HISTORIC LANDMARKs

FRATERNITY HALL

Constructed in the 1890's, Fraternity Hall was the social and architectural center of the gold and silver mining town of Elkhorn.  Located 22 miles northeast of Boulder, the town was named after the large elk herds of the area and had a population of 2,500 during its peak in the 1880's and 1890's.  Peter Wys discovered the Elkhorn mine about 1870 which led to an estimated 32 million dollars worth of silver and gold being mined in the area.  One of the town's more prominent citizens was Spruille Braden, who went on to become a mining engineer and ambassador to Cuba, Columbia, and Argentina.  Fraternity Hall stands today as one of the town's better designed and built structures.  Its ornate, cantilevered balcony and simulated pilaster and arch treatment on a false front is said to be architecturally unique.  It is perhaps the most photographed ghost town building in the United States and is featured on the cover of many publications on ghost towns.  The Architectural Record also featured Fraternity Hall as number one on a list of 12 structures in the West that should be saved.  The first floor of the building was used as a meeting hall, community dance hall, and for theatrical presentations.  The second floor served as a lodge meeting hall for such groups as the Masons, Knights of Pythias, I. O. O. F., I. O. G. T., Sons of St. Georges, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.  Fraternity Hall has witnessed several mining booms and busts and the aftermath of the 1889 diptheria epidemic as well as feasts, dances, shows, boxing matches, two funerals and a murder.

Source: Transcription from the file, "National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Montana, 1964-2012," created by the Department of Interior and National Park Service; located on the website, National Archives (http://archives.gov), accessed 23 May 2022.  Photograph by John N. DeHaas, Jr., taken in September 1963; stored in the collection, "Prints and Photographs," located on the website, Library of Congress (http://loc.gov).

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