history is the stuff that dreams are 

made of. History is happening every day. 

Make some of your own at the Montana 

Historical Society. We are here to help. 


We live everyday surrounded by 

the stones and echoes of our heritage, 

the concrete and the ephemeral…. No 

day ever dawned but that it carried 

the essence of yesterday with it. 

Hence the compounding of our errors 

when we ignore yesterday. 

—Legendary Montana Historical 

Society Director K. Ross Toole 

Helena is home to the Montana 

Historical Society. 

Although Helena is only part of 

the broad history of all of Montana 

that MHS encompasses, its story is 

important in understanding how 

and why the state developed as it did. 

People come to Helena from all across the 

state, nation and the world to visit the Montana 

Historical Society to experience Montana’s 

Museum, do research and discover their own 

special vision of this magnificent land, which 

MHS described in its award-winning book as 

The Last Best Place. Helena is a perfect backdrop 

for those visitors. 

What the first modern MHS Director K. Ross 

Toole called “the stones and echoes of our 

heritage” is well represented in Montana’s 

Capitol City. The “stones” are represented 

by the great examples of 

historic preservation efforts in 

Helena. From the 100 year old lime 

kilns on the southern edge of the 

city, to the historic buildings like 

the Montana Club, to the upper 

west side mansion district, visitors 

can see and touch history. 

The “echoes” are the stories of the 

people who came here—from the 

Four Georgians who discovered 

the gold in the gulch, to the 

vigilantes, to the financiers, to the 

politicians and all the people who 

found a home in Helena. 

The history of MHS is interwoven 

with the history of Helena. MHS 

was conceived in the Dance & 

Stuart Store in Montana’s Territorial 

Capitol of Virginia City in 1865 

making it the oldest such institution 

west of the Mississippi River. 

From the beginning of the territory people 

knew that what they were doing was history 

worth preserving. In 1868 acting Territorial 

Governor James Tufts said the importance of 

the Society “was incalculable.” The history of 

“the progress and development” of Montana 

was MHS’ job and would be better “than could 

be done by any of the ordinary researches of 

visitors, strangers and savants.” 

MHS came to Helena when the Capitol was 

moved from Virginia City in 1875. MHS is at 

home in the “heart” of Montana. 

✧ 

Above: The Montana Historical 

Society has come a long way since 

its early days in the basement of the 

State Capitol. Stop by and see all that 

is new and old about the history it 

saves and protects for all Montanans. 

Below: People of all ages can saddle 

up for great adventures in history at 

the Montana Historical Society. 


ROCKY MOUNTAIN 

CREDIT UNION 

✧ 

Below: The cartoons are from the 

State Capitol Employees Credit Union 

Newsletters in the 1960s. 

December 17, 1940, on that 

day almost seventy-four years ago 

a mission began of serving the 

Helena area as a not-for-profit 

financial cooperative run by a 

volunteer board of directors State 

Capitol Employees Credit Union 

(SCECU). The mission of the 

credit union was to promote 

thrift amongst its select group 

of employees and their families. 

During the early days, the credit 

union offices were located in 

various rooms of the State Capitol 

building until 1968 when a more 

permanent home was purchased 

at 1212 Helena Avenue. The 

office was relocated in 1976 to 

1820 Eleventh Avenue and the 

credit union still maintains a 

branch there today. The credit 


union established its main office located at 

3400 North Montana Avenue in 2004. With 

the passing of legislation in 1982, the credit 

union was able to expand to the Bozeman area, 

where we still maintain a branch office, as well 

as a branch in Belgrade. 

The Helena community has supported the 

efforts of Rocky Mountain Credit Union and 

for this we are truly grateful. Times have 

changed for this great town and the credit 

union, but our mission of serving the financial 

needs of the Helena area have not. 

As humble beginnings of the credit union 

blossomed during its first fifty years, assets in 

1960 were $48,655 with 408 member/owners. 

Compare that with our assets today of $153.4 

million and over 13,770 member/owners. 

In 1999, SCECU changed its name to 

Rocky Mountain Credit Union (RMCU) to 

better reflect the areas and membership 

base we serve. After several successful 

acquisitions, building its membership base and 

product and service lines, 

Rocky Mountain continues 

to be a living testament 

to the founding members’ 

dreams of offering this community 

a safe and secure 

financial cooperative proud 

to serve Helena. 

Rocky Mountain Credit 

Union is honored to help 

celebrate Helena’s first 150 

years and is poised to serve 

this community as its first 

choice in financial products 

and services now, and for the 

next 150 years and beyond. 

✧ 

Left: Our current branch located at 

1820 Eleventh Avenue in Helena. 


BEARTOOTH NBC 

✧ 

Below: The KXLJ-TV Quonset hut 

on North Montana Avenue in 1958. 

Bottom: KTVH Engineers during live 

broadcast 1958. 

Just like Abe Lincoln, we can honestly say 

we were “born in a log cabin.” 

Montana broadcast pioneer Edmund B. “Ed” 

Craney put Helena’s first radio station, KPFA on 

the air in 1937. Known as the Peoples Forum of 

the Air, the station was located in a log cabin on 

Eleventh Avenue. 

Through the years, Craney built a broadcasting 

empire in Montana, establishing the 

first statewide radio network, the Z-Bar 

Network, which included flagship station KGIR 

in Butte, KPFA Helena, and KRBM in Bozeman. 

The three stations were linked together via 

telephone circuits. 

In 1945, Craney received permission from 

the FCC to change his Montana stations call 

letters to the “XL” designation. KPFA in 

Helena became KXLJ. Butte’s KGIR became 

KXLF. In Bozeman, KRBM became KXLQ. 

They, along with KXLY-Spokane, KXLE- 

Ellensberg and KXL in Portland became the 

“XL” Radio Network. 

In 1953, Craney ventured into the new 

frontier known as television. His first TV 

station, KXLF in Butte went on the air in 1953. 

The KXLF transmitter was moved to the top 

of the Continental Divide in 1957. The site, 

known as “XL Heights” made it possible for 

the Butte signal to reach Helena. 

Massive TV antennas began 

sprouting up across the Capital 

City skyline. 

Excitement began to build 

when news came that Craney 

planned to construct a TV station 


On January 1, 1958, from 

the Quonset hut on North 

Montana Avenue, KXLJ-TV went 

on the air. Helena had entered 

the twentieth century! 

That was a day one announcer 

would likely never forget. 

As the story goes, he was hosting 

the first live broadcast on 

KXLJ-TV. Understandably, the 

man was a bit nervous. When 

it came time for him to introduce 

Station Manager Barclay 

Craighead to the viewers, he 

accidentally referred to his boss 

as “Craigley Barkhead.” Although we have not 

been able to verify this story, it has been told 

often enough that it has become a part of the station 

legend. It was our first (of many) bloopers. 

KXLJ-TV was part of the “Skyline Network”, 

Montana’s first television network, consisting 

of stations in Helena, Butte, Billings, Great Falls 

and Missoula. 

The year 1959 was very significant for us. 

For the first time in the history of Montana, 

legislators and citizens were brought closer 

together with KXLJ-TV’s coverage of the 

36th Legislative Assembly. Unfortunately we 

were only able to cover the first month of 

the session. 

Rulings made by the Federal Communications 

Commission made it difficult for the local 

station to compete for advertising dollars with 

out of state stations being brought into Helena 

on the cable system. 

On January 30, 1959, Craney requested, and 

was granted permission to suspend operation. 

The station went dark. When a favorable 

solution to the problem was reached seven 

months later, KXLJ-TV returned to the air. 

In 1961, Craney sold the Z-Bar Network to 

Joseph Sample. The sale included KXLF Radio 

and TV in Butte, and KXLJ-AM and KXLJ-TV 

in Helena. Sample sold the Helena stations to 

Helena TV Incorporated. 

Station ownership changed six more times 

over the next thirty-five years. Owners included: 

• Capital City Television–1962-1968. 

• Governor Tim Babcock–1968-1979. Our call 

letters were changed to KTCM. 

• Lynn Koch–1979-1985. Our call letters were 

changed to KTVG. 

• Don Bradley–1985-1988. Our call letters were 

changed to KTVH. 

• Big Sky Broadcasting–John and Janice Radeck 

1988-1997. 

In 1997, KTVH was purchased by Sunbelt 

Communications headed by Jim Rogers of 

Las Vegas. Within a year of ownership, 

Sunbelt, later known as Intermountain West 

Communications, moved us into a modern 

new facility on the campus of Carroll College, 

and gave us a new name...Beartooth NBC. 

In our fiftieth year we became the first 

television station in Montana to make the 

switch to digital. 


In May 2014, Gray Television, Inc., headquartered 

in Atlanta, Georgia, reached agreement 

with Intermountain West Communications 

Company for the purchase of KTVH in Helena, 

and KBGF in Great Falls. Gray Television Inc., 

owns and/or operates stations in more than forty 

television markets and KTVH and KBGF are now 

proud to be part of the Gray Television family. 


HELENA 

COMMUNITY 

CREDIT UNION 

✧ 

Below: The third branch built is located 

at 4405 North Montana Avenue. 

Bottom: The fourth branch built is 

located at 3150 North Sanders Avenue. 

Helena Community Credit Union (HCCU) 

was established in 1936 for federal employees 

in Lewis & Clark County under the name 

“Helena U.S. Employees Federal Credit Union.” 

It is therefore not surprising the credit 

union’s first branch was located at the place 

of employment for Federal Employees of the 

time, at 316 North Park Avenue, which is 

now the City/County Building. The first credit 

union location consisted of a modest office 

located on the east side of the fourth floor of 

the then Federal Building. The name of the 

credit union has changed several times during 

its history reflecting changes in field of 

membership and various mergers. The various 

names include: Helena Federal Credit Union, 

Helena Community Federal Credit Union and 

the current name Helena Community Credit 

Union. Each name resulted in an expansion in 

the credit union’s field of membership. 

Helena Community Credit Union was one 

of twelve such financial institutions in 1937. 

This number declined over the years to the 

current total of four in the Helena area. 

Over the years the Credit Union merged 

with three other credit unions: 

• Helena City County Federal Credit Union; 

• Hospital Employees Federal Credit Union, 

which included employees of St. Peters 

Hospital, Shodair Hospital, St. Johns Hospital 

and Blue Cross Insurance; and 

• Montana Armed Forces Credit Union in 2004. 

Although originally a Federally Chartered 

credit union, in 2004 the charter was changed 

to a State Charter to better accommodate 

our membership. 

From its inception in 1936 when the credit 

union had 58 members and an asset size of 

$1,036, the credit union has grown dramatically 

to 14,674 members and assets of $151,519,611. 

The credit union currently serves seven counties 

including Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, 

Jefferson, Powell, Cascade, Silver Bow and 

Gallatin as well as active and veteran military 

in the state of Montana. 

As the credit union’s first location was in the 

old Federal Building (which is now the City/ 

County Building), Helena Community Credit 

Union subsequently moved to the “new” Federal 

Building at the South end of Last Chance Gulch. 

The second credit union location would 

eventually become the State Government Building. 

Helena Community Credit Union expanded into 

the Arcade Building on the downtown walking 

mall in 1976. In 1992 the credit union relocated 

from the Arcade building into a structure they 

built on the sight of the old A&W 

Root Beer stand at 915 Kessler Street. 

Subsequent expansions would include 

a branch at 1930 Prospect Avenue, 

opened in 1998, and another in the 

Helena Valley at 4405 North Montana, 

opened in 2002. Our newest branch 

was opened in February of 2013, at 

3150 North Sanders Avenue, adjacent 

to where St. Joseph’s Orphanage 

once stood. Including the student 

branch located at Capital High 

School, Helena Community Credit 

Union currently has five branches to 

serve our members. 

1 0 0 ✦ H E L E N A , T h e T o w n T h a t G o l d B u i l t

Attesting to the credit union’s standing 

in the community and operational stability, 

there have only been five CEOs during the 

credit unions seventy-eight year history. 

Starting with the first CEO and ending 

with the current, they include: 

Dora Wines, 

Ruth Ayers, 

Roxana Wedgewood (retired in 1987), 

Gene Bowen (retired in 2006) and 

Greg Strizich, current CEO. 

The Board of Directors is comprised of 

volunteers with various business backgrounds 

from our community who serve 

three year terms and meet monthly at the 

credit union. The credit union’s board of 

directors consists of the following individuals: 

Chairman Ron Alles, 

Vice Chairman Stan Putnam, 

Treasurer Mike Munck, 

Secretary Anna Young, 

Jim McDonnell, 

Janet Pallister. 

Helena Community Credit Union feels a 

responsibility to support the communities, 

which we serve. We participate in local initiatives 

that help make the community a better/ 

safer place to live, make direct monetary 

contributions, volunteer time, talent and support 

by participating in community projects, 

assisting other nonprofits, presenting financial 

education in schools, participating on boards 

for local businesses and providing scholarships 

to graduating high school seniors. 

HCCU is involved with the Symphony 

Under the Stars, which is held on the 

lawn at Carroll College each summer 

in July. It is a wonderful “free” evening 

of picnics and beautiful music put on 

by the Helena Symphony for all to 

enjoy. Another project involves working 

directly with Helena High and Capital 

High DECA Clubs (for twenty-one years) 

to present “sold out” performances (at 

the Helena Civic Center) of The Night 

to Shine Show each February. The show 

provides a venue for high school students 

from Helena and the surrounding area 

to display their talents. The project is 

both educational for DECA students as 

well as one of their main fundraisers 

for scholarships and national competitions. 

To date, the two clubs have shared over 

$150,000 for their hard work in organizing and 

putting on the variety show. 

Members have come to recognize the HCCU 

blue aprons at Empty Bowls, enjoy the burgers 

at Carroll Football games and appreciate the 

water stations at the Governor’s Cup. 

At Helena Community Credit Union, “Our 

Strength is Our Community.” We are here for 

you whether you need a car loan, mortgage, 

vacation loan, credit cards or simply a local 

account. For additional information such as 

finding the nearest branch to you or current 

interest rates on certificate of deposits, credit 

cards or loans, please visit www.thecu4u.org on 

the Internet. 

✧ 

Above: The second branch built is 

located at 1930 Prospect Avenue. 

Below: The first branch built is 

located on 915 Kessler Street. 

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 1 0 1

DAVIS BUSINESS 

MACHINES, INC. 

Loren W. Davis was born and raised in 

Montana. He graduated from Gallatin High 

School in Bozeman, Montana, in 1953 and was 

honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 

1956. That summer he worked in construction 

as an operating engineer on the project to 

extend the runways at Malmstrom AFB in 

Great Falls, Montana. That fall, he attended 

Eastern Montana College until Christmas when 

he decided that college was not for him. 

Upon his return to Great Falls to reopen his 

operating engineer card, he got into a dispute 

with the unions. With that door closed, he 

applied for a job at Anderson Office Machines 

and was hired on as an apprentice office 

machine repairman in January 1957 and was 

promoted to service manager in 1958. He 

moved into sales and came to Helena in 1961 to 

open a branch store. Loren 

bought the Helena Branch and 

incorporated as Davis Business 

Machines, Inc., in January 

1968. It was a one man operation, 

running the entire business 

out of his garage. In those 

days, he made his sales calls in 

the morning and service calls 

in the afternoon. In 1969, 

DBM purchased the building 

at 637 Helena Avenue and 

remained there until 1980 

when they moved into a larger 

location at 1429 Helena 

Avenue. The Bozeman branch 

was opened in 1972 followed by Great Falls in 

1974 and adding the Butte facility in 1997. 

Today, Davis Business Machines, Inc., is the 

largest, independently owned office machines 

dealer in the state of Montana, serving twentyone 

counties through the center of the state 

from Canada to Wyoming with a complete staff 

of thirty full time employees. 

DBM has earned numerous achievement 

awards from the various vendors through the 

years. Loren qualified for his 

first Honor Council trip with 

Minolta Corporation in 1983. 

Since then, he has been able 

to participate in an additional 

twenty-four trips as a result of 

excellence in sales and service. 

Technology has moved at 

a heart racing speed through 

the years allowing tasks that 

used to take hours to accomplish 

to be simplified to the 

touch of a button. Our motto 

has always been “In Touch 

With the Future.” 

Besides his role as president 

of Davis Business Machines, 

Loren has remained very active in civic activities: 

joining Jaycees in 1958—serving as president 

in 1967; being involved with the Last Chance 

Fair & Rodeo since 1961—serving as chairman 

of the Last Chance Stampede & Fair for over 

twenty years as well as serving as the chairman 

of the Lewis & Clark County Fair Board. He 

has been on many volunteer boards, such as 


Montana Retail Association, Model Cities, 

Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, Helena 

Property Owners Association, Montana Military 

Affairs, Lewis & Clark County Veterans 

Memorial, and was instrumental in starting the 

St. Peter’s Hospital “Gala Affair”. He also spent 

many, many hours working with the Liberty 

House Foundation as well as the Military 

Museum at Fort Harrison. 

In 2008, Loren was honored 

as the Small Business 

Champion of the Year by 

NFIB for going the extra 

mile for his fellow entrepreneurs. 

“It is the quality of 

your people that make you 

successful. No matter what 

the industry, we are in the 

people business.” 

Davis Business Machines 

has always encouraged their 

employees to be involved 

in community affairs and 

better themselves through 

education by paying their 

tuition or membership and 

dues. With that in mind, Loren recently initiated 

a Davis Business Machines Scholarship program 

to provide four $1,000 scholarships for high 

school students who will be attending a 

Montana college or university in the studies 

of business administration. “Our young people 

need to be equipped to carry on for the next 

150 years.” 


HELENA SAND & 

GRAVEL, INC. 

✧ 

Below: Spreading asphalt on 

Broadway Street, 1951. 

Helena Sand & Gravel has provided 

asphalt and concrete services to the 

Helena area for eighty-seven years. 

The company began in 1927 when 

George Jacoby, a building contractor 

and Helena native, started a sand and 

gravel operation primarily to supply 

aggregate materials for his own 

building needs. Jacoby gave up his 

contracting business in 1942 to 

devote all his time to producing 

aggregate materials for other builders. 

Ready-mix concrete was added in 

1945 to supply the need for tested 

guaranteed concrete for Helena’s postwar 

building boom. An asphalt paving plant to 

complement the growing sand and gravel and 

concrete ready-mix operations was added in 1951. 

All these services—along with many others— 

are still offered by Helena Sand & Gravel today. 

The company was sold to Mel Lowe in 1962 

and he ran the material supply business for 

fourteen years before selling to the father 

and son team of Ed and Phil Maronick in 1976. 

“We bought the business to get away from 

road construction and concentrate on local 

business,” said Phil. The combined services 

made for a strong, well-diversified company 

providing construction services and aggregate 

materials to the greater Helena Valley. 

In 2000, Helena Sand & Gravel acquired 

Big Sky Ready Mix and, in 2002, the company 

was purchased by Oldcastle Materials Group, 

the leading vertically integrated supplier of 

aggregate, asphalt, ready-mix concrete and 

paving services in the United States. 

Helena Sand & Gravel continues to be managed 

locally, drawing on many of the traditions 

and practices established over the years. 

The company that began by performing 

smaller projects to support Jacoby’s business 

has grown into constructing multifaceted 

projects in a diverse area of the construction 

business. In recent years the company has 

worked on commercial projects that include 

Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Power 

Townsend, the Great Northern Town Center, 

the Federal Building, Town Pump, Federal 

Express, Sportsman’s Warehouse, St. Peter’s 

Hospital, First Interstate Bank, Shodair 

Hospital, Super 1 Foods, Boeing and Pioneer 

Aero Structures. 

Helena Sand & Gravel has built several 

public campgrounds including Devil’s Elbow, 

Spring Meadow Lake, Riverside Campground 

and Holter Lake. The company has rebuilt 

airports in Helena, Lincoln, Dillon, White 

Sulphur Springs and, currently, in Twin 

Bridges. The firm built Centennial Park for the 

City of Helena and has worked on numerous 

public schools in the Helena area. 

In recent years, Helena Sand & Gravel has 

expanded into mine and contaminated waste 

clean-up projects such as multiple phases of 

the Silver Bow Creek Restoration, Milltown 

Dam Restoration, Upper Black Foot River 

Restoration and others. 

Helena Sand & Gravel has also built many 

projects for the Montana Department of 

Transportation, some of which include the 

I-15 Pedestrian Tunnel, Last Chance Gulch in 

Helena, North Main Street and several other 

streets in Helena. 


The main office of Helena Sand & Gravel is 

located at 2209 Airport Road in Helena. The 

concrete ready-mix plant and gravel dispatch 

and landscape center are located on Canyon 

Ferry Road. The asphalt plant is located along 

Lake Helena Drive. The company’s original 

home/gravel pit is now known as Spring 

Meadow Lake. 

Helena Sand & Gravel employs 150 local 

workers at the height of the construction season. 

The company and its employees are involved in 

a number of community activities, including 

the annual 4-H Livestock Sale, Little League 

baseball, Special Olympics, Adopt a Highway 

Program, VFW, Rocks Build Our World 

(a grade-school education program), local 

high school athletics, Helena Brewers, Carroll 

College, Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds, 

and numerous private fundraisers and benefits. 

Helena Sand & Gravel takes pride in 

maintaining a sterling reputation built on a safe 

work environment for its employees, quality 

workmanship and customer service. Looking 

to the future, the company intends to continue 

developing long-standing relationships with its 

clients and with the Helena community. 

In 2011 Helena Sand & Gravel was named 

Business of the Year by the Helena Area Chamber 

of Commerce. 


DOWLING STUDIO 

ARCHITECTS, PC 

(DSARCHITECTS, 

DSA) 

Since 1995 the name Dowling has been 

associated with a continuing architectural history 

in Helena. In 1997, working with developer 

Alan Nicholson, Michael Dowling, AIA, NCARB, 

led the planning and design for 

the Great Northern Town Center, 

one of the most significant developments 

in Helena to come in 

many years. Building on the rich 

architectural history that exists in 

Helena’s historic downtown, the 

new Town Center was planned 

to be pedestrian friendly and 

establish a new rich diversity in 

architectural styles that are 

rooted in classic “main street” 

architecture. Architectural guidelines 

required first floors to be 

retail, restaurant and service with 

upper floors for professional offices and living 

units. Diversity in architectural character would 

create a synergy through scale and proportion 

not unlike what could be found on Helena’s historic 

Last Chance Gulch. Upon completion of 

the Master Plan, several buildings were designed 

including the Artisan Block in 1999, Discovery 

Block in 2000, Mountain West Bank in 2000, 

Expedition Block in 2001, Great Northern 

Carousel and Painted Pony Ice Cream in 2002 

and the Compass Block completed in 2007. 

Historical design cues include retail storefront 

design, corner stones, “punched” window 

openings and classic tri-partite design consisting 

of a base, middle and top to the architecture. 

The Great Northern Town Center would 

prove to have an impact on adjacent areas. The 

city had been working on plans for Centennial 

Park to the north. The firm worked with the 

city and MDT on reconstruction of the Lyndale 

overpass and pedestrian tunnel to allow the 

connection of Centennial Park and Carroll 

College to the downtown. Underdeveloped 

properties leading up to Last Chance Gulch 

started seeing growth as the Federal Buildings 

and several other public and private projects 

began to take shape and 

add to the redevelopment 

of the expanded downtown 

of Helena. 

As the Great Northern 

Town Center was receiving 

national accolades, Dowling 

was beginning to make an 

impact on the beautiful and 

historic Carroll College 

campus. Significant historic 

buildings make up Carroll’s 

campus including the iconic 

St. Charles Hall. In 2003, 

Dowling led the design for a 

new Civil Engineering Lab to 

be sited right in front of 

Carroll’s new Fortin Science 

Center, which defined the 

new “front door” to Carroll. 

Nestled into the hillside 


etween Carroll and Centennial Park, the 

challenge was to design the building to fit into 

the architecture of the campus and not detract 

from the Scola. By utilizing low and extended 

roof lines and wrapping the building in brick, 

the building truly complements Carroll’s campus. 

In 2011, DSA began work on 

an expansion to the Civil 

Engineering Lab, which would 

add over 11,000 square feet of 

lab and teaching space. At the 

same time, Dowling and Dick 

Anderson began working on 

preliminary plans for much 

needed student apartments. 

Three phases consisting of six 

buildings nestled into the 

same hillside between the 

park and campus were identified 

and presented to Carroll. 

In 2013 the go-ahead was 

given to start construction on 

Phase I. The design is inspired 

by the steeply sloping roofs of Carroll’s historic 

buildings and the red shingles and brick found 

on many of the newer structures. Phases II 

and III will provide an additional ninety-six 

bedrooms per phase in two and three bedroom 

individual apartment units. Prior to completion 

of Phase I, Carroll again selected DSA to design 

a much anticipated Student Activity (Fitness) 

Center. To be named in honor of Archbishop 

Hunthausen, the Hunthausen Activity Center 

will be a state-of-the-art building designed to 

enhance the mind, body and spirit of Carroll 

students, faculty and staff. 

Dowling Studio Architects is honored to be 

a part of Helena’s significant continuing history. 

With the firm’s work at the Great Northern 

Town Center, Carroll College and throughout 

the Queen City, the story of Helena’s past is 

continually being written through the buildings 

that they design and the places that they create. 

✧ 

Above: Carroll College Apartments. 

Left: Artisan Block, Great Northern 



RUCKERS 

FURNITURE 

✧ 

Below: The company warehouse on 

National Avenue, the building was 

built around 1880 and was originally 

a produce warehouse. 

Opposite: Left to right, Scotty, Wylie 

and Calvin Rucker in front of Ruckers 

Furniture on Dearborn Avenue. 

Beryl and Maxine Rucker both grew up 

on farms in Central Montana, Beryl in the 

Geraldine area and Maxine from the Fort 

Benton area. Both graduated from Fort Benton 

High School in 1951 and 1952. 

Beryl went to Gonzaga on a Basketball 

Scholarship. Since he was not allowed to shoot 

from the bench, he transferred to the University 

of Montana in Missoula and finished his last 

two years there. 

Along the way Beryl and Maxine got 

married and in April of 1954 son Randy was 

born. Beryl had gone to college on ROTC 

and spent a couple of years in Korea in the 

DMZ during post war clean up. After returning 

from Korea, Beryl worked in the grocery 

and lumber business in Missoula. In May of 

1959, son Wylie was born. In the fall of that 

same year, the Rucker family moved to 

Helena and Beryl went to work for Charlton 

Appliance in the 400 block of North Main 

Street selling televisions, appliances, pianos, 

organs and boats. 

In 1961, Beryl and Maxine bought the business 

and thus began Ruckers TV and Appliance. 

Beryl did the buying and selling and Maxine 

paid the bills and did the books. In 1964 

they moved to their current location at 1010 

Dearborn Avenue. The building they moved 

into had previously been a grocery store that 

sat across Euclid where Hardee’s now sits. In 

1970 they purchased an old produce warehouse 

on National Avenue, which they still use 

for a warehouse. In 1977, Beryl and Maxine 

purchased the Kirby Building that sat next to 

Ruckers at 1016 Dearborn Avenue and construction 

to put a three story addition between 

the two buildings was completed in 1978. 

In 1992 the Ruckers purchased the 

Furniture Showroom Building at 2200 North 

Last Chance Gulch. In 1995, Wylie took over 

the family business where he had worked at 

since he was a small child. Now Wylie’s two 

sons, Scotty and Calvin, work alongside him 

and the Rucker Family Furniture business will 

hopefully continue for another fifty-plus years. 



AAA 

MOUNTAINWEST 

With more than 185,000 members, AAA 

MountainWest is proud and honored to have 

called Helena its home since the organization’s 

founding in 1925. Since that time, the auto club 

has expanded its offerings to include personal 

lines insurance policies, international and 

domestic travel bookings and more. But no 

matter how it grows and expands, the objectives 

at the heart of the organization remain the same. 

When the Montana Automobile Association 

(MAA) first organized in the Capitol in 1925 to 

lay out its constitutional objectives, its members 

chose to focus on four key areas: 

1. To do any and everything proper and necessary 

to encourage the building and maintenance 

of good roads in Montana. 

2. To give publicity to the industrial advantages 

and scenic beauties of Montana. 

3. To furnish every possible useful service to 

members of the Association and others using 

the highways of Montana. 

4. To do any and everything of a like character 

which may be for the mutual advantage or 

benefit of members or for the betterment and 

use of the public highways of Montana. 

These goals made Helena the perfect headquarters 

for the MAA as they worked to become 

the motorist’s most trusted advocate and to 

promote tourism to the Big Sky State. They 

started making good on their goals right away, 

working to pass the Initiative Good Roads 

Bill No. 32 in 1926. The bill established a 

three-cent gas tax to fund highway construction. 

Then, in 1928, the club published and distributed 

its first official Montana road map. 

Through the 1930s and 40s the club fell 

on hard times, with membership reaching 

an all-time low of only 186 people in 1934. 

In 1937 the MAA became a “department” first 

of Montanans, Inc., and later of its successor, 

the Montana State Chamber of Commerce. 

In 1949 the MAA regained its strength and 

once again started operating independently. 

The 1950s brought two new and, at the 

time, progressive club policies: the insurance 

issued to members was liberalized to cover 

more than just highway accidents; and emergency 

tire changing services were extended to 


men, not just to women drivers as it had always 

been in the past. 

The next decades brought even more rapid 

change. In 1961 travel counselors were brought 

in to help members plan their dream getaways. 

In the 1970s the MAA concerned itself with 

energy supply problems that were redefining 

America’s driving habits. Rapid membership 

growth categorized the 1980s, and the club 

reached nearly 90,000 members by the end of 

the decade. In 1989 the Association officially 

changed its name from the Montana Automobile 

Association to AAA Montana. 

Six years later, AAA Montana merged with 

AAA Alaska and AAA Wyoming to form AAA 

MountainWest. The club now operates branch 

offices in all three states, covering the largest 

geographical territory of any AAA club. 

The club has been housed at various locations 

throughout Helena: across from the Capitol, at 

607 Lamborn Street, and at its current location 

at 2100 Eleventh Avenue. Throughout the near 

century that AAA MountainWest has been proud 

to call the Queen City of the Rockies home, the 

people of Helena are the ones who have helped 

the organization build and sustain its business, 

and for that the club is forever grateful. The 

staff and management at AAA MountainWest 

are honored to provide the same traffic safety 

advocacy, roadside assistance, personal lines 

insurance and travel services the club has 

been providing to the citizens of Helena and 

Montana for years, and hope to continue to do 

so for decades to come. 

If you would like to become a member, call 

AAA MountainWest today at (877) 222-2045. 


HELENA BUSINESS 

IMPROVEMENT 

DISTRICT & 

DOWNTOWN 

HELENA INC. 

The discovery of gold in Prickly Pear 

Canyon in 1864 by four men looking for their 

last chance for a find before heading home 

marked the start of Helena and Downtown 

Helena. Situated on Last Chance Gulch at 

the base of Mount Helena, downtown quickly 

grew from a tent camp and miners’ cabins to 

a thriving business, retail, fine dining, arts 

and entertainment district. One-hundred years 

later, a group of downtown merchants gathered 

to create Downtown Helena, Inc., to work 

with downtown businesses to attract visitors, 

shoppers, and customers to the over 500 

businesses located downtown. 

The upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s lead to 

a nationwide movement called urban renewal 

where communities worked to eliminate 

the old and create the new. In Helena, 

urban renewal contributed to the shaping of 

what Downtown Helena is today with the 

creation of the state’s only walking mall. 

Encompassing two blocks with a mix of 

architectural styles and unique businesses, the 

walking mall provides a pedestrian friendly 

park-like setting for downtown visitors and 

businesses to enjoy. 

By 1993, as urban renewal was closing, 

downtown property owners approached the 

city to tax themselves to create a pool of funds 

to help with revitalization efforts. The Helena 

Business Improvement District (BID) was 

created to enhance the physical environment 

of the greater downtown area to improve the 

value of properties in the area. The BID has 

worked to maintain a thriving downtown 

and works closely with Downtown Helena, Inc. 

to market and promote Downtown Helena. 

Today, you can still trace our history in 

downtown: envision the early mining days 

at Reeder’s Alley, wander along Last Chance 

Gulch to admire the late nineteenth century 

architecture and visit the many local merchants, 

eateries, and establishments that provide the 

charm of downtown, and progress to the 

modern era by ending in the Great Northern 

Town Center where contemporary Helena 

merges with historic Helena. Known as the 

most historic mile in Montana, experience 

Downtown Helena’s colorful history and 

exciting future. For additional information, 

visit www.downtownhelena.com. 


The Montana Club was founded in 1885 by 

territorial era leaders and remains today an 

important venue for networking, socializing, 

and the most superb dining in the region. 

After meeting in temporary Clubhouses for 

the first decade of its existence, the menonly 

membership raised funds to establish a 

permanent structure at the corner of Sixth and 

Fuller Avenues in downtown Helena in 1893. 

Unfortunately, the first Clubhouse burned in 

1903. Again the Members responded to ensure 

the Club’s survival by raising funds for a second 

Clubhouse to be built in the same location. 

This is The Montana Club building we know 

today and that is a contributing property to 

the National Register of Historic Places. The 

six-floor clubhouse is built of native granite and 

local Kessler brick and was designed by famed 

St. Paul/New York City architect Cass Gilbert 

and completed in 1905. The Clubhouse contains 

the state’s only Rathskeller in addition to a 

Members’ lounge and dining 

room, banquet hall, and four 

private dining rooms. 

The Club welcomed women 

as Members in the 1930s. 

The membership has worked 

for over a century to uphold 

the mission adopted by the 

founders nearly 130 years 

ago: “The purpose of the Club is 

to maintain a Clubhouse for 

literary, educational, and social 

purposes for the mutual benefit 

of the Members; and to promote 

good fellowship, recreation, 

social activities, and charitable 

activities among its Members.” 

From United States Senator Wilbur Fisk 

Sanders in the 1890s to Attorney General Joe 

Mazurek in the twenty-first century, the leaders 

of Montana have been the leaders of The Montana 

Club. Each generation of Members has worked 

to ensure the Club remains the social, cultural 

and political center of Helena and Montana. 

Through wars, Prohibition, economic downturns 

and cultural changes, Members have continued 

to enjoy the extraordinary cuisine, unrivaled 

ambiance and dynamic programming offered 

year-round by this singular Montana institution. 

The Club is owned by 

the Members who, with 

Club employees, share a 

passion for the stewardship 

and improvement of 

The Montana Club, transcending 

its status as a 

mere restaurant. Members 

and staff share a common 

bond of promoting a 

vibrant, historic institution 

that reflects the 

standard set in 1885. 

This page is sponsored 

by the following current and former Montana 

Club Board of Governors Members in honor 

of all Montana Club Members past and 

present: Tanya Ask, Chuck Butler, Russ Cargo, 

Barbara Denowh, Kris Goss, Jackie Lenmark, 

Richard Miltenberger, Ward Shanahan, Bruce 

Spencer, Sue Weingartner, Craig Wilkerson, 

and Sri Vellanki. 

THE MONTANA 

CLUB 

✧ 

Left: The 1905 Clubhouse by Cass 

Gilbert, St. Paul/New York City, 

c. 1932. 


MONTANA CLUB ARCHIVES. 

Bottom, left: Original 1893 Clubhouse 

by Paulsen & LaValle Architects, 

Helena, burning April 27, 1903. 



Below: The 1905 Clubhouse Reading 

Room, now the Members’ 

Dining Room. 




HOME 

BEAUTIFIERS 

From window treatments to the treatment of 

customers, Jim and Shelle Enyeart and their 

team at Home Beautifiers offer nothing less 

than the best. 

“Our philosophy is very simple and that is to 

treat our customers the way we would like to be 

treated,” say the Enyearts. 

Though they have owned the business 

since 1989, Home Beautifiers has actually 

been in existence since the early 1970s, 

having been founded in Polson, Montana, 

by Harv Lulow. Lulow eventually moved 

the business to Helena, and Jim Enyeart, 

then employed by Home Crafters, began 

moonlighting there in 1985. Enyeart 

installed window coverings in the 

evenings before joining Lulow full-time 

in 1987 and ultimately purchasing the 

business in July 1989. 

Throughout its lifetime, the company has 

tried several business models including selling 

furniture and accessories as well as wallpaper 

and window coverings. But it is the latter that 

became its flagship product in 2002 and the 

company has since specialized in not only the 

sales and custom creation of such coverings, 

but also in their installation, service and 

cleaning. The company also offers custom 

draperies and top treatments as well as custom 

bedding and pillows and is proud to be a 

Gallery-Centurion Dealer for Hunter Douglas, 

the window treatment industry’s largest 

manufacturer, featuring a wide variety of 

sought-after fabrics, colors, textures, and 

styles of blinds, shades and shutters, many of 

which can be experienced in person at their 

showroom located at 1220 Euclid Avenue. 

In 2006, when the company purchased 

Montana Closetworks, closet organizers became 

a division of Home Beautifiers and, in fact, have 

a stand-alone shop in East Helena. Services 

include the design, manufacture, installation and 

service of brand and custom closet organizers. 

In addition to the Enyearts themselves—Jim, 

a certified, professional dealer, master installer 

and certified motorization specialist who also 

does sales, installations and runs the day-to-day 

operations, and Shelle, who has worked alongside 

Jim since the beginning and now does 

showroom sales, bookkeeping and co-manages 

the business—Home Beautifiers also employs 

an expert interior designer as well as additional 

staff experienced in installation, repair and 

cleaning. The Enyeart’s son, Eric, has joined 

them in the business and is a master at 

fabricating and installing closet organizers. 

For more, visit www.homebeautifiers.com. 


It is nice to read history, but nothing can 

compare to hearing, breathing, and seeing it 

first-hand with Last Chance Tours of Helena. 

Now itself a part of Helena’s rich history, 

Last Chance Tours—operating under the 

umbrella of Helena Unlimited—celebrated its 

sixtieth anniversary in 2014. 

Fueled by a passion to preserve and promote 

the city’s fascinating history, Hi Dodson and 

Jim Dion held a meeting in 1954 at which 

shares were sold for one dollar apiece, each 

share sanctioning one vote on the direction of 

the new organization. The smallest purchase 

was one dollar and the largest was $250. 

Sixty-four individuals and businesses attended 

and together laid the track for what is now 

Last Chance Tours. 

Its first vehicle was a hand-built, forty-eight 

passenger open-air train. Built for $4,500, this 

train is still a part of the Last Chance fleet along 

with a second sixty-two passenger open-air 

train, a fully enclosed, climate-controlled 

trolley and, most recently, a convoy of Segways. 

The company provides guided visits to 

the opulent mansions district, the Cathedral 

of St. Helena, and stately governors’ homes. 

Tourists can picture what it was like to live 

in the late 1800s when miners exchanged 

gold for goods in a restored miners’ village; 

enjoy the architecture along Last Chance 

Gulch; and catch a glimpse of the Old 

Fire Tower. Tours depart Monday-Saturday 

from the Capitol Complex Building. Famous 

passengers have included John F. Kennedy, 

Ted Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Gary Cooper, 

Robert Wagner and Dinah Shore, just to name 

a few. 

“It’s definitely a fun way to discover the 

place where gold started out as life and death 

for those who lived here and became the very 

catalyst that made us the Capital City of 

Montana,” said Lee Holmes, the current manager, 

whose connection with the organization began 

in 1972 while conducting tours of Helena’s west 

side historic homes. 

With annual revenues up from $2,000 its 

first year to approximately $150,000 today, 

the nonprofit Helena Unlimited is also proud to 

contribute to various events and organizations 

that also call Helena home. 

For more information, visit www.LCTours.com. 

LAST CHANCE TOURS OF HELENA 


✧ 

Top: The Helena Area Chamber 

Board in the 1940s. 

HELENA AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Above: The Helena Area Chamber of 

Commerce Board in 1954. 

Helena Area Chamber of 

Commerce has 124 years in 2014 

as the lead business organization 

for the Capital City and is 

Montana’s oldest chamber. 

Helena has taken the lead 

for business advancement in 

Montana for well over a 

century and the Helena Area 

Chamber of Commerce has 

been at the forefront of leading 

the businesses through good times and tough 

times in the Capital City. 

Even before we actually became an incorporated 

organized chamber in 1890, Helena had 

our predecessor—the Helena Board of Trade, 

which was organized in 1877. H. M. Parchen 

was president. The board, by its concerted 

action, did much toward gaining for Helena 

the advantages it now possesses and advancing 

the interests of the city. The board flourished 

and boasted the leading citizens of Helena as 

being among its members. Famous names such 

as Holter, Broadwater, Lyman, Klein, Paynter, 

Kessler, Reinig, Kleinschmidt, and more were 

among the first boards. 

The board of trades noted that while they 

formalized this organization in 1877, businessmen 

had been meeting regularly for over ten 

years prior to formation of the board. 

Helena is famous for having the most 

millionaires per capita in the 1800s and even 

into the early 1900s, this may have influenced 

the town’s early businessmen to be visionaries 

and come together as an organization for the 

betterment of Montana’s Capital City. 

In 1890 the buzz around Montana’s Capital 

was the newly formed Helena Chamber of 

Commerce. Born from the board of trade, 

the chamber was a sign of modernization of 

business in Montana. Many of these progressive 

business owners had traveled to the East and 

brought back the “modern” business practices 

of America’s older cities. Being the first 

formal chamber of commerce was typical of 

the progressive Montana city 

called Helena. Many of the 

founders of the chamber were 

part of the group who built 

The Montana Club and formed 

that membership as an exclusive 

group of wealthy Helenans. 

The Helena Chamber has 

had over a century of success 

as the business advocate, economic 

stimulator, information 

clearinghouse, area promoter, 

and hosts for many events and 

activities designed for the 

betterment and success of our 

business community. 

We are proud of our first 

124 years and commit to our 

membership a true dedication 

towards continuing this success, 

always working to do as 

much as we can for the business 

community of Helena! 


SULLIVAN 

FINANCIAL 

GROUP 

In 1953, Peter Sullivan left the ranch life 

and went to Carroll College, where he received 

a degree in business and economics. In May 

1959, Peter met his wife Sheila and they were 

married in November of the same year and 

have six children and nine grandchildren. Peter 

began his career at First National Bank and 

in 1963 he established the Sullivan Financial 

Group, a full-service investment firm affiliated 

with ING Financial Partners and located on the 

third floor of the Arcade Building. 

Peter’s philosophy is one of generosity and 

drive. Peter believes that when you give money 

you feel good, and the more you give, the more 

you receive. Without his tenacity, Peter would 

never have been able to raise four million 

dollars in six months for the Cathedral of 

St. Helena in 2002. Peter has been appointed 

to the Governor’s Task Force on Philanthropy 

by three governors: Marc Racicot, Judy Martz, 

and Brian Schweitzer. He is a former president 

of the Helena Jaycees, former vice president of 

the Montana Jaycees and State Chaplain, past 

president of the Helena Chamber of Commerce, 

Helena Ambassadors, Live at the Civic, 

Kiwanis, Helena Cathedral Parish Council, 

Metropolitan Dinner Club, St. Peter’s Hospital 

Community Foundation, Western Montana 

Catholic Foundation and the Helena Navy 

League. His work with the Business 

Improvement District saw the success of the 

Jackson Street Parking Garage construction. 

In 1998, Peter was delighted to welcome 

one of his sons, Dan, into the business. Dan 

had enjoyed a fast-paced technology career 

with the Boeing Corp in Seattle, but missed 

the personal relationships and four-season 

recreational opportunities that his hometown 

has to offer. Together, Peter and Dan have 

expanded their firm into a holistic financial 

planning services firm that retains the personal 

values Peter instilled more than fifty years 

ago and embraces the technology and vitality 

that Dan brings to the Sullivan Financial Group. 

The team will continue to put people ahead of 

the numbers. 

Securities and investment advisory services 

offered through ING Financial Partners Member 

SIPC. Sullivan Financial Group is not a subsidiary 

of nor controlled by ING Financial Partners. 

✧ 

Above: Peter Sullivan. 


AMERICAN 

FEDERAL 

SAVINGS BANK 

✧ 

Above: Our main branch constructed 

in 1955 at 347 Last Chance Gulch 


Below: Our current bank 

headquarters constructed in 1997 is 

located at 1400 Prospect Avenue. 

For nearly a century, American Federal 

Savings Bank has been part of Helena’s unique 

history. Founded as American Building and 

Loan Association, American Federal started our 

humble beginnings within Helena’s Last Chance 

Gulch area in 1922. 

In 1955 construction began on a new 

$160,000 building, allowing the bank to 

expand to five employees. American Building 

and Loan reached another milestone in 1964, 

when we surpassed $10,000,000 in assets. The 

bank became one of the first Montana financial 

institutions to convert accounts to “on-line, 

time” in 1969. The first of several name 

changes came in 1972, when the name was 

changed to American Savings and Loan 

Association to more accurately reflect our 

business strategy. In 1975 the bank converted 

from a state charter to a federal thrift charter, 

again changing our name to American Federal 

Savings and Loan. At the time, the bank 

employed twelve people. 

American Federal experienced a period of 

successful growth in the 1970s and 1980s. 

A supermarket branch 

opened in the Lundy 

Shopping Center and 

a second branch in 

the Northgate Shopping 

Center. Expansion continued 

in 1979, when the 

bank opened branches in 

Butte and Townsend. The 

following year, a branch 

was opened in Bozeman. 

In 1981 a drive-up 

branch was constructed 

on Prospect Avenue. By 

1984, American Federal’s asset size reached 

$100 million. In 1987 the bank closed both 

supermarket locations, and consolidated those 

into the newly created Neill Avenue branch. 

The bank’s name changed again in 1991, 

becoming American Federal Savings Bank. The 

main branch on Prospect Avenue was 

constructed in 1997. American 

Federal became publically traded in 

2000 [EBMT], and by 2002, the bank 

grew to seventy-two employees with 

an asset value of $185 million. In 

2009, American Federal opened a 

third Helena location in the Skyway 

Shopping Center. In 2012, American 

Federal more than doubled in size 

with its acquisition of all Sterling 

Bank locations in Montana. Asset 

size increased to over $500 million, 

making American Federal the sixth largest retail 

bank headquartered in Montana. 

Today, American Federal employs nearly 

200 people in thirteen full-service branches 

across Montana, including Helena, Big Timber, 

Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Hamilton, Livingston, 

Missoula and Townsend. The bank also has 

home lending offices and financial planning 

locations. In 2014, American Federal announced 

that we will again change our federal bank 

charter to a Montana state commercial bank 

charter. In order to best reflect our local roots 

and positive outlook for customers, American 

Federal will change its name to Opportunity 

Bank of Montana in the fall of 2014. We look 

forward to better serving our communities 

and businesses, and we are proud to call Helena 

our home. 


BROWNING 

KALECZYC BERRY 

& HOVEN, P.C. 

✧ 

Left: BKBH’s office building, located 

at 800 North Last Chance Gulch. 

Browning & Kaleczyc began operations in 

the fall of 1982 when Steve Browning and 

Stan Kaleczyc hung their shingle on the 

Securities Building located on Helena’s historic 

Last Chance Gulch. 

Each year, as our list of clients grew, our law 

firm added one or two more employees. In 

1985, our law partnership was transformed 

into a professional corporation when Leo Berry 

and Dan Hoven were named shareholders, 

along with Steve and Stan. Our firm’s new name 

was “Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry & Hoven, P.C.” 

but with such a lengthy name, people began to 

refer to us as “BKBH.” Those four letters (BKBH) 

now appear in a monogram atop of our firm’s 

letterhead and on the exterior of our offices 

in Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula. 

As our Helena operations grew, BKBH 

moved into increasingly larger offices. In 1984, 

we moved into new offices in the Granite- 

Hartwig Building on the historic walking mall. 

Five years later we moved into the Goodkind 

Block, a few doors up the Gulch where we 

remained for almost twenty years. By 2008, 

BKBH had completely outgrown the Goodkind 

Block so we moved to temporary offices in 

the Great Northern Town Center. In 2012, 

we occupied our new state headquarters at 

800 North Last Chance Gulch. 

A defining principle of BKBH is our firm’s 

unwavering commitment to teamwork. For 

law firms to become genuine teams, more than 

mission statements are needed. Words alone 

do not ensure that attorneys and staff work 

together seamlessly as a 

team. Teamwork qualities 

are consciously instilled 

in our attorneys and our 

support staff from the first 

day they are hired at our 

office. Further, at BKBH 

we maintain a “family 

environment” in our offices 

so that our people stay 

with us and work together 

as a team to meet our 

client’s needs. 

At BKBH, we like to 

think of ourselves as 

Montana’s Business Law 

Firm SM , but we also remain 

committed to serving our 

community and our families. 

BKBH is a proud sponsor 

of Helena, The Town That 

Gold Built. We wish Helena 

our very best wishes for 

the next 150 years! 

Below: BKBH’s original shareholders 

in 1989. Standing left to right, 

Steve Browning and Stan Kaleczyc. 

Seated left to right, Dan Hoven 

and Leo Berry. 


WELLS FARGO 

BANK, N.A. 

Though not officially united 

until the year 2000, Wells Fargo 

and Union Bank have spent 

well over a century investing in 

Montana and its capital city. 

Each have become interwoven 

into both local and national 

history, serving as a foundation 

and canvas for the premier 

banking services which they 

offer today. 

✧ 

Left: Union Bank and Trust, Helena. 

Right: A 1867 advertisement for 

Wells Fargo stages, Salt Lake to 

Helena is listed. 

Wells Fargo and Company 

was formed in 1852 by Henry 

Wells and William Fargo. 

With no automobiles or trains, 

Wells and Fargo invested in a 

fleet of stagecoaches to support 

banking and express mail 

businesses, including American 

Express established to serve 

their eastern markets. The company made its 

first appearance in Montana in 1866 when 

it opened its first office in Virginia City, 

following with offices in Fort Benton, Bannock, 

Bozeman and Missoula as well as a gold 

exchange to help miners send funds safely 

over long distances. By 1885 the dawn of 

the locomotive age allowed Wells Fargo to 

ride the rails into new Montana areas, opening 

fifty-two additional offices along the way. 

This rapid growth continued until 1918 

when the federal government, as a wartime 

measure, took over the nation’s express 

services, forcing Wells Fargo to leave 

the transport business and Montana. The 

company, however, continued its San 

Francisco-based banking business and returned 

to Montana in 2000 when it merged with 

Norwest Bank, formerly Union Bank and 

Trust Company. 

Montana’s second oldest bank, Union Bank 

and Trust was founded in Virginia City in 1873 

by a statewide roster of bankers including 

Bank President Henry Elling. It expanded into 

Helena in 1897 and took over the then failed 

Merchant’s National Bank on the corner of 

Main and Edwards Streets. In the early 1930s, 

Union joined Northwestern National Bank’s 

Bancorporation, which had been founded in 

1929 to bring stability to the region’s banking 

activities. The bank operated as Union Bank 

and Trust until 1983 when it became Norwest 

Bank. The bank remained as Norwest until 

July 1, 2000, when the historic Wells Fargo 

name was adopted. 

Today, Wells Fargo has four branches and 

a processing center in Helena as well as an 

additional forty-eight branches in Montana and 

nearly 6,500 nationwide. 

Learn more at www.wellsfargo.com. 


PIERCE AND 

ASSOCIATES- 

BUILDERS, LLC 

Built upon a foundation of passion for 

construction and an unwavering commitment 

to quality, honesty and fairness, it is no wonder 

Pierce and Associates-Builders, LLC is so highly 

acclaimed throughout Helena and beyond. 

A full-service custom design and build firm, 

which has been building and remodeling 

homes and light commercial structures and 

conducting excavation work in the Helena area 

since 1975, Pierce and Associates has been 

singled out many times for its exceptional 

work. The Helena Building Industry and the 

Montana Building Industry Associations have 

bestowed their respective “Builder of the Year” 

awards on the accomplished builder more than 

once. Pierce and Associates has received the 

Parade of Homes People’s Choice Award as 

well. The company has also received national 

recognition as one of a dozen finalists for 

the highly-coveted Caterpillar, Inc. “Contractor 

of the Year” Award and was the company’s 

first-ever winner of their “CAT Safety Award.” 

And, then there is the company’s namesake 

and cornerstone—its founder, owner and managing 

member, Montana native William “Bill” 

Pierce—who in 2010 was inducted into the 

Montana Building Industry’s Hall of Fame, the 

highest possible honor for a homebuilder and 

an entity that, as of that year, had only inducted 

thirteen people in its forty plus year history. 

“I was very honored,” said Pierce, whose 

love for construction began working summers 

in high school. “When I first started out I can 

remember worrying about whether I should 

buy a new power saw for thirty-three dollars 

and had to learn to make do with what I had. 

We’ve come a long way, but one thing has not 

changed, construction is still my passion and 

receiving recognition from my peers has been 

very gratifying. 

“But, at the same time, it’s not about the 

awards,” adds Pierce. “It is about creating 

dwellings that contribute to the original 

owners, but also to future owners and the 

long-term well-being of a community. It’s 

about building attractive and functional 

structures, while maintaining honest and fair 

relationships with our clients, employees and 

subcontractors. It’s about raising the bar for 

the betterment of the consumer,” he said. 

For more, visit www.pierce-builders.com. 

✧ 

Above: William “Bill” Pierce. 


ON BROADWAY 

RESTAURANT 

The Parchen Building was completed in 

1886. It had hotel rooms above and a drugstore/ 

mercantile on first floor and basement. Henry 

Parchen was a pioneer to Helena who emigrated 

from Prussia with his parents as a young boy. 

He began a pharmacy in the 

1880s with a couple of partners 

and before long was 

involved with many Helena 

businesses and built a few 

of the downtown buildings 

including the current Parchen 

Block. The building had a few 

different occupants through 

the years but for decades 

during the twentieth century, 

Marino’s Italian grocery 

occupied the storefront. The 

Marinos lived upstairs and 

ran a boardinghouse. 

In 1978, under an Urban 

Renewal program, the Parchen 

Building was completely 

rebuilt and reinforced and 

apartments were created upstairs. On Broadway 

Restaurant took over the storefront in 1980 as 

an Italian restaurant and remains a popular 

eatery with an expanded world cuisine and a 

fine ambience of brick and wood and candlelight 

with live jazz on Thursday evenings. 

The extensive menu includes everything from 

salads, to chicken, to seafood to delicious 

steaks. No dinner would be complete without a 

taste of the delicious desserts served. 

Some truly believe they have seen ghosts 

in the restaurant of an older lady, possibly 

Mrs. Marino and some have seen a couple 

German shepherds trotting into the kitchen. 

The owner of On Broadway, Patrick Cassidy, 

has been there many years and alone late at 

night many a time. He says he has heard many 

a strange noise and a lot of footsteps but never 

actually seen anyone or thing. It must be a 

friendly ghost or ghosts. 

On Broadway Restaurant is located at 106 

East Broadway in Helena. For hours of operation, 

directions or nightly specials, please visit 

www.onbroadwayinhelena.com. 


U.S. BANK 

OF HELENA 

U.S. Bank of Helena is a homegrown bank 

with a national footprint and a rich local 

history dating back to the nineteenth century— 

a time when customers got around via horse 

and buggy and when analyzing gold dust was 

a common practice of Montana bankers. 

U.S. Bank holds a charter dated 1863. 

U.S. Bank of Helena was born of a long-line of 

predecessor banks in the Helena community, 

including First National Bank & Trust Company 

of Helena, which was officially chartered in 

1890 and eventually—through mergers and 

acquisitions—became a part of U.S. Bancorp 

in the 1990s. 

Today, with a national headquarters in 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, and regional headquarters 

in Billings, Montana, U.S. Bank of 

Helena is still at 302 North Last Chance Gulch, 

the same location First National Bank and Trust 

called home beginning in the early 1900s. The 

local bank currently employs twenty-five people 

and is well-positioned to help both private 

banking and trust clients as well as businesses 

of any size—from the small business just starting 

out to a large company with a long history. 

U.S. Bank offers a complete set of traditional 

and online services that can help any business 

stay ahead, including real-time cash flow 

management, working capital financing, trust 

services and equipment leasing as well as 

traditional deposit and loan products; and also 

recognizes the importance of community. 

“We understand that no single organization 

can effectively tackle complex community issues 

alone and are actively engaged in developing, 

strengthening and energizing our communities,” 

Bank President Jeffrey Arbizzani said recently, 

adding that he and his team are happy to serve 

on a number of local community boards and 

to support charitable organizations of all sorts 

including, but not limited to Big Brothers- 

Big Sisters and other youth organizations, the 

Helena Area Community Foundation, and many 

service organizations. The team is also a Pace 

Setter for the local United Way. Our team lives 

and works locally and loves where they live! 

For more information on U.S. Bank of Helena, 

visit www.USBank.com or call the local branch 

at 406-447-5215. 


ALLEGRA 

PRINT &IMAGING 

Allegra Print & Imaging operates in a building 

that was built as a lumber mill in the late 

1800s and served as a carriage house during 

the first half of the twentieth century. It was 

purchased by Grimes Motors in 1957. In 1996 

it was traded to Dick Anderson Construction 

by Grimes Motors’ owner, Mike Grimes for 

work on a new dealership on Highway 12 East, 

which is now Helena Auto Center. 

It has been amusing to Toni Broadbent over 

the years that many customers come in and 

reminisce about cars purchased in the same space. 

Original Insty Prints owners, Clark and 

Toni Broadbent moved to the Grimes Motors 

building 40 Lawrence Street where it was 

transformed into a full-service commercial 

print shop in 1998 when it became Allegra. 

The business was built with a philosophy to 

build relationships and create successful partnerships 

by hiring a family of highly motivated 

and professional employees that emphasizes 

personal consultation with a quick turnaround. 

Early on Toni and Clark committed to 

provide support for nonprofits and social 

justice organizations in Helena including the 

Archie Bray Foundation, the Helena Food 

Share and the Myrna Loy Center. 

The shop resembles a gallery with original 

paintings and ceramics lining the walls. 

Having been in the business for thirty-one 

years, Toni had not planned to sell Allegra in 

January of 2014. 

When Kyle and Jonette Spencer met Toni 

in 2013, they had not planned to enter the 

printing industry. Kyle, a regional sales 

consultant for a major corporation, knew it 

was time for a change. After shadowing Toni, 

Kyle realized Allegra was more than a print 

shop. Associates were helping businesses 

market their products across all kinds of media. 

Evident was a unique concept 

where small business owners collaborate 

with Allegra to get the benefits 

without paying for an ad agency. 

That, Kyle thought, was right up 

his alley. “I love meeting people and 

learning about their business,” he said. 

Kyle would add new services like 

branding, logo design, websites, social 

media and more. 

“If we really take care of our 

employees and customers, the success 

of the business will follow.” Kyle said. 


Built on a foundation of expertise and 

experience and fueled by a true passion for 

real estate and serving clients, it is no wonder 

that people have trusted Big Sky Brokers, LLC 

Real Estate for their real estate needs for well 

over a decade. 

“In real estate there is simply no substitution 

for experience, attention to detail and comprehensive 

knowledge of 

the area,” is the motto 

of the owners who 

formed Big Sky in 2001. 

“We rallied the best of 

the best in local real 

estate brokers and are 

extremely proud of the 

diverse expertise we 

offer our clients.” 

The Big Sky team 

includes co-owners Mark 

Stahly, Susan Hughes, 

Maureen Oelkers and 

Teresa Lightbody and 

approximately twentyfive 

professional brokers 

specializing in all things real estate—from 

residential to land, ranches to developments 

and commercial to exchanges. Though headquartered 

in Helena, they also serve neighboring 

Avon, Boulder, Clancy, Craig, Elliston, Jefferson 

City, Lincoln, Montana City, Townsend, and 

Wolf Creek. 

“Whether buying, selling or transferring, 

we escort you through all the intricate 

processes, securing your goals and striving 

to make the final outcome exciting rather 

than stressful,” says the Big Sky team. “If 

you are a seller, our expert brokers will 

advise you on the 

enhancement and 

maximization of 

each property’s positive 

features, provide 

market statistics to 

assist in realistic 

pricing, develop a 

plan to market it 

successfully, and be 

persistent in pursuing 

objectives. If you 

are a buyer, we will 

help narrow down 

the right property, 

negotiate price and 

terms that are in 

your best interest, 

and empower you 

to make informed decisions throughout 

the process.” 

For more information or to search the area’s 

real estate listings, visit Big Sky Brokers, LLC 

Real Estate in person at 800 North Benton 

Avenue, Helena, Montana 59601 or online at 

www.bigskybrokers.com. For those who wish 

to call or email, the number is 406-443-1300 

and email is info@bigskybrokers.com. 

BIG SKY 

BROKERS, LLC 

REAL ESTATE 


SHODAIR 

CHILDREN’S 

HOSPITAL 

Shodair Children’s Hospital began as a home 

for orphaned and abandoned children in 

1896 to help care for those who were placed 

on northwest bound “orphan trains,” with 

Helena as their final destination. The Montana 

Children’s Home and Hospital was organized 

to care for those children not adopted along 

the way. The hospital’s name was changed in 

1938 to honor benefactor Louis W. Shodair. 

As Shodair evolved to meet the needs of 

Montana’s children, it became the first facility in 

Montana to treat children with polio. Shodair 

also became the first facility with a department of 

medical genetics, and the first with a chemical 

dependency unit dedicated to adolescents. 

In 1987, children’s psychiatric units opened 

at Shodair; services for adolescents were added 

in 1992, enabling the hospital to treat children 

ages three to eighteen. In 1998, Shodair moved 

to its current larger facility on Helena’s east side, 

allowing us to serve more children, many of 

whom are the victims of emotional, physical, 

and sexual abuse. In 2006, Shodair addressed 

the needs of high-acuity patients by opening a 

twenty bed acute unit, making it the only facility 

in Montana to offer child and adolescent acute 

care and residential treatment under one roof. 

In 1976 the Montana Regional Genetics and 

Birth Defects Program was moved from Boulder 

River School and Hospital, and was headed by 

Dr. Phil Pallister. Shodair was now positioned as 

the only facility in Montana to offer a genetics 

department. Three years later, Dr. John Opitz, 

renowned for his work in medical genetics, 

joined Shodair and chaired the hospital’s 

Department of Medical Genetics. In 1987 the 

State of Montana began providing funding to 

enable Shodair to continue helping families in 

need of genetic services. 

In 2007, Shodair Children’s Hospital was 

awarded the follow-up contract for newborn 

screening by the State of Montana. Shodair 

helps ensure that newborns receive appropriate 

initial care for any genetic problems identified 

by screening performed on all Montana infants 

by their local hospitals, serving as a valuable 

resource for primary care providers and families 

across the state. 

For 118 years, Shodair Children’s Hospital 

has changed with the times and the needs of 

the families it serves. While its programs have 

changed, its mission of improving the well-being 

of the children in its care has left a lasting legacy, 

touching the lives of generations of Montanans. 


A Charter applied for by a small group of 

Helena teachers in 1954, was approved and the 

Lewis and Clark School Employees Credit Union 

held its first meeting on November 16, 1954. 

The goal was to provide a trustworthy, member 

owned business that gives competitive, stable 

and personable variety of financial services for 

the present and future. At the end of 1954 the 

infant organization had assets totaling $220.97. 

The Credit Union remained, as the name 

indicates, for Teachers of Lewis and Clark 

County, but in 1983 with the inclusion of 

Broadwater and Jefferson Counties School 

Employees, the name became Trico Educational 

Federal Credit Union. 

After successfully operating for many years, 

Trico Educational Federal Credit Union decided 

to merge with Tri Valley Credit Union. The 

merge was approved on September 20, 2006, 

and was completed on October 7, 2007, which 

brings us where we are today, Trico Community 

Federal Credit Union. Membership now includes 

anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends 

school in Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and 

Broadwater Counties. Business that once was 

done in the fallout shelter of the treasurers 

home, now resides in the middle of the three 

counties as to best service its members. The 

location and staff have changed but the mission 

has stayed the same. We value our members, 

strive to offer a variety of services and continue 

to be Simply Better! 

The mission statement of Trico Community 

Federal Credit Union is to promote a trustworthy 

member-owned business which provides a 

variety of competitive, stable financial services. 

For additional information to include services 

offered, hours of operation or the nearest ATM, 

please visit www.tricocommunityfcu.com. 

TRICO 

COMMUNITY 

FEDERAL 

CREDIT UNION 


MOSAIC 

ARCHITECTURE 

✧ 

ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF 

JK LAWRENCE PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Bottom, left: Great Northern 


Bottom, right: Archie Bray Foundation. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF 

JK LAWRENCE PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Mosaic Architecture is proud to have played 

an integral role in the continuing history 

of Helena. After returning to his hometown, 

firm founder, Ben Tintinger established a 

new practice in Helena in 1994. Through 

the continued collaboration of two Montana 

State University classmates, Tintinger and Jeff 

Downhour, along with long-time professional 

staff of Gretchen Krumm, Aaron Holm, Anna 

Lindstrand, and Mark Ophus, the firm has 

evolved into the design-driven and communityoriented 

studio of Mosaic Architecture. Mosaic’s 

studio is currently located on the 400 block of 

Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana. 

MOSAIC is committed to providing our 

clients with exceptional architectural solutions 

through a design philosophy that is grounded in 

the idea of collective input. Their professional 

staff will engage all participants in learning about 

a place through its history, its people, and its 

connections, and together, envision a place that 

defines its own character. Mosaic’s ability to solve 

problems, coordinate and organize the project 

team, and provide site-appropriate design, has 

been the cornerstone of their ability to deliver 

successful projects throughout the Northwest. 

Helena’s built environment has continued 

to evolve and Mosaic Architecture has helped 

shape that environment with award winning 

design. When Helena developer Alan Nicholson 

approached the firm (then Dowling Tintinger 

Architecture) to master plan and design the 

Great Northern Town Center in 1997, the 

visionary development provided the stepping 

stone for many local legacy buildings, including 

the mixed use Artisan Block, Discovery Block, 

Expedition Block, and the children’s science 

center, Exploration Works. 

Mosaic has also provided the design for 

many of Helena’s new landmark buildings. 

The Montana State Fund building and 

Fifteenth Street Parking Garage completed 

in 2010 is testament to the firm’s ability to 

lead very complex and collaborative efforts. 

The Fairgrounds new Exhibition Hall and 

Grandstands completed in 2008 will stand as 

a community gathering place for years to 

come. And the partnership formed with the 

Archie Bray Foundation in the redevelopment 

of the Bray campus is a relationship that Mosaic 

is extremely honored to have. 

Creating an appropriate architecture is our 

passion. Building long-term relationships with 

our clients is our mission, and believing in the 

sustainability and support of our community is 

our faith. 


NITRO-GREEN 

OF HELENA 

The Nitro-Green of Helena story began in 

1984, a year after the boom and bust cycle 

of the gas and oil business left Brad Culver 

unemployed from his job as operations 

manager at Satellite Industries, an oil field 

lighting company. After receiving his 

commission check, Brad and his wife, Robie, 

made the decision to leave the depressed 

economy of Casper, Wyoming, and start a new 

adventure with the purchase of a Nitro-Green 

franchise. Franchises were offered in a limited 

choice of cities, but the Culvers—who had 

visited and fallen in love with Helena during 

their honeymoon a year earlier—jumped at 

the chance to begin again in the stable economy 

of the Capital City. 

The Culvers and their new business concept 

were readily accepted into the Helena area, 

where they offered primarily lawn fertilizing 

and weed control. Their two young sons, 

Cleve and Clint, who are now partners in 

the business, enthusiastically accepted their 

marketing duties of passing brochures door 

to door and offering affordable mowing service 

to some of Nitro-Green’s elderly clientele. 

Since that time, the services offered by 

Nitro-Green have expanded considerably to 

include full service pest control, tree care, 

lawn renovation, and noxious weed control. 

Committed to offering quality employment 

opportunities and consistent service to their 

valued customers, the Culvers added off-season 

services to include Christmas Décor (holiday 

lighting), snow removal, and delivery of cattle 

feed supplement to agricultural producers. 

Brad co-founded AMTOPP, the Association 

of Montana Turf, Ornamental and Pest 

Professionals in 1990. He has served on 

numerous advisory boards, the Chamber of 

Commerce and Civic Center Boards, the 

Mountain West Bank Community Board and 

the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. 

The Culvers all believe strongly in giving 

back to their community. 

Brad, Cleve and Clint continue to operate 

the Nitro Green business as it began in 1984: 

a family-owned, customer service-centered, 

and forward-thinking enterprise that serves 

to provide the Helena area with healthy and 

attractive landscapes, festive holiday lighting, 

and agricultural products. 

For additional information, please visit 

Nitro-Green at www.nitrogreenhelena.com. 

✧ 

Above: Left to right, Brad and Robie 

Culver next to their first truck, 1984. 

Below: Left to right, Brad, Cleve and 

Clint Culver next to the very same 

truck as above. 


LUXAN & 

MURFITT, PLLP 

✧ 

Above, left to right: H. J. Luxan 

(1918-1984) and Walter S. “Howdy” 

Murfitt (1930-2002) cofounded the 

firm in 1962. These photos, displayed 

prominently in the firm’s conference 

room, could tell endless stories if only 

they could talk. 

Below: Luxan & Murfitt has 

maintained offices on the fourth floor 

of the historic Montana Club building 

in downtown Helena since 1981, 

when it relocated from the Wells 

Fargo Bank building. The firm later 

acquired and continues to occupy the 

fourth floor of the adjacent 

Palmer Building as well. 

The law firm of Luxan & Murfitt remains 

a bedrock of the Helena community. Formed 

in 1962 by H. J. Luxan and Walter S. “Howdy” 

Murfitt, the firm continues to offer a wide range 

of legal services to meet the needs of individuals 

and businesses. 

Luxan first practiced law in Helena in 1948. 

As a bachelor lawyer, he lived for a period in 

rented quarters at the Montana Club. 

Luxan specialized in banking law, serving 

as legal counsel for Northwestern 

Bank. He developed an extensive estate 

planning and probate practice, serving 

the local farm and ranch community. 

Before joining the firm, Murfitt 

worked as a trial attorney for the 

Montana Department of Highways 

and as an associate in the firm of 

Luxan & Scribner. He developed broad 

expertise, serving as East Helena City 

Attorney, chairing the Montana 

Medical Legal Panel and acting as 

counsel for the State of Montana in 

bond matters. Murfitt exemplified the 

firm’s commitment to civic, charitable 

and professional endeavors. 

The firm and its solid business 

reputation grew rapidly. Initially, as 

partners joined Luxan & Murfitt, 

the firm name changed periodically 

to reflect the addition of the new 

partners. The partners eventually settled 

on “Luxan & Murfitt” as the firm’s 

permanent name. 

Well-known attorneys and unsung 

heroes alike have contributed to the 

firm’s growth, success 

and longevity. Gary L. 

Davis (joined 1971); 

Dale E. Reagor (joined 

1978); and Patrick E. 

Melby (joined 1981) 

deserve special mention. 

Bookkeeper Martha 

Teague (since 1981) and 

paralegal Viola J. Zindell 

(since 1991) have served 

the firm loyally for 

many years. 

The firm’s fifty year history 

of providing skilled 

and experienced legal services and representation 

has prepared the firm to continue its vital role in 

Helena’s legal and civic community for the next 

fifty years. The current partners look forward to 

carrying on the firm’s rich tradition and values 

of competence, collaboration and service. 

For more information, please contact Luxan 

& Murfitt, PLLP at (406) 442-7450. 


Stahly Engineering & Associates, a full 

service civil engineering and survey firm, 

believes that building positive relationships by 

delivering quality services is the key to our 

success. Personal involvement from owners 

and project managers in individual projects 

performed and the communities we serve 

strengthens our commitment to our clients’ 

goals. Stahly Engineering provides engineering 

services in the fields of transportation, site 

development, water and wastewater systems, 

and structures. We also assist public and 

private clients with planning, grant writing 

and administration, all types of survey services, 

and construction inspection. 

The inspiration behind Stahly Engineering’s 

business philosophy is the founder, J. David 

Stahly (Dave). “It was Dave’s ethics and family 

values that drew me to Stahly Engineering in 

the first place,” states Greg Benjamin, one of 

the current owners of the firm. “We intend to 

carry on the legacy of what he started.” 

Moving his family to Helena from Arizona in 

the late 1960s, Dave was working on a project 

for an Arizona based firm. He and his young 

family liked Helena so much they decided to 

stay. Staying in the area meant starting an independent 

firm. Stahly Engineering’s foundation 

was made solid with the help of the entire 

Stahly family. Dave’s wife Carol along with 

Mark, Mike, Byron, Alana and 

Dan all participated in various 

jobs as the company grew. 

“Dad’s influence on us was 

always by example,” Byron Stahly 

said. “What Stahly Engineering 

is today is a direct result of 

Dad’s life principles of hard 

work and integrity. I know how 

valuable an influence in my 

personal and professional life 

my father has been.” 

Byron, a professional engineer 

(P.E.) leads the company 

today along with his brother 

Dan, P.L.S. and the Bozeman 

office manager, Greg Benjamin, 

P.E. The firm has recently developed 

an ownership transition 

plan that will make the firm 

entirely employee owned. New 

STAHLY ENGINEERING & ASSOCIATES 

ownership interest in the business starting in 

2013 is associate principals Mike Meredith, P.E.; 

Robie Culver; Clint Smith, C.E.T.; Ryan Rittal, 

P.E.; Kurt Thomson, P.E.; and Cordell Pool, P.E. 

These individuals are committed to continuing 

the legacy of service begun by the Stahly family 

by nurturing personal relationships with their 

clients, the communities they serve, and 

the employees that are the backbone of the 

company’s success. 

✧ 

Above: Stahly Engineering corporate 

office located in Helena, Montana. 

Below: Left to right, Dave Stahly, 

founder of Stahly Engineering with 

his son, Byron, president of 

the corporation. 


GREEN MEADOW 

COUNTRY CLUB 

Green Meadow Country Club will celebrate 

its centennial in June 2015. We are proud of 

our role in golf’s local history. 

Golf has been played in the Helena valley 

since 1900, and our club’s lineage during most 

of that period is a bit complicated, so please 

bear with us. 

In 1900, Fort Harrison was the site of 

Helena’s first golf course, which was only seven 

holes long. A second course with nine holes 

was built on the slopes of Mount Helena. This 

course played downhill from Le Grand Canon 

to beyond what is now Euclid Street before 

turning back up the mountain. The clubhouse 

for the long abandoned second course still 

stands at 819 Gilbert Street. 

Helena’s West Side course was used for 

twelve years until golf was again revived at 

Fort Harrison on yet a third course. The old 

officers’ club at Fort Harrison served as the 

clubhouse for the new nine-hole course. In June 

1915 the Helena Country Club was incorporated 

to play the new course. 

When World War I broke out, the Helena 

Country Club was squeezed out of Fort Harrison, 

so we built a new eighteen hole course near the 

current Baxendale Fire House. Played on sand 

greens, our Pine Hills Course lasted for another 

twenty-five years until rattlesnakes and dry 

ground prompted relocation to arguably the 

best grassland in Montana. 

Green Meadow Country Club’s current site 

is a combination of two properties: Central 

Park and Green Meadow Ranch. Central Park 

was the land south of the railroad tracks, 

and Green Meadow Ranch was the land north 

of the tracks. The combined properties were 

designated as a wildlife preserve. Our current 

course was constructed by cutting through 

heavy willow thickets and undergrowth. 

Play on the first nine began in 1945, and a 

second nine was added thirty years later. 

In 1970 the Helena Town & Country Club was 

re-incorporated as the Green Meadow Country 

Club. Our current clubhouse, built in 2008, 

is perhaps the finest in Montana. 

Helena has a rich golfing heritage, and 

Green Meadow Country Club is proud to 

continue that tradition. We are a great place to 

belong, and we always welcome new members 

to our club. 


AAA QUALITY 

SPRINKLER AND 

LANDSCAPE 

Because David Brandon wants only the 

best for his customers, he sought the best 

when forming his own business almost a 

decade ago. 

Like a master horticulturist crossbreeds 

plants to create a better plant, the twenty plus 

year landscaping and sprinkler veteran acquired 

and merged two long-time, well-respected 

Helena businesses—Quality Sprinkler Systems, 

formerly owned by Don Cloninger, and J & K 

Irrigation, formerly owned by Joe and Kathy 

Raunig—when creating AAA Quality Sprinkler 

and Landscape in 2005. 

When asked what sets his company apart 

from others, Brandon is quick to point to 

a quality that is so important that he literally 

and very purposefully included it in the 

business’ name. 

“Quality separates many things. It can mean 

a product working right from the very first 

time to one that never really worked at all.” 

Brandon says. “We chose to make sure 

quality was foremost in our minds with our 

every action and is the reason we are happy 

to guarantee our workmanship and product 

quality on each and every job.” 

A registered and fully insured professional 

contractor, AAA Quality Sprinkler and Landscape 

is equipped to install and service residential 

or commercial sprinkler and landscape projects, 

no matter the size. It has a superbly experienced 

team, which includes Brandon, Bret Halverson, 

Tom Clement, Chris Jones, T. J. Syness, Steve 

Geiser, Garret Dutton and Larry Essex as 

Brandon proudly refers to the “A Team”. 

“Our team of professionals specialize in 

installing and maintaining sprinkler systems 

in established lawns as well as complete 

landscapes from the dirt up to include soil 

preparation, design and installation, and 

regular service as well,” Brandon says, adding 

that his company pledges to arrive quickly, 

install professionally and price reasonably. 

“Because we see your lawn care needs as 

an investment that we are allowed to manage 

for you, we like to say we manage your 

whole greenery portfolio. Much like a stock 

broker manages your financial investments; 

we maintain and grow your organic investment.” 

For more information on AAA Quality 

Sprinkler and Landscape, call 406-594-1232 or 

visit www.sprinklerguru.com. 


CWG ARCHITECTS 

✧ 

Above: The CWG Architects team. 

Below: The Helena Regional Airport. 

CWG Architects was born into Helena in 

1957 as an architectural entity of the engineering 

firm Morrison Maierle and Associates. 

Grant Crossman, a hardworking gentleman 

who was known for believing in his employees, 

jump-started the company within the engineering 

firm. In 1966, Wayne Whitney and Richard 

Griffin joined Crossman in the partnership as 

Maierle and Morrison focused on engineering. 

The three founding fathers formed Crossman- 

Whitney-Griffin Architects. 

“We’ve always maintained a really great main 

group of people. That is something Grant 

always believed in,” said Jim Brown, a second 

generation architect of the firm. 

Throughout CWG’s time in Helena they 

have influenced many features of the town’s 

identity. CWG has been a part of building and 

renovating many landmarks in the community, 

including the restoration of the Capitol 

Building in 1959, construction of St. Mary 

Catholic Church, rehabilitation of Carroll 

College after the train explosion in 1989, 

and more recently the expansion of Helena 

Regional Airport. 

Needing room to expand in 1981, CWG 

moved their office from downtown to the 

original carriage house for the T. C. Power 

Mansion at 650 Power Street. Today the firm 

is continuing to grow and recently added an 

interior design service to their team. 

Over the years much has changed at CWG, 

including the people and technology leading 

the field of architecture. What has stood the test 

of time is CWG’s commitment to quality service, 

innovative design, and passion in meeting their 

client’s expectations. 

“Architecture has changed considerably 

since I started,” said CWG President Tony 

Perpignano. “It is not just about design and 

technology, so much of what we have to do is 

invent new ways to provide our clients with 

innovative services as society’s expectations are 

constantly expanding.” 

Still nestled in the Mansion District, off 

of Power Street, the next generation of staff 

continues to build Helena through architecture 

and sustaining our community with charitable 

support through civic clubs, scholarships, and 

event sponsorship. 


HELENA 

REGIONAL 

AIRPORT 

Before Helena had an established airport, the 

Montana State Fair Board, along with some local 

business leaders, offered a cash prize to the first 

person to fly over the Continental Divide. J. C. 

“Bud” Mars made the first attempt on September 

30, 1910, but crashed in the Scratchgravel Hills. 

He survived, and is credited with starting the 

St. Charles Aero Club in 1911. Nineteen year 

old Cromwell Dixon successfully completed the 

challenge in 1911, winning a $10,000 check 

and the title “The World’s Greatest Aviator.” 

Tragically, Dixon was killed two days later during 

a flying exhibition at Spokane, Washington. 

The original Helena Airport was located on 

land now occupied by the Bill Roberts Golf 

Course. Fred Sheriff, Al Steward, and Ed 

Follensby owned the first Helena-based aircraft. 

Golfers and aviators soon began to have 

conflicts, which resulted in the city seeking a 

new location for the airport. Charles Lindbergh 

landed in Helena on September 6, 1927, as part 

of a nationwide tour to encourage communities 

to create airports, and on July 11, 1928, the 

Helena Airport was officially opened in its 

current location. Morrison Flying Service, 

owned and operated by Red and Bitty Morrison, 

was the first commercial operator on the 

Helena Airport, opening its doors in 1931; Red 

also served as the first airport manager. Bitty 

continued to operate the business for thirty 

years after Red was killed in WWII. 

In 1978 the passenger terminal was relocated 

to the north side of the airport. In the early 

1990s the airport began developing non-aeronautical 

lease revenues to support the airport 

operation. Office buildings were constructed 

and leased to several federal agencies, and the 

Montana National Guard constructed a new 

aviation facility in 1994 on the north side. A 

new FAA Control Tower was built in 1994. The 

Rocky Mountain Emergency Services Training 

Center, which trains emergency responders, 

was built in 1996. In 1997, Summit Aeronautics 

opened the first aerospace manufacturing facility 

at the airport. Development continued with 

the addition of the driver training track, 

U.S. Forest Service Air Tanker Base, numerous 

private hangars, an extensive terminal expansion 

and remodel in 2005, expansion of both 

fire stations, new snow equipment and fire truck 

fleets, and additional ground leases to MACo, 

Boeing, Pioneer Aerostructures, Lee Enterprises, 

and Costco. 

Today the Helena Regional Airport is served 

by three major airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta 

Airlines, and United Airlines connecting to four 

major hubs and has become an economic engine 

for the Helena community. 


BERT & ERNIE’S 

✧ 

Above: The old Globe Clothing & 

Jewelry Company Store building. 

Bert & Ernie’s was founded in downtown 

Helena in the Iron front Hotel on July 2, 1974, 

by Carroll College Graduates Tom McCarvel 

(Ernie) and Tim Kennedy (Bert). The restaurant 

became so successful that within the next 

decade they opened two other locations 

across the state. Bert & Ernie’s was founded 

on deli sandwiches with amazing soups and 

the best craft brews. 

In May of 1990, Bert and Ernie’s purchased 

and renovated the old Globe Clothing Store 

building, packed up and moved down the 

street. The Globe was founded by George 

Grossberg in 1909 and had a very successful 

rich presence in downtown until 1984. George 

made the Globe a community store helping 

many people in the Helena community far 

beyond just apparel. The business continued 

its success through the years, because it 

maintained that family owned status run by 

daughter Jean Weeks who carried on the 

quality and service the Globe was always know 

for. Much of the building’s original design was 

preserved in its charming décor and with the 

restoration of the balconies. The renovation 

sought to make Bert & Ernie’s a rich part of 

the history, charm, and classic atmosphere that 

have come to define downtown Helena. Many 

of the antiques and signage in Bert & Ernie’s 

are wonderful treasures of Helena’s past and 

have many stories to tell. 

Through the past forty years Bert & Ernie’s 

developed a mainstay menu and has became 

one of Helena’s most iconic establishments. 

Current Owner, Toby DeWolf, helped to continue 

Bert & Ernie’s rich history and continued 

its growth by opening Bleachers Sport Pub, 

offering all sporting events and Gourmet Pizza 

and Sommeliers, Montana’s finest wine bar 

having the largest selection of Boutique wines 

and Tapas in Helena. Our outdoor patio has 

been “voted the best outdoor dining in Helena” 

for the past ten years. We are proud to offer the 

largest beer tap selection in Helena, continuing 

to support many of Montana’s finest craft brews. 

Bert & Ernie’s truly is a place for everyone 

to enjoy. 

Stop in for a fine meal and take in all of the 

rich history. 


THE PARROT 

CONFECTIONERY 

The Parrot Confectionery is one of the oldest 

confectioneries in Montana. Charles A. Whitman 

opened the Helena Drug Co. Fountain and 

Confectionery Department in the early 1910s. 

He moved to 137 North Main in 1917 and 

teamed up with candy-maker A. T. Wallace. 

They moved to 22 North Main in 1920, and 

in 1922 the confectionery was sold to William 

R. Post and his wife, Ianthe “Postie,” who 

changed the name to The Parrot Confectionery. 

In 1935, The Parrot moved to its current 

location at 42 North Last Chance Gulch. In 

1957 the Posts sold the confectionery to 

Arnold and Nancy Duensing, and after Arnold’s 

passing Dusty and David Duensing eventually 

took over operations with their wives, Pam 

and Wendy. In 2009, The Parrot was sold to 

current owners Brian and Kelly Ackerman who 

continue to uphold the tradition. 

The Parrot became a well-known congregation 

spot in Helena. People would go to downtown 

events, and afterwards, head to The Parrot until 

it closed. The neighborhood kids would meet 

there after school. These same “kids” now come 

back with their own children and grandchildren 

for chili with vinegar, milk shakes, Mexican 

limes, phosphates, and chocolate cokes. Patrons 

used to scratch their names or initials into the 

Formica tables, a practice that has always been 

grounds for being dismissed from the store, and 

today customers take pride in finding their 

marks to show grandkids. 

Throughout the decades The Parrot has 

overcome the effects of economic depressions 

and wars. After Urban Renewal, the changes in 

traffic patterns required The Parrot to add mail 

order service. Currently The Parrot sends candy 

across the United States and around the world. 

The Parrot still makes everything from 

scratch. Sodas, Chili, Ice Cream, Syrups, Sauces 

and Confections are all made according to 

recipes that date back to the early 1900s. The 

candies are still hand-dipped one piece at a 

time. Favorites include: Parrots (like Turtles), 

Mint Supremes, Milk Chocolate Caramels, 

Almond Butter Toffee, and several flavors of 

mints wafers—staples at local weddings. 

Every day The Parrot goes through 100 

pounds of sugar and sells at least eighty 

different kinds of candy. In a year, they go 

through nine to ten tons of chocolate and that 

same amount of sugar…and The Parrot still 

“Talks for Itself.” 


LESLIE’S 

HALLMARK 

✧ 

Bottom: Leslie’s Hallmark, 

Rim Rock Mall, Billings, Montana. 

The purchase of Hatch’s Card & Gifts in 

August of 1979 was the beginning of Leslie’s 

Hallmark. Les and Kim Simkins, motivated 

by their son Dave, began their journey into 

the retail business. Dave was employed by 

Hatch’s in the Capital Hill Mall for several years. 

He managed Hatch’s in Cody, Wyoming, before 

returning to Helena. 

In 1980, Hatch’s became Leslie’s Hallmark 

after being approved and certified by 

Hallmark Cards Inc., a corporation known and 

respected worldwide. 

Leslie’s acquired Knights Hallmark located in 

the Arcade Building on historic Last Chance 

Gulch in 1983. It was later moved from the 

second level to the ground floor and then 

relocated to the old Fligelman Building next to 

the Parrot Confectionery. 

In 1984, Leslie’s Hallmark was offered the 

opportunity to acquire Tiffany’s Attic located 

at 403 Central Avenue in Great Falls. Son, John, 

managed this store for several years before 

pursuing his degree at University of Montana. 

Simkins Inc. also acquired Whipples 

Hallmark and Happy House in the Holiday 

Village Mall. These stores were combined to 

produce the largest Hallmark store in Montana. 

In 1989, Simkins Inc. added Robins in 

Buttreys Center and Jays Hallmark at 29 East 

Main Street in Bozeman. In 2002 they purchased 

Andrews Hallmark in the Gallaton 

Valley Mall. Son, Jim and family, relocated to 

Bozeman to manage these stores. 

Leslie’s in Helena added a fresh flower 

department to the store in 1986 to provide 

an added service for their customers. Their 

talented and dedicated florists have created 

arrangements for weddings, funerals, proms, 

and many holiday and special occasions. 

In 2003, Leslie’s opened a second location 

in Helena in the Northside Center. Leslie’s 

Montana shop opened in the Capital Hill 

Mall in 2011. It features a large selection of 

Montana made products including huckleberry 

candy, jelly, syrup, western art, jewelry, etc. 

In 2012, Dave opened a new Hallmark Shop 

in the Rim Rock Mall in Billings. 

Over the years the Simkins have attended 

various workshops and seminars. In 1998, 

Leslie’s was selected to participate in the 

awards ceremony in Maui, Hawaii. They have 

qualified for the “Gold Crown” status every 

year since 1980. The stores have aggressively 

been involved in automating systems and 

updating Hallmark Décor Requirements. One 

of the more interesting and fun products sold 

in our store were Beanie Babies, which were 

extremely popular in the late 1990s. 

We have strived to provide good customer 

service and customer satisfaction over the past 

thirty-five years. 

This is a family operated business, which 

involved sons, daughters and grandchildren. 

Leslie’s has enjoyed dedicated employees, 

good advisors and many loyal customers. 

They have participated in many fundraisers 

and civic events. 

Les and Kim retired in 2006 after twentyseven 

years in the business and their sons took 

over the business. 

We have been richly blessed! 


Gayle Grimsrud State Farm Insurance offers 

the resources and strengths of one of the 

nation’s largest and most respected insurance 

companies combined with the personal, 

understanding service that can be provided 

only by someone who knows and understands 

the community. 

For thirty years, Gayle Grimsrud State 

Farm Insurance has provided a full range of 

insurance—auto, fire, life and health—as well 

as banking services and mutual funds. 

A native Montanan, Gayle graduated from 

Eastern Montana College in Billings (now 

MSUB) and taught school before deciding 

on a career in insurance. She started her 

State Farm Agency in 1985 and the business 

has become one of the region’s most 

successful businesses. The agency services 

clients in Lewis & Clark, Broadwater and 

Jefferson Counties. 

The agency provides the full line of 

insurance provided by State Farm Insurance, 

but the secret to its success is the fast, friendly 

service provided by Gayle and her staff. 

“I grew up on a Montana ranch, have lived 

in Helena for more than thirty years and 

believe we understand the needs of our 

neighbors,” Gayle says. 

“We feel our mission is to help people 

manage the risks of everyday life, recover 

from the unexpected and 

realize their dreams,” 

she adds. 

Gayle and her husband, 

Vernon, have raised three 

children in the Queen City 

of the Rockies and have 

grown to love the city and 

the region. Her children 

include 21 year old Monica, 

19 year old Mallory and 

18 year old Garth. 

Gayle has qualified for 

State Farm’s Legion of 

Honor, Bronze Tablet and 

Silver Scroll awards and 

has been active in 4-H 

and youth sports programs. 

She has also served on 

the board of directors 

of the Helena Chamber 

of Commerce. 

“My family and I really 

appreciate the opportunity 

to live, raise a family and 

build a business in the 

town that gold built,” 

she comments. 

The Gayle Grimsrud State Farm Insurance 

agency is located at 1303 Eleventh Avenue, 

north of the State Capital. 

GAYLE 

GRIMSRUD 

STATE FARM 

INSURANCE 

✧ 

Left: Gayle Grimsrud. 


PAN HANDLER 

PLUS 

✧ 

Left to right, Billie Shepard and 

Concetta Eckel. 

The Pan Handler Plus has served the Helena 

area for over thirty-five years. Our store 

offers an extensive selection of products for 

the kitchen and home, entertaining and gift 

giving. The Pan Handler was established in 

August 1978 by Concetta Eckel. The store 

opened in the Goodall Brothers Assay Building, 

46 South Last Chance Gulch, just south of our 

current location. In Gold Rush days, Thomas 

“Tommy” Cruse, an early city resident who 

struck it rich, had his office on the second 

floor of the Goodall Building. 

In 1982 the Pan Handler expanded into 

its current location in the Loranz Building. 

The Loranz Plumbing Building, 40-42 South 

Last Chance Gulch, had been renovated in 

the late 1970s by the Globe clothing store. 

The Globe operated the New Enterprise 

clothing store for several years prior to 1982. 

In 1997, Eckel sold The Pan Handler to Billie 

Shepard, the current owner. Here is hoping 

for many more years of success at this 

beautiful location on Helena’s historic Last 

Chance Gulch! 

BIG DIPPER 

ICE CREAM 

Serving up homemade ice cream since 1995, 

Helena native Charlie Beaton founded Big 

Dipper Ice Cream in Missoula. Big Dipper 

has garnered national attention 

from appearances on Good Morning 

America to being chosen as one of 

America’s Best by Food and Wine 

Magazine, USA Today, Yahoo news 

and Budget Travel among others. 

Helena resident Anna Doran opened 

the first Big Dipper Franchise in 

the historic Power Block building 

in 2010. Big Dipper has become 

a downtown institution seemingly 

overnight, helping revitalize the 

Walking Mall by being open every 

day, all year, until late in the 

evenings. Going to Big Dipper in the 

summer is more than just a way to 

satisfy your sweet tooth; it is a social 

scene as the line spreads across the 

Walking Mall and children and 

families enjoy special flavors like 

White Mint Oreo, Salted Caramel, 

Espresso Heath and more. 


The Ghost Art Gallery at 21 South Last 

Chance Gulch is celebrating forty years on the 

walking mall. Since 1974 the Ghost Art Gallery 

and frame shop has been decorating homes, 

offices and commercial buildings 

throughout Helena and the 

surrounding area. Providing 

original art, limited edition prints, 

bronzes, pottery and unique gifts 

by over eighty of Montana’s best 

artists. The state-of-the-art frame 

shop and design area are located 

above the gallery in what was 

once Big Dorothy’s brothel. 

Owners Dave and Jeri 

Kettman have had the gallery 

since 1986 and have expanded 

both gallery and frame shop to 

accommodate larger art and 

commercial framing. 

A small family run business 

with an incredible staff, the Ghost 

Art Gallery has always promoted 

a family friendly atmosphere 

and strived to be an ambassador for Helena, 

the Downtown and the art community. 

For additional information to include special 

events, please visit www.ghostartgallery. 

GHOST ART 

GALLERY 

The building in which the Windbag Saloon 

& Grill has called home since 1978 has had 

many diverse occupants over the years. History 

tells of a burlesque hall that eventually became 

a moving picture theatre and later a bowling 

alley. Numerous drinking establishments are 

also reported to have entertained their patrons 

in downtown Helena at the building address 

of 19 North Last Chance Gulch. The building 

is probably most well-known for its famous 

madams and red lights. Dorothy Baker, and 

before her, Ida Levi, ran one of the cleanest most 

respected bordellos in all of Montana up until 

1973, when Big Dorothy was closed down. The 

building located on the Historic Walking Mall 

has traditionally been a focal point of Helena’s 

night life. The folks at the Windbag Saloon wish 

to continue that tradition. Offering the finest 

steaks, seafood, burgers, salad, and chicken 

in Montana, everything is made fresh. 

The steaks are hand-cut and seafood 

is flown in twice a week from Oregon. 

WINDBAG 

SALOON &GRILL 


SPONSORS 

AAA MountainWest .................................................................................1 1 0 

AAA Quality Sprinkler and Landscape .......................................................1 3 3 

Allegra Print & Imaging..........................................................................1 2 4 

Alpine Animal Clinic Veterinary Hospital and Luxury Boarding .......................8 6 

American Federal Savings Bank ................................................................1 1 8 

Beartooth NBC ........................................................................................9 8 

Bert & Ernie’s .......................................................................................1 3 6 

Big Dipper Ice Cream .............................................................................1 4 0 

Big Sky Brokers, LLC Real Estate..............................................................1 2 5 

Bill and Becky Eiker .................................................................................7 8 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana ........................................................9 2 

Browning Kaleczyc Berry & Hoven, P.C......................................................1 1 9 

Carroll College ........................................................................................8 5 

CWG Architects .....................................................................................1 3 4 

Davis Business Machines, Inc. ..................................................................1 0 2 

Dowling Studio Architects, PC ..................................................................1 0 6 

DSArchitects, DSA .................................................................................1 0 6 

Gayle Grimsrud State Farm Insurance .......................................................1 3 9 

Ghost Art Gallery ..................................................................................1 4 1 

Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, PLLP .............................................7 0 

Great Northern Town Center......................................................................8 2 

Green Meadow Country Club ....................................................................1 3 2 

Helena Area Chamber of Commerce ...........................................................1 1 6 

Helena Business Improvement District & Downtown Helena Inc. ....................1 1 2 

Helena Community Credit Union ..............................................................1 0 0 

Helena Regional Airport ..........................................................................1 3 5 

Helena Sand & Gravel, Inc. .....................................................................1 0 4 

Home Beautifiers ...................................................................................1 1 4 

Last Chance Tours of Helena ....................................................................1 1 5 

Leslie’s Hallmark ...................................................................................1 3 8 

Lewis & Clark County ..............................................................................6 6 

Luxan & Murfitt, PLLP ...........................................................................1 3 0 

McHugh Mobile Home Partnership ..............................................................7 4 

Montana Historical Society ........................................................................9 4 

Morrison-Maierle, Inc. .............................................................................8 8 

Mosaic Architecture ................................................................................1 2 8 

Nitro-Green of Helena ............................................................................1 2 9 

On Broadway Restaurant .........................................................................1 2 2 

Pan Handler Plus ...................................................................................1 4 0 

Pierce and Associates–Builders, LLC .........................................................1 2 1 

Rocky Mountain Credit Union ....................................................................9 6 

Ruckers Furniture ..................................................................................1 0 8 

Shodair Children’s Hospital .....................................................................1 2 6 

St. Peter’s Hospital ..................................................................................9 0 

Stahly Engineering & Associates ...............................................................1 3 1 

Sullivan Financial Group ........................................................................1 1 7 

The Montana Club ..................................................................................1 1 3 

The Parrot Confectionery ........................................................................1 3 7 

Trico Community Federal Credit Union ......................................................1 2 7 

U.S. Bank of Helena ...............................................................................1 2 3 

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. ...........................................................................1 2 0 

Windbag Saloon & Grill ..........................................................................1 4 1 


✧ 

The St. Louis and Boston blocks on South Last Chance Gulch well represent Helena’s late nineteenth century. 


S p o n s o r s ✦ 1 4 3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

E L L E N 

B A U M L E R 

Ellen Baumler has been the National Register Sign Program coordinator and 

interpretive historian at the Montana Historical Society in Helena since 1992. She 

received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in English, Classics and History. Her 

writing has been honored by Women Writing the West and The American Association 

for State and Local History. She is the author of eight books and dozens of articles on 

diverse topics and a longtime member of the Humanities Montana Speaker’s Bureau. 

Ellen is a 2011 recipient of the Montana Governor’s Award for the Humanities. She is 

the hostess of History on the Go every weekday morning at 7:40 a.m. on KBLL 1240 

Radio in Helena. More Montana Moments (MHS Press, 2012), is her most recent book. 

Ellen’s blog at http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/ reflects the diversity of her work.

Helena, The Town That Gold Built: The First 150 Years

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