Great Work! Industrial Architecture Grants
The J.M. Kaplan Fund awarded Montana Preservation Alliance a $75,000 grant in 2008 to establish a new program to preserve
Montana’s Most Endangered Industrial Architecture. We chose three threatened industrial buildings to receive MPA’s first J.M.
Kaplan Fund Most Endangered Industrial Architecture Grants: the Original Mineyard Hoist House in Butte; the Gilbert Brewery
in Virginia City; and the Red Lodge Brewery/Cannery in Red Lodge. They completed their great projects this last summer.
The Original Mine Hoist House
MPA awarded the City and County of Butte-Silver Bow a $20,000 industrial
architecture restoration grant to re-roof the Original Mine Hoist House. Part
of an $83,000 project, the hoist house is part of the m
ineyard that is Butte’s lead
performance space for the National Folk Festival. The Original Mine Garage, the
Anselmo and Steward mine houses also received new roofs as part of this project.
In the photo, the Original garage is in the foreground with the hoist house in the
immediate secondary position - both sporting new roofs.
The Gilbert Brewery
The Montana Heritage Commission used their $20,000 grant to stabilize the
foundation under the malting towers of the Gilbert Brewery in Virginia City.
The project involved structural reinforcements and masonry repair, and foundation
work. Our grant provided much-needed cash for material purchases, and the lion’s
share of the 5:1 match came through in-kind work by the MHC preservation crew’s
master craftsmen.
The Red Lodge Brewery/Red Lodge Cannery
The Red Lodge Brewery was the only large industry in Red Lodge besides coal
mining during the 1910s. As the Red Lodge Cannery between 1926 and 1975,
it had even more of an economic and social impact on the town, lasting through
depressions and world wars.
The current owners, RCSF Holdings LLC, used $18,000 to repair the boiler room
roof, and restore electrical power to the north warehouse. The building will reopen as a vital home to various industries.
