Butte Historical Memorials Inc

Butte Historical Memorials Inc They were lost to history for 129 yrs. but will be remembered from now on in our city.

Butte Historical Memorials is a group dedicated to completing a life sized statue honoring the 58 victims that died on Jan. 15, 1895, in the great Butte explosion.

Members of Butte Historical Memorials decorated the sculpture portraying "The Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" for the...
12/05/2025

Members of Butte Historical Memorials decorated the sculpture portraying "The Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" for the holiday season. Stop by and take a closer look at this great sculpture by Jim Dolan Art . We will hold the 131st commemoration of this tragic event on January 15th 2026, information on the event will be posted closer to the date of event. Happy Holidays to all.

For the last ten years the members of Butte Historical Memorials board have been creating a beautiful memorial to the B...
10/06/2025

For the last ten years the members of Butte Historical Memorials board have been creating a beautiful memorial to the Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895. Today marked the end of this project. Our goal to have a headstone for each victim of the Explosion who is buried in Butte has been completed. We purchased 38 headstones, 9 for St. Patrick's and 29 for Mount Moriah. There were 20 victims who had no headstone at all and the other 18 headstone were for victim headstones without a notation they had perished from the Explosion or the existing headstone was illegible.

We have completed a lasting memorial in Butte beyond our wildest dreams. Thank you Martha Ueland Cooney Simonich for the drawing of the dream, sculptor Jim Dolan for the artistic interpretation in sculpture, the community, the families of the victims and of course the Board of BHM. It took people of many talents, the support of our community, and the victims families for us to reach our goal and we are very thankful to everyone including our dedicated and hard working board.

We will continue to post about the" Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" and hold an annual commemoration, we are NOTwalking away.The ancestors of victims of the 1895 explosion are very important to us and we will continue to keep them informed as we will the history loving public.When we originally started this non-profit we chose the name "Butte Historical Memorials" because we anticipated in the future there would be other pieces of Butte's history we want to support or bring back into the public's eye.

We felt a fitting end to the headstone completion was a toast to our board, the victims and their families and everyone who supported us; was to have a celebratory toast at the Mass Rock at St Patrick's. It was cold but our happy hearts filled us with warmth at the end of this successful project.

Four years ago on August 03, 2021 the sculpture commemorating the "Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" was completed. As ...
08/03/2025

Four years ago on August 03, 2021 the sculpture commemorating the "Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" was completed. As of August 03, 2025 many enhancements to the site have been completed. The site has been landscaped, a Story Stone has been installed, there is lighting for the night, and Memorial Stones have been installed. Stop by and see all the changes since 2021

08/02/2025

Today is the 4th anniversary of the day we moved the sculpture pieces from our display at Northwestern Energy to storage at Fire Station #1 in preparation for installation on August 3, 2021.

On August 03, 2032 the granite sculpture base was put in place at Fire Station #1 and the Callbox and Pole were mounted on the base. Equipment and labor donated by Buddy Fisher.

Judy Chadwick

06/30/2025

Butte Historical Memorial sends their condolences to Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department in the deaths of their fellow firefighters from Coeur d'Alene Washington, may their souls rest in peace knowing they answered the call and gave all. RIP

One year ago today we were honored to host a family event for relatives of the victims of the 1895 Great Butte Warehouse...
06/30/2025

One year ago today we were honored to host a family event for relatives of the victims of the 1895 Great Butte Warehouse Explosion. Beginning with a movie night at NCAT, Breakfast and lunch at the Butte Archives, tours to key places and a farewell dinner at Metals Sports Bar. Wonderful weekend for all.

On June 23, 2023, the Story Stone was installed at the sculpture site by Paul Tash of Tash Communications. A picture of ...
06/24/2025

On June 23, 2023, the Story Stone was installed at the sculpture site by Paul Tash of Tash Communications. A picture of the disaster , which was supplied by BSB Archives, and a brief story of the disaster is on the sign . We wanted to incorporate local granite as a base, so Tash Communications had a metal frame made to hold the sign and it is placed directly above the local granite pedestal, thus we have a Story Stone .

On June 23, 2021, the sculptures of Edwin “Two Bear Robins”, Angus Cameron, Gibbon Fraser and Call-Box #72 were moved...
06/23/2025

On June 23, 2021, the sculptures of Edwin “Two Bear Robins”, Angus Cameron, Gibbon Fraser and Call-Box #72 were moved from the display at Gamers to the lobby of the NorthWestern Energy building for a new window display. The sculpture pieces had been on display in Gamers display windows since June 12, 2020 but after the devastating fire destroying the historic M&M Bar the Gamers building was slightly comprised and the decision to move the pieces was made. Northwest Energy was very generous to display the sculpture pieces for us. The move was just one block and some of the pieces were accompanied by their ancestors.

Sue Ueland with help from John Sandford and Dan Jones moved Two Bear down the sidewalk via a wheelchair. Sue's smile and laughter were infectious. She thought the idea of moving Two Bear in a wheelchair was priceless. Thanks to Mitzi and Jim Daily for loaning us the wheelchair.

Angus Cameron has no family members in Butte but he had a connection with BHM board member Shelly Jones, she had spent almost 17 months with Angus as a roommate at the fire station so she held his hand as he moved down the street to NWE. It was rather a challenge to get Cameron out the door of Gamers, he is very tall.

Gibbon Fraser had the most family members to assist with his move down the street. Eleven year old Daniel Fraser with a little assistance, moved Gibbon down the street while Annette Giop took pictures to add to their Fraser family history. John Giop assisted us with the loading of all the rubble we will use as decorations at NWE. This was a definite family affair.

We moved Two Bear down the sidewalk along the Party Palace, the sidewalk was quite rough so the other two sculptures were moved down the pavement...we even stopped traffic for a minute!

On June 12, 2020 we moved the sculpture piece of fire chief "Angus Cameron" from his place in the office of fire chief ...
06/13/2025

On June 12, 2020 we moved the sculpture piece of fire chief "Angus Cameron" from his place in the office of fire chief Jeff Miller to the display windows at Gamers where he would be more visible to the public. On that same day sculptor Jim Dolan delivered sculpture piece Edwin "Two Bear," Robins. We held a small ceremony as Robins was unveiled in front of his great granddaughter Sue Ueland.

On a side note, the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department had taken great pride in having the sculpture piece of Angus Cameron in their care and they very carefully and reverently moved Angus to Gamers for us. Additionally they assisted Jim Dolan in unloading and placing the sculpture piece of Robins in the display window of Gamers. At the same time they also delivered and placed the famous "Call box #72" on the window at Gamers. At a later point in time we will post about "Call Box #72.

Six years ago on June 9, 2019, we held the “Ground Breaking” for the memorial sculpture honoring the lives lost in the “...
06/09/2025

Six years ago on June 9, 2019, we held the “Ground Breaking” for the memorial sculpture honoring the lives lost in the “Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895” at Fire Station # One on the corner of Mercury and Idaho streets. The “Ground Breakers” were… Gus Chambers; the director of PBS documentary “The Hidden Fire”, Ella Wanamaker; the President of the BHS Montana History Club, Jim McCarthy; the Chairman of the BHM Board, Martha U. Cooney Simonich; the artist who gave us the rendering the sculpture was inspired by, Jeff Miller; the Director of Fire Services, Jim Dolan; our sculptor, Sue Ueland; a family member of victim Edwin “Two Bear” Robbins, and Dave Palmer; BSB Chief Executive.

This was a very exciting day for the board of BHM, in three years from the point we received our 501{c3) , we had raised funds to start the sculpture. Our dream was becoming a reality.

As of today, June 9, 2025, the sculpture is now totally completed, the landscaping is done, signage and memorial stones have been set, and it is illuminated at night. We hope you will be able to stop by the site and learn about the “Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895”.

May 26, 2025 was the four year anniversary of the unveiling of the sculpture of the "Loyal Dog with No Name". We thanke...
05/28/2025

May 26, 2025 was the four year
anniversary of the unveiling of the sculpture of the "Loyal Dog with No Name".

We thanked the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes of Butte who participated in the "Name the Dog" contest. The winning class was Maria Robinson's 5th grade class. We thanked the BSB Fire Department for making the unveiling of "Dilis” which means “Loyal" a very special event. Stop by Fire Station #1 "Uptown" and see Dilis and his friends.

A big THANK YOU to the Butte AOH for installing the 9 headstones we (BHM) purchased for the victims of the Butte Warehou...
05/24/2025

A big THANK YOU to the Butte AOH for installing the 9 headstones we (BHM) purchased for the victims of the Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895 at St. Patrick's Cemetery. Thank you also to Butte Weekly for the attached article.

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120 South Idaho Street
Butte, MT
59701

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