At 1pm on Second Saturday November 9, join us for a free admission presentation in the Ozark Club to learn about the hook and ladder days of the Great Falls Fire Department from Ashleigh McCann, Collections Curator. This free admission program will feature The History Museum & Research Center's Great Falls Fire Department Collection which includes photographs and objects from the late 1800s to the 1920s. McCann will share insights from her research with the collection as well as tales from the early days of the department's history, including notable fires, the horse who was given a retirement banquet, and a revered fire chief who started his career as a travelling circus performer.

At 1pm on Second Saturday October 12, join us in the Ozark Club to hear true, terrible, and chilling tales from Great Falls' early history with Archives Administrator, Megan Sanford! Not recommended for young children, this presentation will speak of murder, death and suicide. Once you hear the tales, you won’t look at some places in Great Falls the same way again.

Megan Sanford, Archives Administrator for The History Museum, graduated from Great Falls High school and then the University of Great Falls, now the University of Providence, Great Falls. Sanford draws this selection of grim tales from her decade-long experience assisting researchers and her research for her prolific contributions to the museum’s blog “Spray of the Cascades.”
 
Concurrently, local author John Stephenson-Love will be signing copies of his new book “The Northern Montana Division: The Milwaukee Road.” John does a thorough exploration of the Milwaukee Road’s Northern Montana line, the most successful branch of the 1,418 mile Pacific Extension. His book was reviewed and approved by the Milwaukee Road Historical Association.
 
John Stephenson-Love grew up in Great Falls. He attended public schools in Great Falls, Montana for ten years and finished his secondary education at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. John graduated from Yale University in 1956 and Harvard Law School in 1960. He paused his law studies to serve a one-year tour in the U.S. Army. Returning to Great Falls, John established a law practice that spanned 51 years.

Join us at The History Museum for the opening of our new Research Center to the public on Second Saturday, September 14. The event will begin with a ribbon cutting at noon followed by self-guided tours through 4pm of the new Owen & Gayle Robinson Research Center. Attendees will enjoy demonstrations of how artifacts, photographs, and documents are cataloged and preserved. A reception in the Ozark Club event space, sponsored by TDS Fiber, will offer light refreshments and live music on Celtic harp by Lonnie Baker. Executive Director Kristi Scott will give a presentation on Child Artisans at the Fort Shaw Industrial School at 1pm in the Ozark Club while self-guided tours of the Research Center are ongoing.

The Owen & Gayle Robinson Research Center expands our capacity for researchers, adds a small classroom, and allows for a much-needed update of an ADA compliant restroom to the second floor. Visible storage of artifacts and archival materials is a feature of the Research Center; restoration of an original 1929 windowed wall will allow visitors to view the museum behind the scenes through the Visible Vault.

This expansion allows for additional climate controlled and secure storage to house important collections as they are offered to the Cascade County Historical Society/The History Museum for generations to come. Please join us September 14 at noon to celebrate our expanded ability to cultivate preservation and celebrate shared heritage!

The opening of the new Research Center & Visible Vault and Scott’s presentation are offered to the public with free admission.

On Saturday, August 10, Big Sky County National Heritage Area Inc. will premiere the film, The Spirit of the People: Black Eagle and the Anaconda Company, by Erin Schermele Films. This debut production features the complete history of the Anaconda Copper Mining Smelter and Refinery in Black Eagle, MT from its earliest beginnings to until its closing in the 1980s. 

The film highlights a three-part oral history interview with Dick Sloan, the last operations director for the Smelter. Sloan discusses photos from an old Smelter scrapbook – plus more from his personal collection that illustrate the historic Black Eagle smelting and refining operations and the faces of Black Eagle workers. Sloan is now employed by the MT Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and works closely with the Black Eagle Civic Club’s Technical Advisory Group, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ARCO, and many other stakeholders to determine what ARCO needs to do to clean up the Black Eagle residential yards and eventually the smelter site itself. In that role, Sloan has often been heard to say, “I know where all the bones are buried.” Of course, what he means is that he knows where slag was buried on site. He can suggest where soils testing and evaluation should be done to develop ways to prevent the remaining arsenic, cadmium, lead, and other metals from leaching into the Missouri River.

The History Museum will be open to the public 12pm-5pm Second Saturday with free admission. The film premiere and short talk begin promptly at 1pm with Dick Sloan and representatives from Big Sky Country National Heritage Area who funded the project. For more information, please call Carol Bronson, Big Sky Country National Heritage Area at 406-452-5921 or Kristi Scott, Executive Director of the museum at 406-452-3462.

For Second Saturday June 8, The History Museum is partnering with the Sun River Valley Historical Society and the Gathering of Descendants Committee to celebrate the 120-year anniversary of the Fort Shaw Girls Basketball Team! The program begins promptly at 1pm in the school gymnasium.  Join descendants of the incredible basketball team, local preservationists, and hear from author Linda Peavy who researched and wrote Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School, Basketball Champions of the World in 2008. She will be available to sign books after her talk.

Location: 1 School Loop, Fort Shaw, MT 59443. Leave Great Falls at noon and explore the Fort when you arrive!

In May of 1904, ten girls set out from the Fort Shaw Indian School for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri: Minnie Burton, Emma Sansaver, Nettie Wirth, Belle Johnson, Genie Butch, Rose LaRose, Flora Lucero, Katie Snell, Genevieve Healy, and Sarah Mitchell. Their talent for basketball earned them a place at the Model Indian School featured at the World’s Fair in Chicago that year. The girls played two games a week against various teams, never losing. When the girls weren’t on the court, they were staged either in the school or the traditional housing for the fairgoers to view. This story was unknown to most of the world until 1997 when a group of high school students from Sims uncovered their story while researching a history project.  Authors Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith spent the next 9 years doing research for their book Full Court Quest. A monument to the team was built at Fort Shaw and in 2010 Playing for the World, a PBS documentary, was made.

Please join us and the descendants of the Fort Shaw girls’ team to gather in Fort Shaw to honor their relatives. Attendees are welcome to tour the historic Fort Shaw grounds, cemetery, and monument thanks to the Sun River Valley Historical Society who maintains the Fort. Cascade County Historical Society/The History Museum will give an update on access to primary sources concerning the Native American boarding school era and their new Research Center. There will be raffles and a special honoring of many who have helped build and maintain momentum of this incredible story.

The Great Falls-Cascade County Historic Preservation Advisory Commission (HPAC) and The History Museum are pleased to announce a joint award ceremony for the 2024 Preservation and Legacy Awards. The 2024 Award Reception will be held at the Celtic Cowboy Dark Horse Hall on Saturday, May 11, at 1:00 PM.

The Preservation Awards honored by HPAC will celebrate the Civic Center Façade Restoration and the O'Haire Motor Inn "Retrovation."

The Great Falls Civic Center, opened in 1940, was partially funded by the Public Works Administration as part of FDR's New Deal. It has held city offices, cultural events, conventions, and public meetings for 84 years. In 2011, a façade analysis by Hessler Architects revealed severe deterioration and recommended repairs. In 2016, the report was updated, and in 2017, CTA Architects were hired to plan the restoration. In June 2020, the City Commission directed staff to pursue a funding strategy, and Talisman Construction was awarded the $5.7 million contract in 2021. The project took extensive measures to ensure repairs matched historic materials and maintained the building's character. The restoration was finished early this year, and an official ribbon cutting was held on April 19, the anniversary of the original dedication of the building.

The 1961 O'Haire Inn was built to be the premier lodging destination in Downtown Great Falls, with clean Mid-Century Modern lines and bright neon signs out front. The Sip n' Dip Lounge opened soon after construction as a tiki bar, and has kept the theme ever since. The famous mermaids were introduced in 1995, and a 2003 GQ article launched the lounge into national fame. A 1990s renovation changed the character of the Inn to suit more "modern" tastes, but in 2022, owner Sandra Johnson-Thares began a rehabilitation project that restored the Inn's groovy Mid-Century character. While the façade work is complete, Johnson-Thares continues to add interior furnishings and finishes, including some of the original fixtures that were kept in storage.

The History Museum's Legacy Award will honor Owen & Gayle Robinson for their commitment to preservation work in Cascade County. The Robinsons took a leading role in negotiating with the newspaper chain Gannett to acquire Great Falls Tribune reporter-file records stretching back decades and making them accessible through The History Museum. Owen Robinson's service with Cascade County Historical Society began in 1979 with his first board position, and he served several times as board president. The Robsinsons have contributed significantly to the new Heritage Center building project in Helena and are life-time members and Owen joined the Charles M. Russell Museum national board after retiring from The History Museum. The Robinsons continued to support plans to create a unique Research Center at the History Museum, opening September 2024. He and his wife Gayle are committed to preserving and sharing the heritage of Cascade County and will be this year's recipients of the History Museum's award.

The Preservation Awards and Legacy Awards are held annually to honor the people and projects that keep and share Cascade County's history. In previous years, these awards were presented separately. This is the first year the awards will be jointly recognized.

Disease, dwindling buffalo herds, starvation, and the losing fight with the Canadian government to retain land and personal rights forced many Métis and their Chippewa or Cree families to flee to parts of Montana and North Dakota in the 1860s to 1880s. 

Candi Zion, interviewer, discusses the lives of these Métis and their families with their descendants who now live in the Browning area, Rocky Boy Reservation, Box Elder, Havre, and Wolf Point. They reveal their ancestor's hard lifestyles, hard work ethics, education, military service, and often unwillingness to discuss Indian heritage. The interviewees also share stories about their own life; education, work, experiences of prejudice and exhibit varying degrees of an understanding of their ancestry. 

Join us for Second Saturday, December 9 at 1pm in the Ozark Room for this special presentation and discussion.

Visit us for our annual Gift Shop Holiday Open House from 12-5pm on December 9. Women’s a cappella group Sound of the Falls will sing Christmas Carols at 12:30pm. Enjoy a 20% discount on clearance items, and remember that your History Museum Membership gives you a discount on your Gift Shop purchase!

Supporting The History Museum means supporting ongoing preservation of North Central Montana’s rich history and heritage. We look forward to seeing you December 9!

Don’t miss:

Walkin’ Down the Middle: The Hi-Line Métis with Candi Zion at 1pm

Tours of the Second Floor Remodel Project with Executive Director Kristi Scott at 2:30pm and 3:30pm

The History Museum will be open with additional hours this December: Tuesday-Saturday, 12-5pm until Christmas!

Veteran’s Day, November 11th, will be the grand opening of our newest exhibit: Never Ending: The Korean Conflict Remembered.  This year is the 70th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the fighting in Korea.  But how did we get to war in Korea, what happened and how did it make the two Koreas what they are today?  See this beautiful exhibit and get an in depth tour with Megan Sanford, The History Museum’s Archives Administrator.   Learn about the war from before to after and hear local stories found in our archives.

John Roberts y Pan Blanco returns for Jazz Night 2023! Enjoy Indian/East African fare by Saibeen’s Kitchen included in your ticket price.

Doors open at 6:30pm, music starts at 7pm.

Ticket sales open early for History Museum Members August 1 and open to the the public August 8.

Tickets for History Museum Members: $60 / Non-Members: $75

Purchase tickets by calling 406-452-3462 or visit The History Museum

https://kgpr.podbean.com/e/electric-city-currents-the-history-museum-s-night-at-the-ozark-annual-gala/

Join us for Second Saturday September 9 at 1pm for a free admission program! Ken Robison will discuss his new book, Order Without Law: Vigilante Tales of Old Fort Benton.

The famed Montana Vigilante story centers on Henry Plummer & X. Beidler in Bannack & Virginia City in the early 1860s. Little has been known about the vigilante activity later in the 1860s in the booming and lawless riverport town of Fort Benton. Montana historian Ken Robison will take you through the streets of the Bloodiest Block in the West and the Hoo Doo Block to unveil the hidden tale of the vigilantes and lawman X. Beidler in Fort Benton.

With the removal of the saloon as a social gathering place during Prohibition, drug stores across the nation added soda fountains and adapted to become a welcoming, wholesome places for folks to gather. Serving ice cream sundaes and soft drinks instead of beer and hard liquor, the drug store soda fountain filled the void left by the elimination of the saloon as a social gathering place. Interestingly, during the same time, the drug store also served as an alternative source of alcohol in various forms. Join Mark Johnson for a multisensory exploration of how the unique business of the drug store/soda fountain served as a substitute for the saloon during the era of Prohibition.

UPDATE: Lower Northside Residential Tour Cancelled, Two Railroad & Machinery Row Tours Offered

The Lower Northside Residential Tour has been cancelled, and The History Museum will instead run the Railroad & Machinery Row Walking Tour with Ashleigh McCann at both 1:30pm and 3:30pm. Admission to the tours is free but registration is required. Please call The History Museum at 406-452-3462. Each tour will be limited to 25 sign-ups - do not delay!

The History Museum will offer two walking tours of Great Falls for Second Saturday, July 8. These tours will give attendees a glimpse into Great Falls’ unique past.

The History Museum board member and local historian Carol Bradley will lead the walking tour of the Lower Northside residential areas and Museum Curator Ashleigh McCann will lead the walking tour of Machinery Row. Both tours will meet at Margaret Park, 20 Park Drive N., before they depart at 1:30 p.m. The tours are each scheduled to last approximately one hour.

The History Museum has set a limit of 20 people per tour due to the popularity of last year’s tours.

People interested in attending either tour are encouraged to either call or stop by The History Museum, 422 2nd St. S., before July 8 to reserve a spot. Priority will be given to museum members.

The Lower Northside residential Historic District is the original townsite of Great Falls. It is located on the north side of the central business district and features 257 buildings that contribute to the history of our city. Queen Annes, Colonial Revivals, Tudor, and Arts and Crafts are just some of the architectural designs featured in this stately district. The neighborhood harkens back to the early days when Great Falls was bursting with promise and rapidly expanding at the turn of the century.

“Machinery Row” is the nickname for 2nd Street South, named for its history of agricultural implement dealers. The parks, warehouses, and freight buildings of the Railroad Historic District reflect the community’s development into central Montana’s trade, service, and cultural center. The Railroad and Machinery Row Tour will explore the architecture and history of the buildings, which date as early as 1890 to the 1930s.

Honoring fallen soldiers with Memorial Day close to heart with May’s Second Saturday program. Bryan Wells is the man who instigated an Act of Congress to memorialize those lost in a tragic accident in 1962. B-47 Ridge: An Act of Congress details a USAF B-47 Jet bomber crash that led one man to preserve the legacy of fallen airmen of the United States Airforce with a memorial located at 8,500 feet in the Absaroka Range of Montana. Please join us for a 25 minute video of the journey produced by Art Taft and Kurt Baltrusch of Great Falls followed by Q&A.

On Second Saturday, April 8, The History Museum will host our Legacy Brunch & Awards to honor businesses, organizations, and individuals that have helped shape, promote, and preserve the rich history of Cascade County and North Central Montana. Enjoy soups and focaccia by Pizazz and bid on a variety of silent auction items to support our mission to preserve and celebrate Central Montana history.  This free admission event begins at 1pm with a suggested donation amount of $10 per person to cover the cost of lunch.

Thank you to History Museum Board Members Peter Johnson, Kristen Inbody, Andrew Finch, and Archives Administrator Megan Sanford for researching and writing about this year’s awardees. Their full articles are available to read here:

For many, Charles M. Russell's paintings epitomize life in the West. But in twentieth-century postwar Montana, an avant-garde art movement--Montana Modernism--brewed. Its pioneers--Jessie Wilber, Frances Senska, Bill Stockton, Isabelle Johnson, Robert DeWeese, and Gennie DeWeese--created a community and pedagogy where, in stark contrast to stereotypical romanticized western art and frontier history themes, modernist ideas and art flourished, expanding traditional definitions of Western art.

The first book devoted to the topic, Montana Modernists presents stunning artwork and illuminates a little-known art movement. Divided into three sections, Corriel's exploration concentrates on place, teaching/artistic lineage, and community. The isolation, beauty, and complexity of their surrounding landscape served as a backdrop and influenced the lives and art of these ranchers, teachers, and professors. Next, Corriel traces artistic lineages to describe how each arrived at their particular artistic style. Community, the third section, offers a thorough study of their teaching styles, art techniques, and social gatherings to demonstrate how a thriving community of like-minded artists, writers, dancers, musicians, and philosophers opposed the grand narrative of the West, a movement that still resonates in contemporary Montana art.

Join us at in the Ozark Room at 1pm for The History Museum’s March Second Saturday program presented by author Michele Corriel. Corriel holds a Master’s in Art History and a PhD in American Studies/American Art from Montana Sate University, Bozeman. She has been an art writer for the last 17 years and is on the National Advisory Board for the Bozeman Art Museum.

There’s just something about the Ozark Club! At a time in the 1940s and 50s when Jim Crow discrimination held an iron grip on Great Falls and throughout Montana, Leo Lamar and his unique Ozark Club broke racial barriers. Leo saw an opening in World War II Great Falls, and the door to the Ozark opened to interracial patrons. “Everyone was Welcome” at the Ozark Club. Whites and blacks, young and old, rich and poor, climbed the narrow, dark stairs to the upper floor of the Ozark. LaMar’s strategy for success rested on an exceptional entertainment package anchored by a remarkable house band, the Ozark Boys.

The Ozark Club story had faded over the fifty years before Phil Aaberg, Chris Morris, Ken Robison and the Cascade County Historical Society brought a series of exciting Nights at the Ozark to The History Museum. From 2007 to 2009, a series of seven exciting Nights at the Ozark with prominent national Black Jazz Bands lit up Montana's cold nights. The crowd brought their vibrant memories with them—and the O’Club sprang back to life. The Museum continues to celebrate this unique form of American music with an annual Jazz Night fundraiser in September and a series of free jazz clinics for local music students.

Join us Second Saturday, February 11, 1 pm at The History Museum to listen to some of the original jazz and fascinating stories from the O-Club. Please bring and share your memories of the original Ozark or the Nights at the Ozark Club and help bring the Ozark Club back to life!

The Poletto Collection has been a part of Great Falls travel since 1977, when it was first put on display at the Great Falls International Airport. Bary Poletto would start with a relative handful of models on display, but the Collection has grown to almost 900 aircraft, representing 491 airlines from 128 nations, with 116 different types from 47 different manufacturers. It is considered the largest collection of its kind in the world, and one of the largest collections of models anywhere. The Collection has had its ups and downs, victories and defeats, but it has been greeting visitors to Great Falls for almost 50 years. Join us in the Ozark Club at 1pm to hear Professor Benjamin Donnelly, the current caretaker of the collection, talk about this amazing display.

Benjamin Donnelly is the history professor at the University of Providence Great Falls. Born in Georgia, he ended up here thanks to his father being in the US Air Force, who assigned the latter to Malmstrom AFB as his first duty station. Since then, Ben has traveled (involuntarily) around the world, from Montana to Germany to Colorado and back. His father Dane built most of the model aircraft at the Malmstrom AFB Museum, while his stepfather Bary Poletto built the Poletto Collection at the Great Falls International Airport. Add that to being raised in the USAF, and Ben had little choice but to grow up loving things with wings. Though he spends most of his time teaching history at the University of Providence and MSU-Great Falls College, he spends his off time getting pictures of aircraft, studying aircraft, and writing about aircraft. And yet he's afraid of flying.

Historian Mark Johnson will present Montana's Historic Chinese Communities at 1pm in the Ozark Club. Johnson is the author of the new book The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana, and in this presentation he will discuss the underrepresented history of Chinese communities in Montana. Johnson’s research comes from several large collections of primary documents left by Chinese pioneers translated into English for the first time. These collections, spanning the 1880s through the 1950s, provide insight into the pressures the Chinese community faced — from family members back in China and from non-Chinese Montanans — as economic and cultural disturbances complicated acceptance of Chinese residents in the state. Through their own voices Johnson reveals the agency of Chinese Montanans in the history of the American West and China.

Mark Johnson is a professor with the University of Notre Dame partnering with teachers who work in Catholic schools across the nation. His research interests focus on the history of Chinese communities in Montana, detailed in his book The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana (2022). Born and raised in Great Falls, he now lives in Helena. 

Especially for kids: After the presentation, craft your own paper lantern! Paper lanterns have been used in China for almost 2,000 years. Today lanterns are used to decorate festivals and important events. This activity is free and open to all ages.

The Gift Shop Holiday Open House starts 12pm-5pm. Enjoy a wide variety of Montana Made gifts and Montana books! Music in the Ozark Club, Christmas Songs with choral group Sound of the Falls starts at 3pm.

Join us in the Ozark Club at The History Museum at 1pm on November 12 for a presentation and book signing by author Jennifer Hill. Birthing the West documents the history of childbirth in Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming from the 1860 through the 1930s. It pulls from a number of rich sources, including Lizzie Maclean's diary and profiles the midwifery work of women in the Great Falls and Cascade County area. The book makes the claim that mothers and midwives provided an informal network of reproductive caregiving in a time when health care was hard to come by. In order to create settler communities, immigrants to the area had to feel "at home," and childbirth was an important part of that process. Birthing the West expands our notion of the American West beyond cattle drives, fur trading, and mining, and allows readers to see the complexity of Euro-American settlement... and the importance of women, children, and even state institutions like health departments in creating the Montana we know today.

About the author: 
With a passion for making the everyday realities of past peoples come alive, Jennifer Hill holds a PhD in American Studies. Her research and writing focus on childbirth, contraception, abortion, venereal disease, and healthcare in the American West – an area with a compelling reproductive history. Based on the belief that history is a powerful tool for understanding current controversies, Hill focuses on interpreting our shared human past in ways that inform contemporary reproductive issues.

Currently an Associate Teaching Professor at MSU, Jennifer works as an interdisciplinary scholar in the field of American Studies. When she is not researching, writing, or teaching, she can be found trail running, gardening, kayaking, or eating.

Join us in the Ozark Club 1pm on September 10 for the opening of a our new exhibit: Welcome to Cascade County. Archives administrator Megan Sanford will present Cascade County’s unique and diverse history and highlight three communities. Cascade County has a little bit of all the things that represent Montana as a whole. Whether you’re just traveling through the state or a lifelong resident, you won’t want to miss this informative and interesting talk.