Hi-Line Living: Symbol of a Havre multi-state legacy

The Atrium Shopping Mall, a historical icon of downtown Havre, got its start in the early 1900s as a store called "The Fair," built and operated by another Havre icon Frank A. Buttrey, who founded the Buttrey department store that became a multi-state chain of department and grocery stores that operated throughout the West and Midwest.

Buttrey was born Nov. 21, 1868, in London, Ontario, Canada, moved in 1896 to Aldridge, Montana, where he started a small store.

Buttrey married Jane Boucher of Cinnabar, and by 1902 the pair had decided to move to Havre because they felt that "section of the country would grow and prosper," Signe M. Sedlacek wrote in an entry of the local history "Grit, Guts and Gusto."

Buttrey's store in Havre, which he named The Fair, started on First Street, where present-day Shamrock's Bar & Casino is located. The store expanded its merchandise business so much that the basement was eventually considered a sales space.

Historical accounts of The Fair say the store was robbed in its first year of business and then burned down in The Great Fire of 1904 that burned down most of downtown Havre, but he started rebuilding immediately and got back to business.

"Buttrey at least had time to get most, if not all, of his merchandise out of the wood-frame building before it burned down, just like so many others during this catastrophe," H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Manager Emily Mayer said. "He arranged for a rail car from the Great Northern Railroad to be used to store his merchandise away from the fire and until he could set up shop."

She added that he rented space at the Swanston Livery which was located on the corner of Second Street and Third Avenue.

"It is said he liked the location so much, he bought the building and land, tore down the livery, and in 1904 hired Havre architect F.F. Bossout to design a one-story brick store in the same location," she said. "The store opened with great fanfare on Sept. 19, 1904. In 1911 Bossout was again pressed into service to greatly expand the one-story store."

It grew into the monolith that became known as the F. A. Buttrey Company that now houses the Atrium Shopping Mall.

The F. A. Buttrey Company was incorporated in 1909.

The store had various departments on the two main floors and in its basement, and became a major shopping point in the region.

Sedlacek wrote that when the store celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1912, the Twin City Commercial Bulletin out of Minnesota covered the event. Before the reporter arrived in Havre he had heard that the town was inhabited mostly by cowboys and Indians.

Sedlacek wrote that the reporter's eye-witness account says: "While I never made my mission known, I was made to feel at home from the moment I entered the door of the store. American Beauty roses were everywhere interspersed with garlands of ferns. All of the lady clerks were dressed in black and one immediately invited me to go upstairs to enjoy the firm's hospitality."

Sedlacek added that the reporter said the most attractive thing about the business was the intense loyalty to all its employees.

It was also in 1912 when Buttrey's store - which was known for selling everything from furniture to appliances, shoes, clothes and more - began selling groceries along with its regular merchandise.

"At the south end of the Buttreys store were groceries," Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission member Keith Doll said. "They paid careful attention to keeping a good stock of fresh vegetables and fruits. They wanted the trade of local farmers, so they built a tie shed in the back of the building so the farmers could tie their horses up and do business."

"You can see Buttrey's hat boxes for women at the Clack Museum, and every now and then an article of clothing will come in with a Buttrey tag," Mayer said. "I even have a bread cookbook in my collection, given out as a premium for shopping at Buttrey."

Both Frank and Jane Buttrey were forward thinkers and innovators and are well-known for their "firsts."

Among their lists of firsts are:

• First automobile retail delivery service in Montana.

• First radio station in Montana, first broadcasting in August 1922. "It moved to Great Falls after securing more power for the station, and eventually became a TV station," Mayer said. "The original broadcasting certificate can be seen at the Clack Museum."

She added that the station was located on the second ground floor of Buttreys, and seating was available for people to watch the broadcasts live.

• First fashion shows in Montana using live models which was as early March 1915.

Sedlacek reported in "Grits, Guts and Gusto" that Buttrey wrote, "'A very imposing and artistic setting was made possible by two columns down the center of the entire second floor space, which is regularly occupied by the furniture, rug and home furnishings. All of this was cleared out to make room for the fashion show. Havre's population in 1915 was shown to be 5,000 and the attendance numbered approximately 700 women,'" he said. He added that the models were local women.

• First automatic fire sprinklers in Montana.

• First Montana retailer to ship fruits and vegetables in carload lots, resulting in fresher food at lower costs.

• First Montana retailers to import and roast their own coffee beans - which may be why so many people distinctly remember the coffee in the coffee shop in the basement

• First to introduce frozen foods in Montana.

"The firm of Buttrey grew to include many other cities in the state, but its impact on the economics of Hill County and the area around it are worthy of special tribute by those reviewing its beginnings," Sedlacek said.

Mayer said the business' grocery operation spun off in the 1930s, with Buttrey Foods incorporated in 1937, separate from the Buttrey Department store.

She added that Buttrey had kept his buildings up to date, with remodeling efforts in the 1930s and in the 1950s that included Havre's first and only escalator. The escalator has since been removed.

Buttrey had moved its headquarters from Havre to Great Falls in 1954, Mayer said, on Nov. 28, 1962, Buttrey Foods opened a new extension to the department store, called "The Cinder Block Annex," to house the grocery store. That section is what now houses Office Equipment.

Mayer said that Jan. 25, 1966, an announcement was made that Buttrey Foods was to merge with the Jewel Tea Company.

The Havre grocery store moved to a new location in the 1980s, a new building it erected on First Street and Seventh Avenue that now houses Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods.

"I distinctly remember this being built. I was in the second grade then, going to school at Lincoln-McKinley," she said. "... The bus would drive by every day, so it was something to see a new building being constructed."

She added that by that time, Buttrey Foods had 54 stores in seven states, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, North Dakota and Minnesota, and had merged with with Osco Drug.

Buttrey Department stores started closing, though and on March 3, 1976, Mayer said, and it was announced that the Havre Department store would close later that year. The end of an era had begun.

Mayer said that in 1977 a group of local business owners got together and decided to develop the old Buttrey Department store into a new entity - The Atrium Shopping Mall.

"The biggest and most noticeable change was the covering of the beautiful brickwork and big display windows with that incredibly unattractive plaster coating and equally unattractive metal covering," Mayer said. "Gone are Frank Buttrey's beloved display windows, so important to him and his war with Hank Stringfellow that he hired a person whose sole job description was to make sure the window displays were attractive and prominent."

She added that a new era for the building had started.