Virginia City

Virginia City's declining fortunes began to revive gradually after 1944, when Montana rancher and state legislator Charlie Bovey and his wife Sue first visited the small community. Captivated by Virginia City's old buildings, the Boveys initiated an extensive privately financed preservation program. They and the Montana Historic Landmark Society (funded by the Boveys) began to preserve some of the deteriorating buildings in the community. Starting with the purchase of the Blake House in 1945, by 1978 they owned one-third of the town. The Boveys did not just purchase and stabilize or restore existing buildings.

They also built reconstructions of original buildings along lower Wallace Street using historic photographs as guides. They installed static displays in some of the buildings, furnished with artifacts associated with the buildings or items they had collected from around the state. Other buildings were adapted to modern purposes, and some received new fronts. The Boveys tried to present a full picture of life in the past. They were less concerned with finding museum-quality, perfect artifacts than they were with presenting everyday objects in the context of a furnished building display. They wanted their buildings to look lived in, so they felt that well-worn artifacts (even ones that were broken or seriously deteriorated) enhanced the authenticity of the display.

In 1947, in response to requests from visitors, the Boveys moved into the tourist business. They formed the Virginia City Trading Company to provide services such as lodging, restaurants, theater, gas station, and gift shops (this business was renamed Bovey Restorations, Inc., in 1972). They converted the Buford Block into the Wells Fargo Coffee House. Soon, the Virginia City Players, a theatrical company founded by Larry Barsness, began performing in the Smith and Boyd Livery/Opera House. Housing for the actors was constructed next to the Gilbert Brewery. From 1946 until 1973, visitors could buy soft drinks and beer in the brewery. This closed down because of low revenues, however, and a branch of the Virginia City Players began performing evening programs in the building in 1984. The Fairweather Inn took all telephone reservations for the Opera House, Brewery Follies, and the two hotels. Bus and school group tours were arranged at the Bovey's main office.

Although these businesses operated by Bovey Restorations did bring in some income, the operation was always a losing proposition. In reality, good wheat crops in the 1940s and the sale of Bovey's sheep ranch funded the Bovey's preservation work.

The historic community of Nevada City was located approximately one mile downstream of Virginia City. It too was established in June 1863 to serve the miners and others rushing in to Alder Gulch, and in the early 1860s the road between the two communities was lined with buildings. At one time, dozens of stores and cabins extended back about six blocks on the east side of the present highway. By 1876, however, Nevada City was almost deserted. Buildings were moved away or were torn down for lumber or firewood. In 1878, the Fenner family received a mineral patent on most of the townsite and sold lots to the remaining residents. By about 1900, only five or six households were left. The Frank Finney family remained on their property in the town until 1951. Their refusal to sell their land to the dredge company working the gulch in the early 1900s is the reason that half the town was protected from destruction by dredging operations.

In the late 1950s, Charlie Bovey's attention expanded to include Nevada City. For almost twenty years, Bovey had displayed old Montana buildings at the Great Falls fairgrounds in an exhibit known as "Old Town." In 1959, Bovey was asked to remove the Old Town exhibit. He carefully disassembled the buildings and hauled them out of Great Falls, relocating them on Nevada City's back streets. The buildings that Bovey moved to Nevada City were placed on sites where buildings had previously stood, so the basic layout of the historic community was retained. Nevada City evolved into a place where the Boveys put buildings that were doomed to destruction if left on their original sites. They moved their last building to Nevada City in 1978. All of the moved-in buildings had originally been built in other locations in Montana or in Yellowstone National Park.

The Boveys also constructed new buildings in Nevada City as part of their effort to make it a display representing life in an early Montana community. They restored the front street to look as much as possible like a photograph of the original town taken in 1865. They leveled the dredge tailings across the highway from the buildings in Nevada City and established a railroad museum there in order to protect railroad equipment from being scrapped, and in 1964 they built a 1.5-mile railroad line linking Nevada City and Virginia City. Visitors could then take a short ride behind a Dinky steam engine donated by the Anaconda Company.

The Boveys combined the philosophies of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and Deerfield Village in Michigan, but their effort was distinctively personal and evolved over time. They passionately believed in preserving and protecting original buildings, generally in a state they termed "suspended deterioration." They believed it was important to reproduce missing buildings to retain the overall appearance of Virginia City and to furnish as many buildings as possible with appropriate artifacts displayed in their "total context." Their businesses serving visitors reflected their goal of allowing the public to experience the past by participating in it. Thus, the nightly entertainment provided old-style theater shows and vaudeville; the Bale of Hay Saloon was furnished with historic player pianos and nickelodeons; and the Fairweather Inn did not necessarily provide all the modern comforts desired by its guests.

The Boveys poured a great deal of energy and money into collecting artifacts from southwestern Montana and other areas. Their goals were to use the artifacts to enhance the visitors' experience and in some cases to protect the objects (e.g., the railroad-related objects and stained glass windows from the state capitol). Generally, the purchase of a particular set of artifacts dictated the next new display. For example, the contents of the Butte Carriage Works inspired the wagon shop in Nevada City. The Boveys did not believe in restoring artifacts. Thus, buggies were protected from rain and snow and kept in a dry place, but their finishes were not restored.

To the Boveys, the original buildings in Virginia City were almost shrines to the past. The retention of original, weathered materials was very important. Because Charlie saw the buildings as representing a continuum of time, later modifications were left in place, such as knob-and-tube wiring, additions, and 1930s linoleum. They loved "time capsules" such as the McGovern Store. They considered most of the buildings too fragile and historically significant to be used for anything but displays.

Interpretation during the Bovey period was largely informal and self-guided. The Boveys felt that providing information in the form of signs or brochures was intrusive, but they did provide guided tours to special groups. Beginning in 1947, the Boveys encouraged visitors to stop in the lobby of the Fairweather Inn for information; this served as an informal orientation center. Most visitors, however, wandered up to buildings, peered inside, and used their own imagination and knowledge to come to an understanding of the display. In 1977, Bovey Restorations curator John Ellingsen and others published a paperback book entitled, "If These Walls Could Talk: the History of Buildings of Virginia City, Montana." This book provided some historical background on significant structures within the community.

The City of Virginia City printed a walking tour brochure for their town in approximately 1995, written mostly by John Ellingsen. This brochure, sold for $1 to cover expenses, formed the basis for the current walking tour brochure for Virginia City, which was funded by the Commission and Gold West Country.

Charlie Bovey died in 1978 and his wife Sue in 1988. Because their preservation philosophies sometimes differed, the philosophy of Bovey Restorations changed after 1978 and then again after 1988, when their son Ford took over. For example, Bovey Restorations tried street theater after Charlie and Sue Bovey had died. This consisted of three employees providing frequent re-enactments of gun fights in Nevada City. Some visitors enjoyed these performances, but small children often cried and the actors became bored with the repetitive show.

The family's efforts over several decades provided one model for historic preservation and boosted Virginia City's economy, helping to keep the community alive and vital. After the death of Charlie Bovey in 1978, little more than very basic maintenance was done on any of the buildings in Virginia City or Nevada City. By 1989, many of the Bovey-owned properties were for sale.

Visitors over the decades have expressed great appreciation of the Boveys' work. Some people were particularly taken with Virginia City's original buildings fully stocked with artifacts. Others preferred Nevada City, saying that it allowed them to step back in time.

Most of the Bovey displays have remained essentially the same since the day they were created. A few have been altered or no longer exist. Displays in the latter category include the penny arcade in the building that today houses the Montana Picture Gallery (the machines were mostly relocated to the Nevada City Music Hall and the Bale of Hay Saloon in approximately 1979 in order to protect them better); the automobile museum in the Village Pump building (this was closed and converted to storage in the early 1960s when the state required the Boveys to stop selling gasoline there); and the Dudley Garage (this displayed the best cars in the collection from about 1974 until 1983).

The Virginia City Preservation Alliance and the Vigilance Club of Virginia City cooperatively operated an information center in the Adobetown schoolhouse in Virginia City before and after the state purchase of the Bovey properties in 1997. In 1997 and 1998, they also offered personally conducted tours of Virginia City. In 1999, the information center was moved to the Virginia City depot and was run with limited hours by the Virginia City Preservation Alliance.

Virginia City today has approximately 150 year-round residents and about 300 summer residents. It sits at an elevation of 5,680 feet, in a bowl along the edge of Alder Gulch. Approximately 70,000 visitors come through Virginia City annually.

The community is relatively isolated and is not close to a major highway. Montana Highway 287, a paved highway maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation, runs right through Virginia City along lower Wallace Street and bisects the core historic area. The other streets in the town have gravel surfaces and are maintained by the city. Virginia City is located 85 miles from West Yellowstone. This is one of the major gateways to Yellowstone National Park, which in 1993 had 2.9 million visitors. The nearest commercial air service is approximately 70 miles distant, in Belgrade or Butte, Montana.

Montana Highway 287 also runs through Nevada City. The railroad yard and associated displays are on one side of the highway and the gated area and almost all of the furnished building displays are on the other. Nevada City has fewer than five permanent residents. One of them has lived for many years in a moved-in historic residence inside the gates of Nevada City.

Although not formally included in the National Historic Landmark nomination, the buildings constructed or reconstructed by Charlie and Sue Bovey are now seen as contributing to the significance of Virginia City, because part of its significance today lies in the efforts of the Boveys to preserve the buildings.

The mining activity along Alder Gulch had far-reaching effects. It stimulated the formation of government on all levels, the increase in settlement and use of the northern Rockies, and the evolution of regional transportation systems. Gold from Alder Gulch contributed to the national economy both during and after the Civil War. The town of Virginia City moved quickly through the phases of settlement, camp, and town, having at its peak some 5,000 inhabitants. These phases encompassed tents, log cabins, vernacular frame buildings, and commercial buildings with false fronts, plus (at least in Virginia City) high-style residences and commercial buildings. Substantial business blocks reflected the residents' belief in the permanence of the mining district and the towns along Alder Gulch. The layered remnants of each phase are evident in the buildings that remain today. Remodelings and additions and other modifications bear witness to the town's unfolding history.