Don't worry! Not a repeat or mistake! We’re back for another look at the ossified Montana boomtown. I split it into two so there wasn’t a massive 30-picture dump.

Why, you’re welcome!

The Harlo:

Charming little modern thing; I thought it was rehabbed, but no: Cinematreasures says it opened in 1948.

One comment says it was open and showing new movies in 2021, so that’s good.

Something went down and exposed the old sign. Or, it was only a two-story building, and the sign’s been fighting a losing battle against the elements all these years.

Jewelry & Optical?

The storefront has the big exposed beam that might be a subsequent addition; the store window themselves, of course, are gone.

VAN DYKE’S

A history of the town says:

Bill Van Dyke originated a grocery store in the early 1900's after leaving Hedgesville. Later there was Warneke's Bakery and also a dairy housed within the structure. The Sorensens had their bakery here, too. The Coast to Coast business has been occupying the building since the early 1960's. Current owners are Paul and Debbie Painter who purchased the Coast to Coast in August, 1987.

The Coast to Coast - a hardware chain, or affiliation - doesn’t appear to be around.

Sturdy old bank still doing its job:

The Moose Building!

It was originally “Liberty Hall.”

Small towns need as many of these as they can support, and they all need to work.

The shifty little building on the corner is either new construction or a ruthless rehab. I suspect the former, since the town’s size suggests two stories for corner buildings.

It’s the big one that we need to examine.

STATE

From the other side:

That’s a big theater for a town this size.

The American Theatre was built in 1917, and opened on May 21, 1920. It was managed by G.C. Moore and featured vaudeville acts and silent film. The projection box was located at the front underside of the balcony. The American Theatre screened its first ‘talkie’ “Lord Byron of Broadway” on March 21, 1930. It was renamed State Theatre in 1934.

It had been closed for a long time when it caught on fire in 1997. The ruin has stood there ever since.

BANK

It’s on the edge of town, one of those peculiar areas where a small town seems to sprout a second main street. As if some enterprising fellow was trying to extend the business district, or provide an alternative.

An annex, intended for commercial tenants.

And down the street, past an empty lot that may have had another building, this:

The windows are confused.

What you notice after a second glance is the missing decoration on the right side. A proud little ornament on this small building in the far reaches of the New World, a bit of civilization and culture, affixed in the name of ordinary, everyday aesthetic uplift to the town.