Historic Lodges in Montana

The Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton

Overlooking the mighty Missouri River where steamboats brought immigrants, miners, and cowboys to the Montana territory, the Grand Union is Montana’s oldest operating hotel.  Built in 1882, complete with sterling silver flatware, monogrammed linens, and gold leaf wallpaper, the hotel has endured a precarious beginning, foreclosure and abandonment.  

But the hotel’s fortunes changed when car trouble in 1997 stranded owners, Jim and Cheryl Gagnon, on their way to visit family in Chester, Montana.  Peering into the windows of the then-empty Grand Union with her commercial designer’s eye, Cheryl could see possibility.  

The Gagnons took the structure down to its studs.  Sadly, most interior furnishings had been sold at auction.  So they set about to meet the contemporary traveler’s needs in a setting that pays homage to the past. Wherever possible, original oak woodwork was retained and the hotel’s signature staircase and railing kept intact.     

On the National Register of Historic Places, the Grand Union has 26 rooms.  Both the hotel and the Union Grille restaurant have a coveted AAA three-star rating.  Montana’s famed artist, Charles M. Russell, was a frequent visitor in his day.

The Union Grille’s chef, who trained at the New England Culinary Institute, prides himself on a menu of seasonal local foods that features buffalo, pheasant, venison, wheat, barley, and lentils. 

The hotel caters to river floaters, hunters, Lewis and Clark buffs and Canadians headed south. “Our challenge is to bring folks to Fort Benton,” said manager, Kernan Myers. One of the most historically significant lodges in Montana. 

The Grand Union, open year round, is located at 1 Grand Union Square and can be reached at 406-622-1882, 1-888-838-1882 or www.grandunionhotel.com.

The Old Hotel in Twin Bridges

Cowboy Sushi is one of the signature entrees at The Old Hotel’s restaurant in Twin Bridges, created by owners and chefs, Bill and Paula Kinoshita.  Wanting to relocate to Montana from Hawaii in the early 2000s, the couple put ads in southwest Montana newspapers seeking work.  The former owner of The Old Hotel was one who responded.  When she wanted to retire, the threesome struck a deal.  The result is Montana hospitality with a Hawaiian twist.   

The Old Hotel, a modest, utilitarian, red brick structure, might be older than the Grand Union.  The Kinoshitas have documents back to 1879, but they aren’t sure if it was built as a home, hotel, or boarding house.  If not Montana’s oldest, it might be the smallest hotel.  There are only two second floor suites available.  The kitchen and restaurant dominate the first.  The Kinoshitas live on the third.  

Twin Bridges, population 500, and visiting sportsmen have embraced the adventurous menu that changes weekly and features fresh food whenever possible. A small garden plot produces greens three seasons of the year.  The Kinoshitas, ever the culinary explorers, serve Asian, Mediterranean, and French food, alongside one menu item that never changes:  the standard Montana rib eye steak.

The Old Hotel, located on the corner of 5th and Main, has summer and winter hours for dinner and weekend brunch. Room availability is best off-season.  For reservations, call 406-526-3266 or visit www.theoldhotel.com.     

The Fort Peck Hotel

In the early 1930s, thousands of workers flocked to the windy prairie in northeastern Montana to find work on the construction of the Fort Peck Dam.  The Corps of Engineers built a modest structure for officers staying at the dam site. The depression-era building, a luxury by Fort Peck’s hard scrabble beginnings, transferred to private ownership.  Later, it became a hotel.  In all that time, not much has changed.    

It’s so authentic that current owner, Linda Mann, has been asked if she’s open for business or if it’s a museum.  The Fort Peck Hotel, like the Grand Union and a few other lodges in Montana, is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

“We love this old place,” said Linda. “It’s gorgeous the way it is.  I don’t want to modernize it.” 

 Some rooms have original claw foot bathtubs.  There are no room phones and just two televisions on the premises.  The hotel’s wagon wheel light fixtures are original, as are heavy, wooden exterior windows, wood floors, and French doors leading to a screened-in porch that extends the length of the building.  A continental breakfast is complimentary; summer dinners are served in the dining room.    

Internet service was added to accommodate the paleontologists from Montana State University–Bozeman and elsewhere who come to dig for dinosaur bones.  “They need it,” Linda said, “or we wouldn’t have it either. People keep telling me we gotta catch up and get modern.  I don’t want to.”  She does her bookkeeping and keeps track of reservations the old fashioned way—with a pencil and paper. 

Linda and her husband, Carl, an outfitter, cater to archery and rifle hunters seeking trophy elk, antelope, deer, and birds.  They’ll refer you to local fishing guides and offer weekend packages that include tickets to the Fort Peck Summer Theatre, also in an historic building from Fort Peck’s depression-era boom.     

Open from April to November at 175 South Missouri Street, The Fort Peck Hotel can be reached at 406-526-3266, 1-800-526-4931 or [email protected].

~ Virginia Bryan is a free-lance writer living in Billings  She is the Chair of the High Plains Book Awards, a project of the Parmly Billings Library.  She prefers secondary highways and historic hotels to interstates and roadside lodging.