Great Falls History and Culture - First Friday Art Walk, museums, artists, nightlife, downtown

Historic Downtown District & Historic Buildings - Great Falls, Montana

Great Falls History - Great Falls Historic District - www.GreatFallsHistory.com

Great Falls, Montana Historic Downtown District, 301 Central Avenue - Liberty Building, 309 Central Avenue - Beckman's, 312 Central Avenue - Dunn-Brown Building, 313 Central Avenue - Metropolitan, 317 Central Avenue - Beehive Store, 322 Central Avenue - Thisted Building, 411 Central Avenue - Kaufman's, 412 Central Avenue - Northern Hotel, 417 Central Avenue - Johnson Hotel, 421 Central Avenue - Russell Building, 500 Central Avenue - Grand Hotel,
522 Central Avenue - Roberts / Elmore, 608 Central Avenue - Graham Building, 601 Central Avenue - Public Drug, 600 Central Avenue - Barber Lydiard, 821 Central Avenue Masonic Temple, 300 1st Avenue South - Bert & Ernie's, 308 1st Avenue South - Ferrin's Furniture, 326 1st Avenue South - Great Falls Transit District

300 1st Avenue South - Bert & Ernie's

This one-story Victorian era commercial building dates from 1896 in Great Falls' earliest building "boom."
The property gains significance for its association with Victor Ario who arrived in Great Falls in 1891 and began to make a name for himself in the leather business.
1903 "Victor Ario's Saddlery Company" was born. The Golden Gate Grocery remained in this building for several years. It has been the home of Bert & Ernie's since the 1970's.

308 1st Avenue South - Ferrin's Furniture

This three-story brick building was constructed in 1913 for Richard Graham, co-founder of Graham & Ross.
Victor Ario's Saddlery moved into the ground floor retail space and remained there until 1932.

326 1st Avenue South - Great Falls Transit District
Public transportation has been available in Great Falls since 1887 using horse drawn streetcars. Stagecoach travel continued well into the twentieth century.
1947 the Greyhound Bus Company had a streamlined Art Modern style building designed by a local architectural firm.
2002 the depot was rehabilitated as a transfer station for the Great Falls Transit District.

100 Central Avenue - New Park Hotel

200 Central Avenue - Murphy - McClay

301 Central Avenue - Liberty Theatre Building

309 Central Avenue - Beckman's

312 Central Avenue - Dunn-Brown Building

313 Central Avenue - Metropolitan

317 Central Avenue - Beehive Store

322 Central Avenue - Thisted Building

411 Central Avenue - Kaufman's

412 Central Avenue - Northern Hotel

417 Central Avenue - Johnson Hotel

421 Central Avenue - Russell Building

500 Central Avenue - Grand Hotel

522 Central Avenue - Roberts / Elmore Hotel

608 Central Avenue - Graham Building

601 Central Avenue - Public Drug

Rocky Mountain Fire Insurance Building

600 Central Avenue - Barber Lydiard

821 Central Avenue - Masonic Temple

In 1908, the Masonic Temple Association began to construct a "Grand Lodge". The building was completed in 1914.

215 1st Avenue North - Federal Building

501 1st Avenue North - Montana Building

526 1st Avenue North - Silver State Building

21st 3rd Street North - Ford Building

Founded in 1883 by Paris Gibson and railroad magnate James J. Hill, Great Falls began as a planned power city, situated to take advantage of the hydroelectric power of the waterfalls of the Missouri River. Historian William J. Furdell described it as "a businessman's town" and it was said that the city "couldn't point to a boot hill or a hangin' tree."

In 1884, the Great Falls post office was recognized by the United States Postal Service. In 1889, construction on the Black Eagle Dam began, which would provide the city with hydroelectric power by the following year.

Great Falls quickly became a thriving industrial and supply center and, by the early 1900s, was en route to becoming one of Montana's largest cities. The rustic studio of famed Western artist Charles Marion Russell was a popular attraction, as were the famed "great falls," after which the city was named. A structure billed as the "world's tallest smokestack" was completed in 1908 by the city's largest employer, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's smelter, measuring 508 feet tall. The Big Stack immediately became a landmark for the community.

Great Falls prospered further with the opening of a nearby military base in the 1940s, but as rail transportation and freight slowed in the later part of the century, outlying farming areas lost population, and with the closure of the smelter and cutbacks at the airbase, its population has plateaued.

Paris Gibson (July 1, 1830 –December 16, 1920), was a Minneapolis entrepreneur and Montana politician.

Gibson was born in Brownfield, Oxford County, Maine. He served as a member of the Montana State Senate and as a Democratic member of the United States Senate between 1901 and 1905. He abandoned his failed business interests in Minnesota to try his luck out West and, in 1880, paid a visit to the waterfalls of the Missouri River and quickly recognized their potential for producing hydroelectric power.

Gibson convinced his friend, railroad magnate James J. Hill, to invest in a town site at the falls and urged that Hill extend his railroad through the new city. In 1883 the city of Great Falls, Montana had been founded.

By 1887 Hill rail lines linked Great Falls to Butte, Montana and Helena, Montana. However, the main line of Hill's Great Northern Railway bypassed Great Falls to the north. Despite this setback, Great Falls became a major center of trade for area farmers and ranchers, and its dams on the Missouri River contributed power for ore processing and grain milling industries.

When William A. Clark resigned from the United States Senate, Gibson, was elected to fill the seat, and he served from March 7, 1901 until March 3, 1905. He did not seek re-election. He died in Great Falls, Montana and is buried in Highland Cemetery, Great Falls.

Charles Marion Russell (1864, Oak Hill, Missouri – 1926, Great Falls, Montana), also known as C. M. Russell, was one of the great artists of the American West. Russell created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians, and landscapes set in the Western United States, in addition to bronze sculptures. The C. M. Russell Museum in hometown of Great Falls, Montana houses more than 2,000 Russell artworks, personal objects, and artifacts. His mural entitled Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians hangs in the state capitol building in Helena, Montana. His 1918 painting Piegans sold for $5.6 million dollars at a 2005 auction

In 1896, he married his wife Nancy. In 1897, they moved from the small community of Cascade, Montana to neighboring Great Falls, where Russell spent the majority of his life from that point on. There, he continued with his art, becoming a local celebrity and gaining the acclaim of critics worldwide. As he kept primarily to himself, Nancy is generally given credit in making Russell an internationally known artist. She set up many shows for him throughout the United States and in London creating many followers of Russell's.

Russell the artist arrived on the cultural scene at a time when the "wild west" was being chronicled and sold back to the public in many forms, ranging from the dime novel to the wild west show and soon evolving into motion picture shorts and features of the silent era, the so-called [westerns] that have become a movie staple. Russell was fond of these popular art forms, and made many friends among the well-off collectors of his works, including actors and film makers such as William S. Hart, Harry Carey, Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks. He also kept up with other artists of his ilk, including painter Edward "Ed" Borein and Will Crawford the illustrator.

On the day of Russell's funeral in 1926, all the children in Great Falls were released from school to watch the funeral procession. Russell's coffin was displayed in a glass sided coach, pulled by four black horses.

The Mariana UFO Incident occurred in August 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. Nicholas "Nick" Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls "Electrics" minor-league baseball team, and his secretary observed two "bright, silvery spheres" move rapidly over the city's empty baseball stadium. Mariana used his camera to film the objects; the film was one of the first ever taken of a UFO. The incident received widespread national publicity and is regarded as one of the first great UFO incidents in the United States.

Over fifty years after it was filmed, what remains of the Mariana UFO film has become a popular piece of study amongst UFO buffs. It is still featured in documentaries, television programs, and shared online.

Although often-disputed, it remains one of the strongest cases supporting the existence of UFOs ever captured on film. Since the "Incident", over 100 other UFO sightings have been made in Great Falls, Montana, making it one of the most active locations for UFO sightings in North America.

Great Falls History Information Links:
Museums History Museum Great Falls Public Library
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center
Giant Springs State Park Cascade County Courthouse

City of Great Falls Links:
History Page Did you Know Page Hall of Mayors Page

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