Remaining one of the most "authentic" and unchanged pubs in the state, the New Atlas Bar is as much museum as bar, with 60 or so mounted animals that fill the walls and some of the floor space. In the collection is also a two headed calf, which reportedly lived for three weeks after its birth in 1961. Originally the Headquarters Bar when it opened in the 1880s, it became the Atlas Bar when the Atlas Block, designed by Curtis Oehme, was built, retaining that name until 1959, the story goes. It was in that year that the bar was taken over by the son of the original owner, renaming it the
New Atlas Bar
The bar is much the same as it was when opened, with two mammoth bars standing under a pressed tin ceiling, one of which was transplanted from a bar in Butte, Montana. The bar remained in the family of one of the original owners, Tom Mulvehill, until being sold in 1997.
The building itself is built of locally quarried sandstone. This sandstone was used to build no less that twelve structures in Columbus and numerous public and private buildings throughout Montana, including the State Capitol building in Helena, and even more than 100 headstones in the Columbus Cemetery.
New Atlas Bar
Billings architect Curtis Oehme designed the Atlas Block, constructed in 1915-16 of locally quarried sandstone. Rusticated pilasters project above the roofline, and a checkerboard patterned frieze enlivens the cornice. On March 27, 1916, Mike Jacobs and Tom Mulvihill held a grand
opening for the Atlas Bar, which occupied the west half of the building. Divided into several “departments,” the Atlas offered a smoking room and cigar stand; a billiards parlor, decorated with the bar’s famous animal mounts; a saloon; a three-lane bowling alley; and a sandwich shop. A separate “ladies entrance” opened to a “ladies sitting room.” Boasting one of the best preserved bar interiors in Montana, the Atlas retains its pressed metal ceilings, oak floors, and a Brunswick-Balke-Collender mahogany front and back bar, adorned with Corinthian capitals and three half arches decorated with lion heads. A second Brunswick back bar on the opposite wall is now used only for decoration. Owners sold soft drinks, ice cream, cigars, and sporting goods during Prohibition, reopening the bar after its repeal in 1933. Members of the Mulvihill family continued to operate the Atlas until 1997.
Two mammoth bars stand beneath the pressed tin ceiling, one of which was transported from a defunct saloon in Butte, Montana. Amongst the other original furnishings, you will also see a smattering of small stuffed creatures hanging or displayed in the old tavern, including a two-headed calf in a glass case.
The New Atlas Bar has been featured in
Outdoor Life, filmed for a pilot of “
Bars Across America", and was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. But for the clientele who frequent the bar on Pike Avenue in Columbus, it’s always been a place where you can cut loose and be yourself. Ronnie Rothwell, a Stillwater Mine employee, said he’s seen everything from motorcycles to horses in the New Atlas. A sign on the door says dogs are not allowed, but Rothwell points out that it doesn’t say anything about horses. When Columbus business owners Linda and Hank Davis were killed in a motorcycle accident a few years back, the locals had a motorcycle parade and one of the bikers did a burnout on the hardwood floor in the New Atlas. You can still see the dark tracks embedded in the floor, a standing memorial to the Davises.
From Blue Revelation