Grand Hotel

National Register of Historic Places

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 5, 2024

1. Grand Hotel Marker

Touch for directions.

Country.

West

Corridor.

America,

Mountains,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Click or scan to see
this page online

Land

Purchase.

From the National Register Nomination prepared by Michael F. O’Leary, AIA; Christopher M. Schiltz, AIA, 3/20/1985:
Built in 1890, the Grand Hotel is of local historical significance because for ninety-five years this building has served as an important center for social and commercial activity in Big Timber, Montana. The Northern Pacific Railway established a depot at Big Timber

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 5, 2024

2. Grand Hotel Marker

Looking south along McLeod Street; the marker (left) is mounted between the windows on the southwest/front façade of the hotel.

in 1883 and within ten years the community became the "natural business center for a large scope of country, drawing trade from great distances." Only four years prior to the construction of the Grand Hotel, Big Timber still had the appearance of a frontier town, with sod-roofed log structures and a few false-fronted frame buildings built along its rocky main street fronting the rail line. During the late 1880's and early 1890's Big Timber's stock and trade as a snipping point for the rapidly expanding wool industry and an outfitting center for the Boulder River drainage mining fields occasioned a rapid increase in population and new, masonry construction to replace the earlier, less permanent buildings.

The opening of the Grand Hotel was a major event, signifying prosperity and a greater degree of permanence for the community of approximately 265 residents. At the dedication of the building in 1891, the residents of Big Timber expressed their gratitude to Jacob Halverson, the Sweet Grass County sheep rancher who financed the hotel's construction, by giving him a gold watch with the inscription, "From your friends in Big Timber." Built at a cost of $20,000, the hotel originally contained a spacious bar and billiards room, barber shop, baggage room, dining room with 60 seat capacity, and a "Chinese laundry" in the basement.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 5, 2024

3. Grand Hotel (south elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  Built in 1890, the rectangular-shaped building exhibits elements typical of late 19th century commercial architecture found in railroad towns in many Western states. Uncoursed sandstone foundation walls extend to the second floor level of the original portion of the structure along 2nd Avenue, part of the rear of the building, and along the north wall. Brick is used for the primary facade, the entire second story, and the rear additions. The symmetrically arranged facade is pierced at regular intervals on the second floor by 1/1 double hung sash windows with flat stone lintels and sills. Originally the main entrance to the hotel dining room and office was set in the clipped corner at a 45 degree angle while the entrance to the main stairway to the second floor hotel rooms was located at the center of the primary facade on McLeod St. The right half of the first floor has been modified so that the former McLeod St. entrance was replaced by a centrally-located doorway flanked by two large plate glass picture windows and the former office entrance at the southeast corner of the building was permanently closed at an undetermined date. Recessed brick panels are found between the first and second floors, and above each second story window on the main facade. Parapet corbeling provides a visually appealing pattern at the cornice.

It was deemed significant "as an important center for social and commercial activity in Big Timber", a wool exporting community. A fire in 1908 destroyed most businesses along McLeod Street but not the Grand Hotel. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.