Great Falls in Cascade County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Cowboys Bar and Museum
Great Falls West Bank Historic District
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, August 19, 2019
1. Cowboys Bar and Museum Marker
Inscription.
Cowboys Bar and Museum. Great Falls West Bank Historic District. Former Great Falls “cowhands” held a reunion in 1938. Now grown men, as boys they had earned money herding local milk cows in and out of town each day or driving range cattle through the city streets. Membership soon expanded beyond Great Falls, and over 300 former cowboys attended the Montana Cowboys Association’s second annual reunion banquet in 1939. Association President Bill Shea donated the land for a meeting hall and museum dedicated to preserving memories of cowboy life. The Cowboys worked with the National Youth Association (NYA) to build the museum, completed in 1941. A New Deal program designed to provide work for youth between sixteen and twenty-five, the NYA intentionally adopted labor intensive designs and techniques to maximize employment. The result was a well-crafted stone and log building, whose Rustic style evoked the museum’s intention of glorifying the Old West. Later additions expanded the facility, which houses a bar, noted for its cowboy hospitality, and a museum of over 500 artifacts, from rifles and saddles to a Kimball-Reed organ, brought to Montana by steamboat in 1876.
Former Great Falls “cowhands” held a reunion in 1938. Now grown men, as boys they had earned money herding local milk cows in and out of town each day or driving range cattle through the city streets. Membership soon expanded beyond Great Falls, and over 300 former cowboys attended the Montana Cowboys Association’s second annual reunion banquet in 1939. Association President Bill Shea donated the land for a meeting hall and museum dedicated to preserving memories of cowboy life. The Cowboys worked with the National Youth Association (NYA) to build the museum, completed in 1941. A New Deal program designed to provide work for youth between sixteen and twenty-five, the NYA intentionally adopted labor intensive designs and techniques to maximize employment. The result was a well-crafted stone and log building, whose Rustic style evoked the museum’s intention of glorifying the Old West. Later additions expanded the facility, which houses a bar, noted for its cowboy hospitality, and a museum of over 500 artifacts—from rifles and saddles to a Kimball-Reed organ, brought to Montana by steamboat in 1876.
Erected by The Montana National Register Sign Program.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Education
Location. 47° 30.654′ N, 111° 18.989′ W. Marker is in Great Falls, Montana, in Cascade County. Marker is on 3rd Street Northwest near 4th Avenue Northwest, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 311 3rd Street Northwest, Great Falls MT 59404, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Not much of a museum but the bar is something else.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 22, 2019. It was originally submitted on December 19, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 209 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on December 19, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
