Embers of the social city: business, consumption, and material culture in Virginia City, Montana, 1863-1945

Laura Joanne Arata

Virginia City, Montana, was established in 1863 following the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch. Although it had served as territorial capital of Montana from 1865 - 1875, it seemed destined to become a ghost town by 1880. From a boomtown nicknamed the Social City, the community's fortunes declined as placer mines played out. Bypassed by the railroad, the town remained isolated and was served by stagecoaches well into the 1920s. The businesses that remained operational through the hard times speak to the social fabric that gave Virginia City a sense of legitimacy through times when many felt it had no future. The Buford Mercantile Company (1878 - 1920s) and the McGovern Dry Goods Store (1908 - 1945) represent two of Virginia City's most recognizable businesses and frame the period stretching between the loss of the territorial capital and the town's discovery by Great Falls rancher and state politician Charles A. Bovey in 1944. In the midst of finding ways to survive changing and increasingly difficult times, Virginia City residents often came face to face with national events including entry into the two World Wars and the Influenza pandemic of 1918. Certain episodes in Virginia City history, including the China War of 1881, played an important but often poorly understood role in the town's memory. The Chinese were, like the Lemhi Shoshone Indians who frequently visited the town, often marginalized in the retelling of Virginia City history when the town gained new life as a tourist attraction--what many affectionately came to call a living ghost town. The basis of this study lies in primary source documents, including business ledgers, shipping receipts, advertisements, correspondence, and Virginia City structures. Manuscript collections at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana, contained valuable information. Magazines collected by store owners Hannah and Mary McGovern, as well as remaining inventory, were invaluable in reconstructing the history of the McGovern Dry Goods Store. Collections at the Thompson-Hickman County Library and McFarland Curatorial Center in Virginia City, Montana, provided additional clues. Virginia City newspapers, including the Montana Post and The Madisonian, helped to fill in gaps in the historical record.

Embers of the social city: business, consumption, and material culture in Virginia City, Montana, 1863-1945

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