Prohibition in Montana

Self-Sufficiency
Hallmark of Montana families.
Richard Ecke
Tribune Staff Writer

During the decade of the 1920s many businesses opened in Great Falls: Liberty Theater, Pinski Plumbing, Goggans & Pennie Electrical, Green Mill Gardens Dance Hall, the Tribune's KDYS radio, Flynn Insurance, Siller's Boot Works, Public Drug Co. and Frank Buttrey's KFBB radio.
Pacific Hide & Fur came to Great Falls from Spokane - later moving its headquarters here.

In 1929 S.D. Largent retired from the position of Supt. of Schools. He had overseen growth of education in Great Falls from 270 students in three buildings in 1891 to 6,000 children attending school in 10 grade schools, 2 rural schools, and a junior high school. Great Falls High was under construction.

In the 1920s, cash-poor Montanans began to notice national changes in attitudes as well as fashions. A cultural upheaval was taking place and they wanted in on it. Women shortened their skirts, rolled socks above the knee and snuck an occasional drink of whiskey. Unusual dances were the rage. "You shimmied," said Great Falls resident (age 95 in March of 1999) Jeannette Bowen. "You really shaked. It wasn't considered very nice, but we did it!"
Men wore lots of chains and women gussied up as flappers, with shorter hair and flamboyant clothing.
To offset the wildness, occasional revival shows came to Great Falls with speakers like Billy Sunday.

In the 1920s, speculating in the stock market became an obsession for some - and it all came crashing down before the decade was out.
Many bought stocks on margin, a risky approach that could mean big returns. Stock prices often rose, so people could put as little as 5% down to buy a stock on margin then double their money in a couple of weeks. Such paper profits had great appeal to people willing to take the risk, and a small number of elite families managed to avoid the pinch of the '20s in Montana. But their high-flying days were numbered. October 29, 1929, panic selling set in. Stocks on the NYSE lost $26 million in one day. Montana, along with all of America, faced a new decade filled with despair.

Artist and author, Charles M. "Charlie" Russell died October 24th, 1926. He hated cars, a symbol of the modern age and he bemoaned the loss of the open range. In the end, he received the send-off he would have wanted.
Thousands attended services at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. Streets were cleared and businesses closed. His body was carried to Highland Cemetery by an antique horse-drawn hearse while his saddled, but riderless horse followed.

U.S. Representatives:
John M. Evans(D) (1913-1921)
Carl W. Riddick(R) (1919-1923)
Washington Jay McCormick(R) (1921-1923)
Scott Leavitt(R) (1923-1933)

1920 - Paris Gibson, founding father of Great Falls, died, December 16th at age 90.
1920 - Dewey, the last of the fire department's horses is retired marking the end of "horse power" and the beginning of major growth of the gasoline engine.
1921 - Meadow Lark Country Club opened May 28th. Membership: $50.00. Charlie Russell was among the first members.
1921 - Great Falls boasted 18.3 miles of concrete roadways.
1922 - Great Falls (and the state of Montana)got its first radio station, KDYS.
1923 - KDYS closes up after a short-lived stint in Great Falls.
1923 - Boxing legend, Jack Dempsey, training camp was located at what is now Verde Park along Upper River Road, south of the water works.
1923-24 - Carpenters and painters affiliated with the American Association of Craftsmen and workmen agree to take a $1.00 cut in pay in order to stimulate construction and new jobs.
1923 - Farmers are hit hard with drought and grasshopper infestation.
1925 - Thomas J. Walsh is the first Montanan to be featured on the cover of Time magazine - a scandal, of course.
1926 - Statue dedicated to the memory of Paris Gibson is erected in Gibson Park.
1926 - Charles M. Russell died, October 24th, of a heart attack at age 61.
1926 - Art Hinck, a Great Falls citizen and salesman for Heinz 57 Varieties, "created" Hill 57 which is now Valley View Addition.
1926 - February - Great Falls' first Charleston dance contest.
1926 - The state began using gasoline tax money to pay its share of highway maintenance in the state.
1927 - Bond issue is approved to build Roosevelt Elementary School at 25th and 2nd Ave North. The city limit was 38th Street.
1927 - Humorist, Will Rogers, performed at The Grand. He had lunch at the Mint Saloon and stayed at the Rainbow Hotel.
1927 - Convict labor no longer used for highway upkeep. It was no accident that the Commissioner of Highways was also the warden of the state prison in Deer Lodge!
1927 - Charles "Lucky" Lindbergh flies over Great Falls and assails a pedestrian with a sock containing a note that he'd thrown from the plane.
1927 - The Electric City Conservatory, founded in 1907, was expanded and the store went from one story to a three-story building. The 3rd story was later removed.
1928 - Junior League of Great Falls begins.
1928 - First scheduled air mail service began August 1st between SLC, Utah and Great Falls.
1928 - Great Falls bought land on Gore Hill for a municipal airport.
1928 - Deputy Sherrif Herbert Locke was killed in the line of duty, December 11th at McKenzie-Wallace service station, 4th Street and 1st Ave North where the parking ramp now stands.
1929 - KFBB radio station opened in Great Falls, having moved from Havre.
1929 - School Superintendant S.D. Largent retired.
1929 - Montana Power Co. bought the dam and powerhouse at Black Eagle Falls. The same year, it bought Volta Dam, renamed Ryan Dam in 1940.
1929 - The Stock Market crashed and set us up for the Great Depression of the 1930s.