What do you know of these interesting facts of Montana’s past?
These is a lot of history here in our great state. Many events and people are well known throughout the country. Sports titles, famous people, all are pretty interesting.
I saw a reddit post about Montana history and decided to take a look at what people were saying. There was some very interesting stuff in there that I as a Montanan, did not know about. Some of these things are probably common knowledge to most, I apparently have been living under a rock and sleeping on these little tidbits from our state. Comments always pile up on these posts, so if you're interested in following the original post, you can look here.
Daniels County Courthouse in Scobey, MT
According to Wikipedia, This courthouse built in 1913, served as a brothel with a fake hotel facade. According to the article, this place changed ownership and eventually became a brothel named One-eyed Molly's House of Pleasure, ran by One Eyed Molly. some time later in 1920 it became a courthouse when the county was established.
Whitefish, MT originally named Stumptown
The reddit post took me to this article, where I learned about Whitefish in the past. According to the article, before the railroad came to town, this place as known as Stumptown. The forests were and still are very dense, so they had to clear a lot out for development. This lead to stumps being everywhere throughout town causing havoc and had to be ripped out of the earth. There was one comment in the reddit post that said if the railroad didn't come to town, maybe they'd still have some peace and quiet, which gave me a laugh.
Stagecoach Mary
This legend was absolutely new to me. It took me back to 1890's Montana where I learned about a booze drinkin', fast shootin', contracted mail carrier named Mary Fields, also known as, Stagecoach Mary, or Black Mary. This lady wasn't afraid of anything. She delivered parcels amongst other things from Cascade clear over to Stevensville, and kept bandits on their toes. According to Wikipedia, Stagecoach Mary passed away right here in Great Falls at Columbus Hospital, now Benefis West in 1914. Her funeral was the biggest the town had ever seen and buried just outside of Cascade.
Let us know about what you know about Montana history that's just under the veil by commenting on social media.
Summer in Montana 2022