Butte Historical Memorials Inc

Members of Butte Historical Memorials decorated the sculpture portraying "The Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" for the holiday season. Stop by and take a closer look at this great sculpture by Jim Dolan Art . We will hold the 131st commemoration of this tragic event on January 15th 2026, information on the event will be posted closer to the date of event. Happy Holidays to all.

For the last ten years the members of Butte Historical Memorials board have been creating a beautiful memorial to the Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895. Today marked the end of this project. Our goal to have a headstone for each victim of the Explosion who is buried in Butte has been completed. We purchased 38 headstones, 9 for St. Patrick's and 29 for Mount Moriah. There were 20 victims who had no headstone at all and the other 18 headstone were for victim headstones without a notation they had perished from the Explosion or the existing headstone was illegible.

We have completed a lasting memorial in Butte beyond our wildest dreams. Thank you Martha Ueland Cooney Simonich for the drawing of the dream, sculptor Jim Dolan for the artistic interpretation in sculpture, the community, the families of the victims and of course the Board of BHM. It took people of many talents, the support of our community, and the victims families for us to reach our goal and we are very thankful to everyone including our dedicated and hard working board.

We will continue to post about the" Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895" and hold an annual commemoration, we are NOTwalking away.The ancestors of victims of the 1895 explosion are very important to us and we will continue to keep them informed as we will the history loving public.When we originally started this non-profit we chose the name "Butte Historical Memorials" because we anticipated in the future there would be other pieces of Butte's history we want to support or bring back into the public's eye.

We felt a fitting end to the headstone completion was a toast to our board, the victims and their families and everyone who supported us; was to have a celebratory toast at the Mass Rock at St Patrick's. It was cold but our happy hearts filled us with warmth at the end of this successful project.

Today is the 4th anniversary of the day we moved the sculpture pieces from our display at Northwestern Energy to storage at Fire Station #1 in preparation for installation on August 3, 2021.

On August 03, 2032 the granite sculpture base was put in place at Fire Station #1 and the Callbox and Pole were mounted on the base. Equipment and labor donated by Buddy Fisher.

Judy Chadwick

Butte Historical Memorial sends their condolences to Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department in the deaths of their fellow firefighters from Coeur d'Alene Washington, may their souls rest in peace knowing they answered the call and gave all. RIP

On June 23, 2023, the Story Stone was installed at the sculpture site by Paul Tash of Tash Communications. A picture of the disaster , which was supplied by BSB Archives, and a brief story of the disaster is on the sign . We wanted to incorporate local granite as a base, so Tash Communications had a metal frame made to hold the sign and it is placed directly above the local granite pedestal, thus we have a Story Stone .

Six years ago on June 9, 2019, we held the “Ground Breaking” for the memorial sculpture honoring the lives lost in the “Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895” at Fire Station # One on the corner of Mercury and Idaho streets. The “Ground Breakers” were… Gus Chambers; the director of PBS documentary “The Hidden Fire”, Ella Wanamaker; the President of the BHS Montana History Club, Jim McCarthy; the Chairman of the BHM Board, Martha U. Cooney Simonich; the artist who gave us the rendering the sculpture was inspired by, Jeff Miller; the Director of Fire Services, Jim Dolan; our sculptor, Sue Ueland; a family member of victim Edwin “Two Bear” Robbins, and Dave Palmer; BSB Chief Executive.

This was a very exciting day for the board of BHM, in three years from the point we received our 501{c3) , we had raised funds to start the sculpture. Our dream was becoming a reality.

As of today, June 9, 2025, the sculpture is now totally completed, the landscaping is done, signage and memorial stones have been set, and it is illuminated at night. We hope you will be able to stop by the site and learn about the “Butte Warehouse Explosion of 1895”.