African-American Heritage Places in Helena, MT
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NPS Form 10-900-b OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form This form is used for documenting property groups relating to one or several historic contexts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form (formerly 16B). Complete each item by entering the requested information. ___X___ New Submission ________ Amended Submission A. Name of Multiple Property Listing African-American Heritage Places in Helena, MT B. Associated Historic Contexts (Name each associated historic context, identifying theme, geographical area, and chronological period for each.) Helena’s Early African-American Community, ca. 1862-1877 The Heyday of Helena’s African-American Community, ca. 1877-1910 Decline and Endurance of Helena’s African-American Community, ca. 1910-1970 C. Form Prepared by: name/title Delia Hagen, PhD organization Hagen Historical Consulting street & number 660 River Court city or town Missoula state MT zip code 59801 e-mail [email protected] telephone date September 2016 D. Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this documentation form meets the National Register documentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing of related properties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR 60 and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation. _______________________________ ______________________ _________________________ Signature of certifying official Title Date _____________________________________ State or Federal Agency or Tribal government I hereby certify that this multiple property documentation form has been approved by the National Register as a basis for evaluating related properties for listing in the National Register. ________________________________ __________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action NPS Form 10-900-b OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service African-American Heritage Places in Helena, MT Montana Name of Multiple Property Listing State Table of Contents for Written Narrative Create a Table of Contents and list the page numbers for each of these sections in the space below. Provide narrative explanations for each of these sections on continuation sheets. In the header of each section, cite the letter, page number, and name of the multiple property listing. Refer to How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form for additional guidance. Page Numbers E. Statement of Historic Contexts (If more than one historic context is documented, present them in sequential order.) I. Introduction 3 II. Helena’s Early African-American Community, ca. 1862-1877 12 III. The Heyday of Helena’s African-American Community, ca. 1877-1910 22 IV. Decline and Endurance of Helena’s African-American Community, ca. 1910- 46 1970 F. Associated Property Types 58 (Provide description, significance, and registration requirements.) Institutions (Social, Cultural, Political and Religious) 61 Commercial and Economic 64 Residential 67 G. Geographical Data 69 The geographic area is encompassed by the incorporated limits of the City of Helena, Lewis and Clark County, Montana. See Appendices. H. Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods 69 (Discuss the methods used in developing the multiple property listing.) I. Major Bibliographical References 74 (List major written works and primary location of additional documentation: State Historic Preservation Office, other State agency, Federal agency, local government, university, or other, specifying repository.) Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement : Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 250 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, PO Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior Put Here National Park Service Name of Property Lewis and Clark County, MT County and State National Register of Historic Places African-American Heritage Places Continuation Sheet in Helena, MT Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Section number E Page 3 Section E: Statement of Historic Contexts I. Introduction African-Americans in the Montana Region before 18651 Helena, Montana is located in the Prickly Pear Valley in what is now southwest Montana. The history of African-Americans in Helena began before the city itself. In the 1850s, the Helena area and the surrounding region remained an integrated indigenous society tied to an international economy through the fur trade. At that time, the vast majority of African-Americans were enslaved, living and toiling as human property, primarily in the southeastern United States. Disparate events in the early 1860s would transform both the Helena area and the lives of African-Americans, and these events together produced Helena’s initial African-American community. Beginning in the seventeenth century, contests between European powers for resources and souls in North America created extensive interaction among groups participating in the fur trade. In their quest for currency in the form of glossy beaver pelts and other furs, Indians and Europeans first plied waterways easily accessed from either coast. As they moved inland up innumerable drainages, they relied on and created intercultural relationships spanning great distances. Indian and European trappers, traders and freighters traveled extensively and often intermarried with the Indian groups they encountered. By the late 18 th century, fur trade activity combined with long-standing intertribal interactions to create a mixed milieu in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas that would become Montana. In 1783, fur trade businessmen organized the North West Company to compete with the long-dominant Hudson’s Bay Company. Competition between these two British Canada-based companies accelerated fur trade activity in the West: a mere ten years later officers of the North West Company, traveling on an Indian trail, had penetrated overland as far as the Pacific Ocean. 2 Lewis and Clark’s 1805-1806 journeys through the region, during which they traveled with an African-American man, York, who was Clark’s slave, fired American imaginations about the prospect of profit in the Rockies (Figure 1). Fur companies based in St. Louis and elsewhere looked to extend their operations into Montana watersheds. British interests beat them to it: In 1808-1809, David Thompson and Finan McDonald established North West Company trading posts on the eastern shore of Lake Pend d’Oreille, along the Kootenai River near present-day Libby, and on the Clark Fork River near present-day Thompson Falls. The Hudson’s Bay Company moved to claim its share of the western Montana market in 1810, when Joseph Howse established Howse House on the northern shore of Flathead Lake. By the time trappers employed by the American-owned Rocky Mountain Fur Company worked the region in 1828 “they found the Hudson’s Bay Company entrenched in the area.” 3 1 This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior. 2 James McClellan Hamilton, From Wilderness to Statehood a History of Montana (Portland, Oreg.: Binford & Mort, 1957), 60; Michael P. Malone, Richard B. Roeder, and William L. Lang, Montana: A History of Two Centuries , Revised (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991), 42; Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee, Elders Cultural Advisory Council, and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 82. 3 Jeanne O’Neill and Riga Winthrop, Fort Connah: A Page in Montana’s History (Stevensville, Mont.: Stoneydale Press Pub. Co., 2002), 26–27; Stevensville Historical Society, The Bitterroot Valley, A Traveler’s Guide (Missoula, Mont.: Montana NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior Put Here National Park Service Name of Property Lewis and Clark County, MT County and State National Register of Historic Places African-American Heritage Places Continuation Sheet in Helena, MT Name of multiple listing (if applicable) Section number E Page 4 Entrenched it was. An 1821 merger with the North West Company had given Hudson’s Bay control of the many posts its former competitor