Discussions remain ongoing among city groups about the future of the Boston and Montana Barn.

The aging barn is in Black Eagle, owned by the City of Great Falls and is the last remaining building owned by the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company, which built a smelter in Great Falls in the early 1890s and was later acquired by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, according to HPAC.

In 2021, the joint-city county Historic Preservation Advisory Commission passed a resolution asking the governing bodies of the city and county to help financially support an engineering study to determine the barn’s condition and options to preserve it. The group also committed $10,000 toward the effort to save the barn through a $5,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and $5,000 from the city’s Christmas ornament sales.

Historic preservation group looking at options to save Boston and Montana Barn in Black Eagle

The Big Sky County National Heritage Area Inc. contributed $10,000 toward the initial assessment that city contracted with Cushing Terrell in 2023 for that work for $17,900.

During a September HPAC meeting, the group voted to recommend to the City Commission to continue efforts to preserve the barn.

City staff was working on the agenda report for the meeting, it was decided amongst staff that since they weren’t asking commissioners to do anything other than wait through the winter to make a decision and were instead giving an update, that the update would be included in City Manager Greg Doyon’s report during the meeting.

County receives EPA funding for continued remediation work at former smelter site

The update will primarily include information on the barn’s current condition, which includes a collapse of a portion of the roof.

The group said they’d see if the structure survives the winter, then make financing decisions.

The barn was also discussed during the Oct. 14 city Park and Recreation Advisory Board meeting.

Steve Herrig, Park and Rec director, told the board that “the roof has begin to collapse” and the Oct. 4 wind storm didn’t help, but didn’t cause more significant damage.

He said that HPAC still wanted to try to save the structure, but “it’s one of those things, if you wanted to save this barn it probably needed to be done 20 years ago.”

Superfund cleanup work starts in Black Eagle this month

Herrig said Doyon would give commissioners an update on the barn during their Oct. 15 meeting to get their feedback, but “from staff’s perspective, it’s pretty bad.”

The structure is currently fenced off and Herrig said that it would probably be cheapest to have someone come in to salvage lumber from the barn rather than pay for demolition. 

But, he said it might be a moot point, if the structure doesn’t survive the winter.

County selects preferred land use plan for former smelter site [2021]

During the April 12, 2023 HPAC meeting, Tony Houtz, an architect with Cushing Terrell, discussed their plans for shoring up and stabilizing the barn so that HPAC can look at further restoration later.

Houtz said there’s not much left of the foundation and the roof is deteriorating. The plan included placing plywood sheathing and a membrane over the roof to keep water and snow out and buy a few more years for the roof.

Houtz said the plan would close up windows with some screening to allow ventilation, and temporarily frame in the foundation to keep rodents out. That would have access panels to the underside of the structure and for ventilation.

To avoid damaging the historic integrity of the structure, Houtz said they’d screw coverings into the exterior siding around windows and doors, leaving a few with screens for ventilation.

The cost estimate to stabilize the barn is $576,000, Houtz said in 2023. The estimate does not include project management costs and the project was not funded.

In a September 2024 update, TD&H told HPAC that “the entire north roof system will now require full removal and replacement. There is remote possibility that some of the members of the existing roof system could be retained for reuse, but due to their age and the importance of the roof structure, it is recommended that the entire north roof structure be removed and replaced following stabilization of the perimeter bearing walls, restructuring of the window and door headers, and the central core construction. All new sheathing, weather barrier, and roofing would need to occur and connection to the south roof structure would need to be carefully considered for movement and differing construction types. All three cupolas would need to be reconstructed entirely, flashed and weatherproofed.
Overall, it is our anticipation that the collapse of the roof will increase cost expectations for the scope outlined in the report, requiring more labor and material to reach a fully secure, enclosed and protected building for preservation.”

The barn is a two-story, wood framed, gable-roofed structure with a sandstone foundation built in a T-plan oriented north-south on the south end of the Anaconda Hills golf course, according to the city-county historic preservation office.

The barn has served a variety of uses over more than a century.

For an unknown period, it served as a fire station for the ACM facility with three finished bedrooms housing firemen on the northwest wall of the west wing, which was protected by a sprinkler system, according to the city-county historic preservation office.

According to oral reports in a city-county historic preservation office background on the barn, firemen played basketball on the second floor of the east wing and removed structural supports to have a clear playing space, weakening the structural system.

The barn was used for automobiles and storage in 1929 and in 1950, the second floor had a gymnasium while the first floor continued to be used for storage and vehicles, according to city documents.

The city Park and Recreation Department used the barn for golf cart and other recreational storage needs until it became too dilapidated, according to city documents.

According to the 2021 HPAC resolution, the smelter-refinery was the area’s larger employer and provided much of the copper for the Allied war effort during World Wars I and II.

“There was a common saying that ‘copper from Great Falls wired the world,’” according to the HPAC resolution.

The smelter closed in 1980 and the structures on the property were demolished or moved.

The barn is the only remaining structure from the company, according to HPAC.

“The building is of significant historical value, the last structure still standing that represents the greatest industrial era in Great Falls history. But it is in danger of collapse and destruction,” according to the HPAC resolution.