Miners Union Hall – 125 Years Later – near Philipsburg - Granite Ghost Town, Montana MT

The Miners Union Hall in the ghost town of Granite, Montana (above Philipsburg) has not aged well! Unfortunately her days were numbered at an early age!

She was built in 1890 for $22,000 by the proud community of Granite. She was dedicated on December 31, 1890 with a Grand Dedication Ball. Granite had never seen a night like this before or after! She became the town’s showplace and was the hub of social life of this active mining town.

In the exquisite three story building, she housed the union leaders offices and had a lounge and recreation rooms that contained billiard and card tables. The Miners Union Hall also contained a Lodge Hall and meeting rooms for various clubs and secret orders. A small library and council room were upstairs along with a reception room, ante-room and ticket booth.

The Miners Union hall had the Northwest’s finest maple dance floor that supported concerts, celebrations, plays and operas. A specialty designed stage was installed for traveling theatricals, touring minstrel shows, local performances of melodramas and vaudeville acts. She was quite a lady!

Three years later on August 1st, 1893 an order came to shut down the mines. Within 24 hours the town was almost deserted. The once proud Miners Union Hall was abandoned and fell into ruin.

It was said that card and pool tables were still in the building in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Vandals, scavengers and Mother Nature worked in unison to strip the building of all valuables including the springboard maple dance floor. What a shame!

Heavy winter snow also took its toll of the building, dropping roof timbers and floor joists to ground level. In 1966 vandals set fire to what remained. The once proud Miners Union Hall is in ruins and her walls will not be standing much longer.

Still images courtesy Rick McGill, Jay Michalik, Library of Congress - Historic American Buildings Survey and the Granite County Museum and Cultural Center Archives. Video courtesy David Eggebraaten.

Special thanks to Rick McGill and Jay Michalik who both suggested additional footage and techniques that were used in this production.

For more information on the Miners Union Hall in the ghost town of Granite, MT please visit:

Granite County Museum & Cultural Center - Philipsburg, Montana - Dedicated to preserving local history and helping people understand the diverse cultural roots of Granite County.

www.granitecountymuseum.com

Video images were captured with Canon Vixia HFS-100 video camera and edited with Microsoft Movie Maker and Adobe Premier Pro 6.

Music used is "Ritual" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and
“Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Direct Link: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-....
ISRC: USUAN1100655
© 2009 Kevin MacLeod