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 M & M Cigar Store - Butte Anaconda Historic District - Butte, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 46° 00.783 W 112° 32.143
12T E 381114 N 5096644
Once a saloon, then a prohibition era speakeasy, the M & M Cigar Store is once again a bar and cafe.
Waymark Code: WMXNYF
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 02/04/2018
Views: 1
After prohibition hit Montana in 1919, what had been the M & M Saloon suddenly became the M & M Cigar Store - outwardly, at least. Inwardly if followed the lead of a great many other saloons across the country, presenting a legal façade to the world while the booze continued to flow in the back. First opened in 1890, this was one of several buildings in Butte which hosted labor and trade associations offices and regular meetings on their upper floors.
By 2010 the building had fallen on hard times, the owner defaulting on a $35,000 loan. When the building was put on sheriff's auction, there were no bidders, the lender on the foreclosed property then taking over the property. Apparently the lender had found an interested party to buy the building, and it has since been renovated and reopened as a really snazzy looking bar and cafe with a 1940s Art Deco ground-floor façade. The upper floor retains its original late Victorian decoration, with little diamond dentils, pilasters with finials and carved designs at the cornice. A bit of brick corbelling and arched hoods over the Roman arched windows are a nice touch. We don't know how long it's been there, but the building also has a really nice neon sign.
M & M CIGAR STORE
Sam Martin and William F. Mosby were the first of many proprietors of the legendary saloon, eatery, and gambling house that has operated here since 1890. Although Martin and Mosby’s tenure was short, Butte’s love of nicknames endured and their initials remain on the M & M. For more than a century the M & M never rested, serving customers around the clock. The doors were always unlocked; each subsequent owner ceremoniously and publicly disposed of the keys. The M & M catered to miners coming off their shifts while the kitchen served bountiful breakfasts at any hour of the day or night. When Prohibition hit, the M & M followed other Butte bars, officially becoming a cigar store. Cigars sold in the front discreetly cloaked the speakeasy in the back room where the liquor continued to flow. The 1940s Art Deco ground-floor façade, the M & M’s spectacular neon sign, and the vintage 1890s upper level have been refurbished, restoring architectural vitality to a landmark that has provided food, drink, and diversion to generations of Butte residents.
Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Butte Anaconda Historic District
Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link]
NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link]
Address:
9 North Main Street
Butte, MT
59701
How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Plaque on building (Photo in gallery)
Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]
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