Century of Butte Stories

Christmas 1928

By John Astle

(A column featuring stories from Butte's newspapers during the past 100 years).

Christmas 1928 in Butte was indeed a season of good cheer. All the mines were opened, the price of copper was up, and a 50-cent wage increase had recently gone into effect. The weather was mild as local stores had their first night of evening shopping on December 20th.

Uptown Butte had the atmosphere and appearance of a carnival with the many lights and decorations. Street cars, which ran every 10 minutes, were jammed with shoppers from outlying districts as they made their way
uptown. The Post Office set a new record on Dec. 21, when over 100,000 pieces of mail were handled, totaling over 380,000 pieces between Dec. 18 and Dec. 22.

This would be the last prosperous Christmas for many years. The stock market crash the following October and the resulting Great Depression would last more than ten years. Christmas in 1929 was the beginning of a
long drought, and the affluence of Christmas 1928 would be long remembered.

Butte's population was estimated at 62,416 down from over 90,000 just 10 years earlier. Yet there were, for example, 180 boarding houses/furnished rooms, 220 grocery stores, 75 barbers, 80 restaurants, and 40 shoe repair shops.

Stores and shops, large and small, were packed that first night of late shopping. Crowds strolled and browsed a business district of several city blocks east, west, north, and south of Park and Main. Stores were brightly
lighted and stocked with a large assortment of items.

Alf Gusdorf of Al's Photo Shop, 44 N. Main, said, "The place has been jammed all day so that we could scarcely open the door."

Hats were selling like hotcakes at Boucher's, 29 W. Park, and Tom Angell of the Hat Box, 21 E. Broadway, supplied a Christmas card with the purchase of each hat. Shoe stores such as Florsheim's, 48 N. Main, Red
Boot, 26 N. Main, Gamer's, 17 N. Main, and Walk-Over, 46 W. Park, all reported large crowds, with slippers being the favorite purchase.

Music stores including Dreibelbis Music, 77 W. Park and Orton Bros., 216 N. Main were crowded, as were department, furniture, and clothing stores, Hennessey's, Main & Granite; Symons, 68-82 W. Park; Finberg's, 106 E. Park; Brownfield-Canty, 50 W. Park; Weins, 33-37 E. Park; and the Hub, 41 E. Park.

Jewelry stores, Leys, 20 N. Main; S&J Jewelry, 12 E. Park; and Towle's, Inc., 101 W. Park, were popular with Butte shoppers in 1928.

Women's apparel stores, including Rask Garment Shop, 316 E. Park; Weinberg's, 58 W. Park; and Aish Ally, 113 W. Broadway, were all overflowing with shoppers.

For those who wanted a break and a soft drink (Prohibition was in effect, although it didn't slow down Butte much), there was the Bee Hive Confectionery, 146 W. Park; Gamer's, 133 W. Park, and Paxson &
Rockefeller, 24 W. Park, among others.

If the shoe soles were getting worn, of the 40 shoe repair shops, there was Vincent Petrino at 331 E. Park. There were 40 tailors in Butte, including Harris Rafish, 40 E. Park; Dundee Woolen Mills, 62 W. Park, and
Quong Hing, 246 E. Park.

If a shopper wanted a quick sandwich or bowl of soup, there were 80 restaurants, including the Terminal, 106 W. Park; Union Grill, 115 E. Park; State, 16 S. Main; Spokane, 17 S. Main; Chequamegon, 27 N. Main;
Crown, 110 E. Park; Greens, 43 N. Main; Moxom, 29 W. Broadway, and the Pekin, 117 S. Main.

Floral Park had a tree-lighting ceremony and carol singing at the nearby park (later name after Father Sheehan), and judging of resident decorations. The idea of lighted lawn evergreens had spread to other parts
of the city. The bustling community near Lake Avoca said they would offer competition in 1929.

Butte Joshers Club, organized in 1903 to distribute Christmas baskets to needy Butte families, was still going strong in 1928, and two of the original Joshers, James T. Finlen and Archie Coutts, were in charge.

"This is the heaviest year we have ever experienced," Finlen said. "We had 412 baskets loaded by 2:30 yesterday, and the number of orders unfilled indicates a total delivery of 700. We have checked up pretty thoroughly on the needy in Butte and we don't believe anybody has been overlooked," he continued. "When we know there are no hungry people in Butte on Christmas day, we can enjoy our own dinners."

In charge of distribution were Frank Bigelow of the Elks; Abe Cohen of the Butte Pioneers, and a small army of Boy Scouts and members of the American Legion.

Each basket consisted of: a cake, loaf of bread, butter, 2 pounds onions, 60 pounds spuds, bacon, bologna, 8 pounds beef, lard, sugar, 10 pounds apples, head cabbage, raisins, oatmeal, tea, coffee, can peas, corn, pork
& beans, pickles, salt, navy beans, rice, corn meal, flour, candy, and, until they ran out, blackberries and a duck.