Wibaux Building
From birchyHistory
(Created page with "right The Wibaux Building started out as the home of the State National Bank and just about every fraternal organization in town. It was buil...") |
(→Destroyed by fire June 9, 1964) |
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| − | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1911a|right]] | + | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1911a.jpg|right]] |
| − | The Wibaux Building started out as the home of the [[State National Bank]] and just about every fraternal organization in town. It was built by [[Pierre Wibaux]], president of the bank and served as his business home until his death in 1913. | + | The Wibaux Building was the tallest and fanciest building between Bismarck and Bozeman when it was built in 1903. It started out as the home of the [[State National Bank]] and just about every fraternal organization in town. It was built by [[Pierre Wibaux]], president of the bank and served as his business home until his death in 1913. |
| − | Destroyed by fire June 9, 1964 | + | The Moose Lodge was on the top floor of the Wibaux Building in the early 1940's. It was the site of the first Caledonian gathering. |
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| + | ==Destroyed by fire June 9, 1964== | ||
| + | Almost everyone who lived in Miles City at the time remembers seeing the fire, even the smallest children turned out to witness the tragedy. It was said that a cigarette butt down a greasy garbage chute was supposed to have started it and it smoldered between false ceilings. At the time, the building was not completely occupied. There were at least three retail businesses ( the main floor was shared by Army Surplus, with Waddell's barber shop on the corner by the alley), the Miles City Club and several apartment tenants in the building at the time of the fire. The Miles City Club was able to save most of the Club contents, including the original Huffman photos and the personalized photograph of Teddy Roosevelt. That photo still hangs in the Club and there are signs of water damage on it from the fire. | ||
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| + | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1964.jpg|right|thumb|500px|Billings Gazette, June 11, 1964, pg 26]] | ||
| + | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1950s.jpg|right|thumb|500px|1950s?]] | ||
| + | (UP News) - Wind-whipped flames destroyed | ||
| + | the historic Wibaux Building in Miles City | ||
| + | Monday night, causing damage estimated at | ||
| + | $100,000. Other buildings in the business | ||
| + | district were threatened but were not | ||
| + | damaged by fire. Firemen rescued several | ||
| + | elderly women trapped in their third- | ||
| + | floor apartments by smoke. At one time, | ||
| + | a fireman was strapped to the end of a | ||
| + | boom on a construction company derrick. | ||
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| + | A new bank building was built in early 1966. First Security Bank & Trust (formerly "Miles City Bank") occupied the building until about 1997 when it was renamed the "Stockman Bank". | ||
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| + | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1911b.jpg|right]] | ||
| + | [[Image:WibauxBuilding1911c.jpg|right|900px]] | ||
