Headframes are the iconic symbol of Butte. These steel towers, sometimes called “gallows frames,” mark the remnants of the hundreds of mines that once covered the Butte hill. Today 17 headframes,…

The Enabling Act of 1889 laid the foundation for the Montana School of Mines, providing for the first federal land grants for the establishment of mining schools. This landmark provision thus…

In 1917, Butte was the site of one of the most notorious unsolved murders in American history. The murder of union organizer Frank Little happened in the midst of what was then the biggest strike in…

A few minutes before 10 p.m. on January 15, 1895, a signal came into the Butte fire department from call box 72 indicating a fire near Utah and Iron Streets. Firefighters rushed to the scene in…