Though the hotel was built in 1904, their large neon sign is straight out of the sixties. Built to be noticed, it was cleverly hung off the corner of the building so it could easily be seen from either of the crossing streets. Even the colour of the background, a pastel green, says "1960" something.
Built as the Elite Hotel, the Murray has housed tourists and celebrities alike over the years. Though it fell into decline with the decline of railroad travel in the 1960s, it has since been revived and remains a popular local rendezvous place and watering hole. I'll let them relate some of the story of the hotel...
Our Place in History
Since its grand opening in 1904, the Murray Hotel’s guest registry has been more like a who’s who of history and Hollywood. Celebrities such as Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane have graced the threshold of what was once “the” elegant railroad hotel. The Murray was also home to Walter Hill, son of railroad tycoon, James J. Hill. More recently, colorful personalities like motion picture director, Sam Peckinpah, rented what had been the
largest suite in the place, built originally for an heir to the Burlington railroad fortune.
The Queen of Denmark once spent the night, but her impressions went unrecorded. Humorist Will Rogers and his buddy Walter Hill, must have been satisfied. They liked the place well enough they tried to bring a favorite saddle horse to a third floor suite, via the hand-cranked,
1905 Otis elevator.
To this day, Livingston attracts a steady stream of writers, musicians, and movie stars.
Like any good hotel, the Murray has a personality of its own, a thing as tangible and real as its marble stairways, yet as hard to define as music or an aroma.
Think about it. When you check into a motel, you wonder if the TV works. When you check into a hotel, you wonder who you might see there. At the Murray Hotel in Livingston, Montana, it could be almost anybody. Celebrities have been stopping here for 90 years, sharing space and rubbing elbows with the cowpokes, railroaders, and other travelers that provide a hotel’s life blood.
The Murray Hotel occupies 4 floors with
30 rooms or suites.
From the Murray Hotel
MURRAY HOTEL
Antique furniture, red oak doors, a towering lobby, and 700 square feet of marble make this historic hotel a timeless ambassador of the “real West.” Built circa 1904, the Murray began as the Elite Hotel (locally pronounced EE-light) when Livingston was a busy tourist hub. Its unassuming brick façade reflects the great age of American hostelries and their inevitable link with the railroad. In 1922, the Senator James E. Murray family of Butte financed expansion to four stories, but foreclosed on owner Josephine Kline in 1925 and renamed the hotel. The popular Murray contained the town’s only elevator (which is still in use) and its lobby was a favorite rendezvous. The demise of rail travel figures into the Murray’s decline in the 1960s. Recent owners breathed new life into its seasoned rooms and suites, where celebrity outlaws such as Sam Peckinpah and Jack Palance have hung their hats. And the likes of Robert Redford, Peter Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg—to name just a few—have patronized the Murray’s Art Deco bar.
From the NRHP plaque at the hotel