History · Butte-Silver Bow

Butte-Silver Bow’s historic district, a National Historic Landmark, takes in 5,975 buildings

More historic than 89% of U.S. towns · #1 of 42 in Montana. What drives it

20 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and five historic districts with 6,070 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers from 1883 on.

1864founded

20on the National Register

37%homes built before 1940

5old photos & papers

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Butte-Silver Bow’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Butte-Silver Bow began

When was Butte-Silver Bow founded?

1864

Butte-Silver Bow dates its founding to 1864 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1867.

2020 census: 35,133162 years

How historic is Butte-Silver Bow?

More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1867.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Butte-Silver Bow’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Butte-Silver Bow is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #1 of 42 in Montana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Butte-Silver Bow’s overall grade.

Founding era1864, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 194037.1% of homes (±2.7) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register20 listings, 6,085 historic buildings, 1,700 per 10,000 residents · typical MT town 12.7 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 89%

NewerOlder

Montana towns of 2,500+ (42)#1 of 42

Montana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Montana town has 12.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Butte-Silver Bow’s 1,700 sits above most of its state (100% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 6,085 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1864.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Butte-Silver Bow’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Butte-Anaconda Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, takes in 5,975 historic buildings.A National Historic Landmark20 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks.Lost villages18 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Butte-Silver Bow, and 47 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Butte-Silver Bow’s homes were built before 1956.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

20 listings protect 6,085 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

Butte-Anaconda Historic District

historic buildings protected

6,085

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Butte-Anaconda Historic District

BuildingsDistrictsStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Collegiate Gothic3

Victorian2

Queen Anne1

Italianate1

Second Empire1

Gothic1

★ Landmark

Butte-Anaconda Historic DistrictQueen Anne · Built 1864

★ Landmark

Burton K. Wheeler HouseBuilt 1908

W. A. Clark MansionModern Elizabethan · Built 1884

Charles W. Clark MansionVictorian

U. S. Post OfficeVictorian · Built 1904

Big Hole PumpstationBuilt 1899

Silver Bow County Poor Farm HospitalBuilding

Silver Bow Brewery Malt HouseBuilding

All 20 listings

Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1988 Socialist HallBuilding · listed 1995 Matt's Place Drive-InBuilding · listed 2001 Shaffer's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 2018 Ramsay Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1988 Hawthorne Grade SchoolBuilding · listed 1988 Longfellow Grade SchoolBuilding · listed 1988 Madison Grade SchoolBuilding · listed 1988 Parrot Mine Shops ComplexDistrict · listed 2007 Silver Bow Airway BeaconStructure · listed 2019 Basin Creek Park Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2023 Castle Rock LodgeBuilding · listed 2025

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

18 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Red Mountain City

1867–1880

Butte City

1868–1894

Silverbow

1869–1984

Divide

1873–today

Moose Creek

1875–1882

Red Mountain

1880–1883

Valley

1880–1883

Melrose

1881–today

Grace

1882–1926

Mount Horeb

1882–1883

18601940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AA Westside Mobile EstatesAnselmoBurlingtonButteButte-Silver Bow (balance)BuxtonCentervilleColumbia GardensDelano PlaceDivideDonaldDurantEast ButteFairmont Hot SpringsFeelyFinlenFloral ParkGraceGregsonHackneyHamblin Heights Mobile VillageHighland CityHighviewJanney

Gone or out of use

21 East Gagnon Street Minemine400 West Porphyry Street Minemine401 West Boardman Minemine937 Sutter Street MinemineAlloylocaleAnderson Post Officepost officeAnderson SpurlocaleAnselmo Air ShaftmineAnselmo MinemineAnselmo MinemineAnselmo Sand Pass MinemineAntonioli MinemineArtic MinemineBadger State MinemineBeaudineslocaleBelle of Butte MinemineBelmont MinemineBelmont Minemine

7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Butte-Silver Bow

B'Nai IsraelHoly CrossMelroseMount MoriahMountain ViewSaint PatrickSunset Memorial Gardens

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Butte-Silver Bow came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Butte-Silver Bow.

Read it all →

Before Butte's formal establishment in 1864, the area consisted of a mining camp that had developed in the early 1860s. The city is in the Silver Bow Creek Valley (or Summit Valley), a natural bowl sitting high in the Rockies straddling the Continental Divide, positioned on the southwestern side of a large mass of granite known as the Boulder Batholith, which dates to the Cretaceous era. In 1874, William L. Farlin founded the Asteroid Mine (subsequently known as the Travona), which attracted a significant number of prospectors seeking gold and silver. The mines attracted workers from Cornwall (England), Ireland, Wales, Lebanon, Canada, Finland, Austria, Italy, China, Montenegro, Mexico, and more. In the ethnic neighborhoods, young men formed gangs to protect their territory and socialize into adult life, including the Irish of Dublin Gulch, the Eastern Europeans of the McQueen Addition,…

ChaptersEarly history and immigrants Industrial expansion Anaconda Copper and civil unrest Open-pit mining era 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Butte-Silver Bow, 1864 to 1984

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1864
FoundingButte-Silver Bow is established
1864BuiltButte-Anaconda Historic District is built
1867Post officeThe Red Mountain City post office opens
1868Post officeThe Butte City post office opens
1869Post officeThe Silverbow post office opens
1880Post officeThe Red Mountain City post office closes
1883In the archiveButte City Montana - 3
1884BuiltW. A. Clark Mansion is built
1894Post officeThe Butte City post office closes
20th century
1904BuiltU. S. Post Office is built
1908BuiltBurton K. Wheeler House is built
1961LandmarkButte-Anaconda Historic District named a National Historic Landmark
1976LandmarkBurton K. Wheeler House named a National Historic Landmark
1984Post officeThe Silverbow post office closes

By decade

Butte-Silver Bow, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s5 items

1883Butte City Montana - 3

1883Butte City Montana - 4

1883Butte City, Montana - Renshaw Building

1883Butte City, Montana, Main Street

1885Butte Montana - 3

1890s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewButte City Montana - 3, 1883

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Butte-Silver Bow’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Help out

Finish Butte-Silver Bow’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewButte City Montana - 3: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County32 historic placesA DeweyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Wise River1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Butte-Silver Bow’s history

What year was Butte-Silver Bow founded?

In 1864, according to Wikidata. Butte-Silver Bow’s post office opened in 1867.

How does Butte-Silver Bow rank for history?

Butte-Silver Bow is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #1 of 42 in Montana. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Butte-Silver Bow?

20 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 14 buildings, 5 historic districts with 6,070 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 6,085 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Butte-Silver Bow?

37% of Butte-Silver Bow’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1956.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (20), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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