Charles & Sue Bovey
Charles and Sue Bovey not long after their marriage. [1989.054.0607]
There are few who have not heard of Charles and Sue Bovey in Montana. They were a true power couple; Charles from a wheat milling family in Minneapolis who came to Great Falls to farm, and Sue, the daughter of the rich and affluent Ford banking family. They married in 1933 and began a journey together that would mark Montana forever.
Charles had a particular interest in old vehicles. Soon that interest included carriages and railroad cars. It was a passion that changed over time from a love of vehicles and transportation to a desire to preserve the frontier culture of the West. His collection gained attention first locally. The Montana Cowboy’s Association asked him to display his vehicles at the state fair.
His collection reached a larger audience and caught the attention of the Sullivan family in Fort Benton. They gave him the Joseph Sullivan Saddlery they owned at Fort Benton in 1940. It seemed only natural that the collection would grow from vehicles to whole buildings. Soon followed the Charlie Hoffman Barbershop from Elkhorn, Eberl’s Blacksmith Shop from Augusta and Jerry’s Saloon from Boulder.
Old Town Pamphlet, August 1941, Bovey Family Vertical Files
To protect and share these places, Charles put together Old Town at the Great Falls Fairgrounds in 1941. Old Town was a one-sided street front inside one of the buildings that you could step into and relive the frontier era. Charles and Sue traveled around the state, purchasing pieces to fill the little street, from nails to pots to signs. It was as authentic as they could manage. They also staged old timers as the owners and patrons of the businesses and vehicles would drive by once in a while.
Images above, Old Town in Great Falls, MT. [2020.002.0002- 6 THM, 2011.120.0801 & 802]
With their collection on full display, more people who wanted to help preserve the early history of Montana joined their efforts and in 1944 the Historic Landmark Society of Montana was born. They preached the need for preserving endangered sites across the state, specifically Fort Shaw Military Post in the Sun River Valley, St. Peter’s Mission near Cascade, Sherrif Plummer’s Jail in Bannack, the old post traders store at Fort Logan Military Post near White Sulphur Springs, and the vigilante’s first meeting place in Virginia City.
St. Peter’s Mission, near Cascade, MT [1986.082.0014]
Thousands of people saw the attraction each year and Bovey’s collection continued to grow. They had gone East to see Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village and decided that they could do the same in Montana. And so, in 1946, they purchased the run-down buildings of Wallace Street in Viriginia City. Though Virginia City had once been a thriving mining town, it was all but abandoned by 1875 and left to rot, until the Bovey’s came along. They knew its history and thought it was a perfect place for their preservation efforts.
On Wallace Street, they fixed up the Well’s Fargo office, a blacksmith shop, livery stable, saloon and an assay office. They then set up the headquarters for the Landmark Society there and leased the buildings to the society to manage. Sue headed the restoration of the buildings through their company, Bovey Restorations. Meanwhile, Charles inventories and kept meticulous records on every building, vehicle and item used in the town. He knew where they all came from, the families and what work was needed for restoration.
Wallace Street of Virginia City, [1991.003.0135], Wallace Street of Virginia City, circa 1950, [1991.003.0134], Montana Post Building at Virginia City, [1991.003.0136]
Their efforts were recognized on a state level in 1952 when both Charles and Sue were given honorary degrees from the Montana State University Missoula (University of Montana now). Sue was the first woman to receive the honor from Missoula. In 1959, the fairgrounds in Great Falls wanted more room for the state fair and the Bovey’s moved Old Town near Virginia City to create Nevada City.
Nevada City, MT [1988.033.00075]
Nevada City, seeded with Old Town, grew quickly with a hotel, a dry goods store, drug store, stagecoach station, music hall, and railroad station. Nevada city is also home to Charles’ Railroad car collection. In 1964, the Alder Gulch Short line was put in to connect Virigina City and Nevada City together for tourists using an electric engine that had been used at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company Smelter in Great Falls. Till the end of their lives, Charles and Sue gave all they could to the preservation of Montana History. Though Virginia City and Nevada City are the most tangible parts of their work, the Bovey’s did so much more.
Charles served in the Montana Legislature for 24 years and Sue served on the board of the Montana Historical Society for 30 years and was their the first female President. They both served on the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce Cultural Arts Committee and worked to have the Josephine Trigg Collection go to the C. M. Russell Museum. They were charter members of the Cascade County Historical Society and contributed to the development of the King’s Hill area of Neihart. Their contributions have saved so much of Montana that otherwise would now be gone.
Website for Virginia City and Nevada City: https://virginiacitymt.com/index
-Megan Sanford, Archives Administrator