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 Slayton Mercantile Co. - Lavina, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 46° 17.683 W 108° 56.288
12T E 658804 N 5128859
Ninety years young when entered in the National Register in 2000, Slayton Mercantile seems to have changed personalities in the last few years.
Waymark Code: WMWA56
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 08/01/2017
Views: 1
Finally closed 94 years after it opened, today it appears that Slayton Mercantile has found a new lease on life as an entertainment venue. In recent times the building has hosted a
fundraiser hoedown for the Lavina School Association, a pottery show and sale, a fundraiser for the Billings-based International Deaf Education Association, an old-fashioned community dance and auction in support of school activities, scholarships and community projects and the fifth annual Lavina Spirits haunted house.
We can now say with relative certainty when the store closed. This newspaper article, from the Billings Gazette, apprises us that the store was to have closed on August 22, 2004 and that:
The general store, which sells food, housewares, hardware, Montana-made goods and Western-themed souvenirs, will stay open until Aug. 22. On Aug. 28, Tryans Auction Center of Billings will conduct an auction at the store, selling off hundreds of antiques, some of which have been on display for years and some of which the Ainslies have only recently discovered in the expansive building.
The original Slayton Mercantile, a wood-frame building, was constructed in 1908 and burned down in 1910. It was rebuilt in brick two [months] later. The store was renamed several times over the years and was called the Lavina Country Store when the Ainslies bought it.
They restored the original name and in 2000 succeeded in having the Slayton Mercantile listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They also repainted the washed-out "Slayton Mercantile Co." signs on the front and the south side of the building, replaced the roof, refinished the fir floors and put up a new awning out front.
From the Billings Gazette
A central character in the life of the town of Lavina for its entire life, Slayton Mercantile was without a doubt the best known and most visited of all the buildings in the town. For much of those 94 years it was the town's major supplier of everything from farm implements to food and dang near everything in between. It was even the post office for about 13 years, from 1910 to 1923, when the post office moved across First Avenue into the old Lavina State Bank, which had failed that year.
SLAYTON MERCANTILE CO.
T. C. Power’s stage line established a stop in 1883 where the town of Lavina was born. In 1907, the Milwaukee Road came through attracting new businesses, among them the Slayton Mercantile Co., established in 1908 by Daniel Webster Slayton. A prominent sheep rancher, county commissioner, and later state senator, Slayton also founded a sheep shearing business and the First Bank of Lavina. The town thrived as an agricultural and economic center, but in June of 1910, Slayton’s wood-frame mercantile burned to the ground. Although the $60,000 business was insured for only one-third its value, Slayton immediately rebuilt a larger, fireproof building. F. W. Handel supplied the exterior brick and the inner layer was fired in a kiln near the Musselshell River. The present two-story mercantile, built in the classic Western commercial style, opened for business in the fall of 1910. Slayton served as postmaster and the store was central to the local community, supplying everything from mail to groceries, school supplies, and horse tack and, after 1916, Ford automobiles, farm implements, and Titan tractors. Slayton, instrumental in the creation of Musselshell County in 1910, was active throughout his life in politics, ranching, and business affairs. He retained interest in the mercantile until his death in 1927. Today the landmark store, still a local gathering place, is a grand example of the Western commercial style of architecture. Its pressed tin ceiling, rolling oak ladders, pot bellied stove and other original features preserve the period ambience of Montana’s homestead era.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Street address:
23 Main Street
Lavina, MT United States
59046
County / Borough / Parish: Golden Valley
Year listed: 2000
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Commerce, Architecture, Community Planning And Development
Periods of significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949, 1900-1924
Historic function: Commerce/Trade - Department Store
Current function: Commerce/Trade - Department Store
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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