ELK HOTEL

The Elk Hotel sat on the corner of Broad and Smith Streets.  (Now Leon Sullivan Way)  Over it's lifetime it supported many business, including my Aunt & Uncles tavern "Bernie's".  I remember when Bernie himself owned it, and the business actually started-out as a drug store.  All of the beautiful oak cases , shelving and pharmacy windows were still in place  (and sold by my family) before the Interstate took it.  The Elk Hotel housed a lot of railroaders over the years because the old K & M depot and warehouse was right across the street.  Some lived there year round.   Although the hotel became a little seedy in it's last years,  it was never really bad.  I grew up cleaning Bernies every Sunday morning to make extra money.  Good times...

NOW

 

HERE'S ANOTHER SHOT TAKEN IN THE 60S

In the photo above this one: 

The people on the sidewalk are mostly people that I know and grew up around. That's my Aunt Doris in the window,  and I can even see Harry Swisher,  the Barber that cut my hair for many years and went-on to open the Saddle Shop.  They are there to get a view of an Old West stagecoach that was just unloaded from a train in the background. The state of Montana celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 1964 and sent a group of Old West cowboys across the nation to note Montana's Centennial.

 

 

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