Courthouse Turns 100

Aaron Briggs

Photo: Aaron Briggs

          Speeding tickets are rarely a good thing, and I was upset when I received my first infraction in my new home of Butte, Montana. This required a trip to the courthouse, which I was dreading. The courthouses in New England can be a depressing affair with crying babies, shady characters and rude security. When I pulled up to the Butte-Silver Bow County Courthouse, I had a sneaking suspicion this place might be different. I don't think I had ever seen a door made entirely of copper before. So far, so good. I took a step inside.

          Wow. The building I entered seemed closer, architecturally speaking, to a palace rather than a courthouse. Stone floors and paneling, and liberal amounts of beautiful pink stone to be found all over the place. The entire building speaks to a level of opulence long forgotten by modern Butte residents, there are good reasons it has the reputation as one of the most beautiful public building in the west. The courthouse is quietly celebrating the 100^th anniversary of its construction, which led me to do a little digging around the public archives to get an idea of what life was like a hundred years ago.

The original courthouse

          The first courthouse in Butte was built in 1885 and constructed mostly of stone and wood, besides the six tons of 100% pure copper adorning the roof. Around the turn of the century, the residents started to become worried about the dilapidated state of their courthouse, concerned fire may become an issue. They issued some public bonds and utilized the local wealth of the time to get funding secured. Work started on the new courthouse May 17, 1909.

The citizens of Butte have always been very active in civic affairs. One of the many publications of the era, The Butte Miner, covered the construction of the courthouse. During construction the contractors started to notice that the residents would “glean from the debris the splinters of boards and joists to replenish the fuel supplies at their homes, and hundreds of loads of broken bricks will go to filling up low lots in gulches in various parts of the city”.

          The Butte Miner reported on the resident’s new recycling program, with the following long-winded commentary.

          “The walls of the old courthouse that have so often resounded with the eloquence of distinguished pleaders from all parts of the country, are now being put to as ignoble purposes as the fabled lump of clay from the remains of some great Caesar that was imagined  to be destined finally to fill a clink in some peasants hut to keep out the cold”

          The citizens of Butte felt some sort of entitlement to the scraps of the old courthouse.

          “One woman became angry yesterday when she was stopped by a watchman who caught her in the act of dragging away a joist about 16 feet long and 8 inches square. The woman declared that her husband had helped pay for the erection of the old courthouse, and had paid more city and county taxes to more than buy in a woodyard all the fuel that was being taken out of the building”

          A report from the Butte Miner said people were eager to help Treasury officials move into their new building.

          “County Treasurer Maegher was besieged yesterday with volunteers to assist in the moving of the county money to the new vault. One of the volunteers admitted he did not know exactly where the new office of the treasurer was to be, and his offer of aid to help move the money was not accepted, for fear it that it might not get to the right place”

The stained glass skylight

          After all the interest from the townspeople, the courthouse was finally finished by May of 1910. The building was created in the Beaux Arts (pronounced Bozar) style, influenced by ancient Greece and Rome. This style is easily identified by the heavy use of columns and pilasters, known for inducing a sense of awe in the observer. What is amazing is the cost of the building, which was payed for by issuing public bonds. During this time Butte was one of the wealthiest places in Montana, and the amount spent on the project speaks to that fact. The final cost was $482,600, rivaling the cost of the construction of the original state capital building in Helena that cost $485,000. The Butte courthouse was recently modernized. In 1996, it cost $1 million to upgrade the electrical systems and to replace the roof.

          Butteamerica.com describes some of the quirkier aspects of the design that remain to this day.

          “The rotunda walls are decorated with golden mosaic murals of personified muses -- Justice, Geography, History and Philosophy. Above them, Presidents Lincoln, McKinley, Washington, and Wilson reside on the corners of the dome. Large pillars of Montana-quarried Travertine draw the eye upward toward the mosaics and stained glass dome.”

One of the many murals

          The Butte Silver-Bow County Courthouse is a treat for anyone who appreciates good architecture or historical landmarks. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look, I suggest you make a trip sometime, preferably not under duress. It is a great way to get a fresh perspective on the history of Butte, a tangible testament to the ambition and ingenuity of Butte residents at the turn of the 20^th century. It is a beautiful reminder of an era long forgotten, a monument to our prosperous past.

The details between the steps