Orientation Videos for the Cultural Resources Database Research Fellowship
View recordings from an informational webinar about Montana SHPO’s Cultural Resources Database Research Fellowship.
Curtis Music Hall, Uptown Butte
The Curtis Music Hall is one of Uptown Butte’s grandest buildings. This Victorian era time capsule on Park and Main has been a dance hall with live music, boarding house, meeting place, saloon, bakery, restaurant, confectionery, and shoe store.
Regis Grocery in Red Lodge, Listed!
Let’s hear it for corner grocery stores! Red Lodge’s Regis Grocery building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 2024.
Montana’s Haunted Places
Paranormal activity in Montana is well documented on the internet. You can also find more than 100 records for haunted historic sites in Montana’s Cultural Resources Database. A search for the term “haunted” produces nearly 100 hits including mines, dams, ranger stations, barns, log cabins, hotels, residences, rock cairns, trails, cemeteries, campsites, fire lookouts, railroads, banks, bridges, battlefields, farms, quarries, and trash dumps.
Ghost signs
“Ghost signs” are the hashtag-friendly term for custom advertisements that were hand-painted onto the sides of buildings. Ghost signs or “brickads” were a popular advertising form from the late-nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries when more disposable sign formats became popular. But decades later, the ghost signs that remain cling tenaciously to the brick thanks to the lead in their oil-based paints.
Westgate Village Shopping Center, Listed!
The 1957 mid-twentieth century Westgate Village Shopping Center represents a mainstay of the Montana State University area and the populace of Bozeman. Designed by Hugo Eck, a locally famous architect and professor at Montana State University, the building represents the first small neighborhood multi-unit retail shopping center built in Bozeman as a response to major post-World War II population and economic growth of the community. The original design of the building, which remains largely intact, included spaces for five business separated by interior common walls, under one roof structure, with a single continuous façade and automobile parking focused on the building.
Head Chief-Young Mule Charge, Listed!
The Head Chief-Young Mule Bravery Charge Site near Lame Deer marks the fateful 1890 event of Head Chief and Young Mule's charge toward the United States cavalry line. The site represents an assertion of Northern Cheyenne nationalism and traditional lifeways in response to genocidal conditions imposed by the United States Government. The site holds Tribal-national significance and is the last place where Northern Cheyenne warriors took up arms against the U.S. Army following the creation of the reservation in 1884. The charge marked the beginning of a socio/geographical transformation whereby the reservation expanded to its current size and white landownership on the reservation extinguished to avoid further hostility and conflict between Indian and non-Indians.
Main Boulder Ranger Station, Listed!
The Main Boulder Ranger Station, constructed in 1908, represents one of the oldest continually operated Forest Service facilities in the nation and exemplifies early CCC-era Forest Service Administration. The Ranger’s Residence/Office, woodshed, root cellar, and rock wall date from the 1908-1929, whereas the barn, machine shed, and two bunkhouses date from the 1930-1945 CCC-era of Forest Service Administration.
Lewis & Clark Co. Hospital Historic District, Addendum and Boundary Increase
The Lewis and Clark County Hospital Historic District Boundary Increase, referred to historically as the Lewis and Clark County Hospital Cemetery or Poor Farm Cemetery was listed as a contributing resource of the previously National Register-listed hospital district, acknowledging its role as part of the hospital’s mission in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Crystal Ice & Fuel Company, Listed!
The 1920 Crystal Ice & Fuel Company building hosted several important businesses in downtown Billings over its history. In addition to Crystal Ice and Fuel, these enterprises included the Great Northern Seed Company, Farmers Union Co-operative Creamery (a business that occupied the building for 22 years), Seven-Up and Coca-Cola bottling companies, Western Newspaper Union. The building embodies the Western Commercial style of architecture popular at the time—straight-forward with minimal flair style that proved pleasing yet functional.
Harding Way Historic District, Listed!
The Harding Way Highway Historic District represents the combined efforts of Silver Bow County, Federal Bureau of Public Roads, and Montana State Highway Commission to improve the state’s highway system in the wake of federal and state legislation passed in 1921.
Northern Montana College Girls Residence Hall, Listed!
Designed by architect Frank Bossuot, the Collegiate Gothic Northern Montana College Girls Residence Hall’s construction in Havre marked the college’s serious intent to provide quality higher education to Montana’s northern tier students.