Tag Archives: Historic buildings

Revival of closed Montana hotel back on track after a discouraging year

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Hotel Deer Lodge, Montana

Hotel Deer Lodge as it looked soon after it opened. The building, now shuttered, dominates the Deer Lodge, Montana, business district.

By Kevin S. Giles

The pandemic and a $400 city fine nearly killed the latest effort to restore Hotel Deer Lodge, an abandoned 33,000-square-foot brick structure at the heart of a western Montana town’s business district.

“When they shut us down it took the wind out of our sails,” said Kip Kimerly, who leads the nonprofit venture to revive the long-shuttered hotel that opened in 1912 to a burst of civic celebration.

Now, he’s promising a renewed effort to bring the historic building back to life.

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Liquor company owner takes over shuttered Montana hotel, promises revival

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Photo of Hotel Deer Lodge.

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.

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Saving historic buildings, in western Montana and everywhere, makes good sense

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Photo of Montana grade school

Central School, which opened in 1884, had 13 classrooms and commanded a large city block. It was closed and razed in the late 1960s because of concern that its cavernous central hallways and wood floors would feed a disastrous fire. Photo supplied by Dale Case.

By Kevin S. Giles

I am reminded lately of how the disappearance of old buildings changes the character of cities and countrysides in often undesirable fashion. Not everyone agrees, of course, that history-altering demolitions inflict harm. Some people don’t hold sentimental attachments to old buildings, seeing them as impractical barriers to progress.

Recently I wrote about the value of hometowns, particularly mine. Deer Lodge, Montana, is often cited as the first incorporated city in the state. Despite the losses of several notable buildings over the past five decades, Deer Lodge remains a western town. It traces its roots to the early mining and Civil War eras, still wearing its history well, with enough of the very old infrastructure left to impress on us how the past can survive the future.

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