Hotel Deer Lodge, standing at the center of the city’s business district, opened in 1912 as “one of the finest accommodations in Montana.” (Photos courtesy of Deer Lodge Preservation, Inc.)

By Kevin S. Giles

The chief executive officer of a Montana-based liquor company will lead a historic hotel revival with a plan to create a five-star destination.

Kip Kimerly, of Precious Vodka USA, Inc., took charge of Hotel Deer Lodge preservation in a deal struck Jan. 23, 2020.

The hotel remains owned by Deer Lodge Preservation, Inc., but the group will be represented by a new board of directors that Kimerly will lead as president, said Kayo Fraser, one of the former board members.

Kimerly envisions a nonprofit project to restore the empty building for hotel use on the upper floors, with retail space and a banquet room created on the ground floor.

“We’ll try to get the entire country involved into saving our beautiful town,” said Kimerly. “Our mission isn’t anything more than bringing the hotel back to its previous glory. It’s not about one person, it’s about the entire community of Deer Lodge. We want to have everyone participate.”

In 3,000-resident Deer Lodge, one of western Montana’s oldest settlements, history abounds. Hotel Deer Lodge, shuttered since the 1980s, stands at the core of a downtown district that resembles the set of a Hollywood western. After the hotel opened for business in 1912, it quickly became a gathering place for clubs, socials, dances, banquets and any other social activities. Its dozens of guest rooms hosted travelers at “one of the finest” lodging accommodations in Montana because of its elevator and hot and cold running water in every room.

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The hotel’s rare period architecture includes three “towers” built over the main floor to ensure daylight in every visitor’s room. It became known as a “railroad hotel” because of its proximity to the passenger train lines and railroad repair shops of years past. Backers of its construction included well-known names such as Leopold S. Schmidt, who founded Olympia Brewing Co., and Frank Conley, who led the building of Montana State Prison on Main Street. Conley, then the mayor of Deer Lodge, was the hotel’s first registered guest.

Jerry’s Riot tells the story of the 1959 takeover of Montana State Prison by career criminal Jerry Myles and his 19-year-old boyfriend, Lee Smart.

Deer Lodge, much like several western Montana cities, suffered steady population decline in recent decades because of changes in industry and business. Losses included the departure from Deer Lodge of the Milwaukee Road railroad roundhouse and car shops, which employed hundreds of people, and the closure of the nearby smelter in Anaconda. A downturn in the timber industry and construction of an interstate highway that took traffic from downtown Deer Lodge also contributed to the slide.

Kimerly said the 33,000-square-foot Hotel Deer Lodge building endured significant water damage over the years. His group’s first mission, he said, will be replacing the roof by summer 2020. About a third of the interior can’t be saved and will be gutted to make room for reconstruction, he said.

He envisions a nonprofit venture that involves local people, local materials and local equipment. He plans to talk with prison officials about recruiting prison inmates to help with demolition. Restoration will cost an estimated $7 million to $14 million, none of which will come from local taxpayers. Contributions and grants will be solicited from many sources nationally and elsewhere Precious Vodka has connections, including overseas.

Precious Vodka, a gold medal winner in the liquor industry, sells in 40 countries as well as Montana, Washington state and Florida. Kimerly said the company is working on selling in Nevada at 200 locations in Las Vegas. Each state has its own liquor laws and rigorous compliance standards, he said.

The company began operations about 10 years ago.

Today, Hotel Deer Lodge sits empty. It had 52 guest rooms and housed numerous businesses over the years including a coffee shop, bar, sporting goods stores and barber and beauty shops.

Other members of Deer Lodge Preservation, Inc.’s new board directors are Kimerly’s brother Ken as vice president, Precious Vodka compliance officer Joni Scott as treasurer, and Deer Lodge performing arts theater owner Kelly Cutler as secretary.

Kimerly said he consulted with many Deer Lodge people before making the decision to lead the effort to restore the hotel.

“Overwhelming support. It was immediate,” he said of community reaction. “We’d like to get everyone in the community involved. They are all interested, everyone, to better our community. The hotel is the heart of town, the focal point of Deer Lodge.”

He envisions the revived hotel as having a rustic theme with Montana logs used as pillars in the lobby. An estimated 60 hotel rooms would draw visitors to Deer Lodge who would in turn spend money at other businesses, he said.

“It has a beautiful banquet center, a huge ballroom, that we will absolutely restore,” said Kimerly, noting the hotel’s original purpose as a community gathering place for social events. “We want it brought back for exactly that reason.”

The Kimerly brothers lived in Deer Lodge when they were boys. Kip Kimerly was 10 years old when they moved away. Last year, they began renovating a closed motel on Main Street that they renamed Warden Inn. The name nods to the old state prison a block farther south and the high school team name, the Wardens.

Comparisons often linger between the outlook for Hotel Deer Lodge and the community-driven restoration of the city’s 1921 Rialto Theatre, nearly lost in a disastrous fire in 2006.

“What Deer Lodge did for the theater in the middle of town by bringing it back to the perfection it is today, we can do that again,” Kimerly said.

He envisions the hotel project taking five years, although he said his ownership is so new that he hasn’t yet written a detailed business plan.

“We will get it done. Failure isn’t an option,” he said.

Kayo Fraser, a Deer Lodge resident and member of the former board of directors, said earlier her preservation group had hoped an investor would see the potential of bringing the building back to life. Deer Lodge’s long-range development plan, in fact, identifies history as its central selling point and calls for its emphasis.

“This is the shot in the arm we needed,” Fraser said after the Deer Lodge Preservation, Inc., elected Kimerly and his crew as the new board members. “The town thinks we sold the hotel. No, it is still owned by the preservation group. It is similar to the Rialto, no one person or team owns it,” she said.

“We tried but didn’t have the money or connections behind us. We are excited and hopeful. I want to see lights on in that building.”

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Western Montana native Kevin S. Giles wrote the popular prison nonfiction work Jerry’s Riot, the coming-of-age novel Summer of the Black Chevy, and a biography of Montana congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, One Woman Against War, which is an expanded version of his earlier work, “Flight of the Dove.” His new novel, Headline: FIRE! is the third in the Red Maguire series. Masks, Mayhem and Murder is the second. The first is “Mystery of the Purple Roses.” More information is available at https://kevinsgiles.com.