Wolf Creek Hotel - Wolf Creek, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 47° 00.376 W 112° 04.230
12T E 418623 N 5206416
A hotel for over a century, the Wolf Creek Hotel was one of the first businesses to open in the then new town of Wolf Creek.
Waymark Code: WMWJ29
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/09/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Outspoken1
Views: 0
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Operated continuously as a hotel from its construction in 1887, the building was sold and converted to a private residence in, we believe, 1994. Originally a log structure, the hotel was sold in 1890 and, within a couple of years, most of the log structure was torn down and replaced with the 2½ story structure we see today.
Wolf Creek Hotel The original building on this site was constructed of logs, and was a 1½ story building that served as the first hotel in the community. The hotel changed hands ca. 1890, when Charles Forman purchased the property. It appears that within a couple of years, most of the log hotel was removed, and a more spacious two story, wood frame hotel was built in its place. Only a small log house to which the new hotel was attached remains of the earlier log building. The log house has a front-facing gable roof with a full-length porch supported on square wood posts. The hewn logs are covered with drop siding. Windows set into the front wall are double hung 2-over-2. The front door is paneled. Windows flanking the door are 2-over-2, double hung sash. A similar window is placed centrally in the front gable.

The Wolf Creek Hotel is one of the oldest and most important historic properties in the railroad town of Wolf Creek, Montana. Begun in 1887 and completed during the early 1890s, the hotel is a substantial building with long ties to the commerce, transportation, recreation and social fabric of this town and its rural surroundings. In addition, it is an exceptionally well preserved 1890s period railroad-era hotel, highly representative of the unadorned, functional buildings which served people traveling through outlying areas of Montana during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Soon after construction of the Montana Central Railroad through Prickly Pear Canyon, a depot was built on the south side of Prickly Pear Creek, almost a mile east of Cartersville. The railroad had by-passed Cartersville in part because routing it through the town would have required two additional bridges. Soon homes and businesses were drawn away from Cartersville, nearer to the tracks and depot. The brick kiln in Cartersville was used to manufacture many of the bricks for building construction in the new town of Wolf Creek. In 1890, the settlement of Cartersville burned and today, only the remains of a house and the historic cemetery mark its location.

The town of Wolf Creek was platted by the Wolf Creek Townsite Company, on land originally granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad by the U.S. Congress in 1864. As originally planned, the town was oriented to face the Prickly Pear Creek and the Railroad tracks across the creek. Main Street paralleled the creek and the tracks, and was intersected by Bisonette Street, named for Mr. O.C. Bisonette, the townsite company president.

In 1887, one of the first businesses to be established in the new town was the Wolf Creek Hotel. The original hotel on the property was a single story log building erected by James Carter. Just two or three years later, Carter (who established most of the early businesses in Wolf Creek) sold the hotel to Charles Forman, a young Englishman who came to America and Montana with his twin brother George and younger brother Joseph during the late 1800s. Of the three, only Charles remained hi Montana. George settled in the Seattle area and made a summer visit each year to Montana, and Joseph went to Alaska, where he died some time later.
From the NRHP Registration Form
WOLF CREEK HOTEL

In 1886-1887 the Montana Central Railroad wound its way through the steep Prickly Pear Canyon, an area prized for its superb trout fishing. The town of Wolf Creek, named after an Indian word meaning “Creek That The Wolf Jumped In,” grew from Cartersville, a mile to the east, to serve the railroad. James Carter built a small one-story hotel here in 1887. He soon sold the hotel to a young Englishman, Charles Forman, who replaced it with this three-story frame building circa 1892. Forman attached his new hotel to the original manager’s house, covering its log walls with clapboard siding. Its simple no-frills style was once a common sight across rural Montana. Ten rooms and home-cooked meals offered respite for outdoor enthusiasts as well as stage and railroad travelers. Forman, a butcher by trade, also operated a livery stable and meat company. The small house out back, once filled with ice cut from the Missouri River, kept his larder cool. The hotel operated from 1887 to 1984 under only five owners. It served as a stage stop along the Mullan Trail and routes from Helena to Augusta and Fort Benton. Later it sheltered workers who built Holter Dam in 1910, gas pipeline laborers in the 1930s, and highway crews who divided the town in the 1960s. Although now under the shadow of the interstate, its time-layered walls earlier witnessed high winds and waters, fires, births, and deaths. Restoration as a private home in the 1990s began a new chapter in the long life of this railroad-era landmark.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
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Street address:
Jct. of Main St. and Bissonmett St
Wolf Creek, MT United States
59648

County / Borough / Parish: Lewis and Clark

Year listed: 1997

Historic (Areas of) Significance: Exploration/Settlement, Transportation, Architecture

Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1900-1924, 1875-1899

Historic function: Domestic - Hotel

Current function: Domestic - Single Dwelling

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
Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.
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