Built in 1890, just six years after the construction of Butte's first city hall, this building is an indicator of how fast Butte was growing at that time. Much larger and much more extravagant than the
previous city hall, it is also an indicator of the great wealth pouring into the city in that era. Probably ten times the size of the first city hall, this three story Richardsonian Romanesque structure contained the police department, jail and fire department, as did the earlier city hall.
At one front corner of the brick and stone building is a tall, five story clock tower, the clock within manufactured at the turn of the century in Boston by the E. Howard Clock Co. It has faces on all four sides of the tower, each one round, the faces black with white Roman numerals. We noticed that the clock faces are lighted from outside by small floodlights for night viewing (or viewing during solar eclipses).
In 2004, well after the clock was 100 years old it
underwent repairs, which cost around $5,000. Today it appears to continue to work
With a much longer tenure than its predecessor, this city hall remained in use as a city hall until 1977, at which time city and county governments were amalgamated, with all departments thereafter housed in the Silver Bow County Courthouse.
Italics above are taken from the
Butte Anaconda Historic District Registration Form
CITY HALL
Butte had over eighty working mines and a teeming population by 1890. The resulting flurry of industrial and commercial activity initiated a building boom, prompting Mayor Henry Mueller to oversee the construction of this handsome three-story Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired municipal building in 1891. The tall, narrow edifice of brick and stone features a clock tower, arched entrance, and arched windows with stained glass transoms. Butte’s last standing example of nineteenth-century civic architecture, this noble hall served as the seat of city government from 1891 until consolidation of city-county governments in 1977.
From the NRHP plaque at the building