We stopped in to Butte on our cross country drive and visited the mining museum after lunch in…read moretown. They offer military and other discounts on their entrance fee The gift shop area includes information on local, current mining operations as well as merch. This is an outdoor museum so dress for the weather. If you want to take the under ground tour be sure you are wearing closed toed shoes. (Crocs not included, I don't know why) They also have above ground tours. Part of the property is set up like a western town. Something that would grow up around a mine. Post office, apothecary, carpenter, blacksmith, etc, etc. All these buildings are set up with window displays but most are not open to the public. You just peer thru the windows. There is a memorial garden to miners. A mine yard with pieces of heavy equipment. The motorized lift, miners locker room, light room, information and equipment used in dry and wet boring, 3D representations of mines and more with information posted on the displays. You can walk up into the mine head if you are so inclined to see how the ore chutes operated. We spent about two hours here without realizing it. Very interesting museum. Staff are very personable, answered questions and suggested reading material for more on the subject. Very good, family friendly stop.

It's a little on the pricey side but very informative. The mine tour is also impressive and Ken is…read moreknowledgeable and a great guide and makes it fun for the kids and adults

Make sure to take time to visit this awesome little museum that chronicles the Chinese in the area…read more Around the corner is the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the U.S.! The curator was friendly and of course knowledgeable.

I'm not really a fan of museums, since I find them a bit boring, as all you do for the most part is…read morejust walk around looking at artifacts and taking pictures. Big deal, you can just look up pictures online. But this museum is basically an artifact in itself. It's the site of an old Asian noodle parlor and general store from back in the early 1900s, and every effort has been made to preserve the original structure so as you're walking through it, you can really appreciate what it must have been like to be a customer back then. And of course as with any museum they do have artifacts on display, like old menus, plates, merchandise, etc, but when you see it in its original setting it's quite impressive. Plus the entry fee is only $8 so skip your latte at Starbucks for a day and visit this place instead!

Disappointed!! Well, it does have a great story behind them but it stops there. At $15.00 per…read moreperson, pretty pricey. While I agree that it's always best to keep an old historical building in its original condition, preservation. Is important. But, the new owners took control In 2018, and they still have so many rooms still being used for storage. Very disorganized. It smells horrible and the damp floors were soft and in some places, it felt like the floorboards were going to collapse from under me. I'm actually surprised, the City hasn't condemned it yet. Interestingly, it was the longest running Brothel in the US.... 1890-1982 !! The downstairs area, as told, has been kept original, including booze bottles, curtains & cigarette butts. Rugs, wet walls & I'm sure the bedding is what is smelling. But.....by being on the Historical Records, it should not allow the extensive condition of this place. I don't know.., but, there has to be Reconstruction Grants available. I wouldn't pay that price for this condition of a museum. Very sad.

One of my favorite museums to visit in Montana, the Dumas Brothel is currently the longest running…read morebrothel in the U.S., and it has a unique history that speaks to Butte's history and the history of women's labor. Our guide, who owns the building with her husband, was friendly and super knowledgeable about history, the women who worked at the brothel, the brothel's founders, and the building's architecture. We learned that the brothel is built in the Victorian style, and it was constructed specifically to be a brothel. Many of the rooms contain relics from the past that you can check out, including clothing, makeup, bedding, furniture, and more. I know the owners are still working on restoring the place and it's looking great. My favorite part was either the upstairs, where you could see red lights and the Madame's room, or the basement, which was a bit harrowing and slightly haunted, in my humble opinion. It was really interesting to think about the circumstances surrounding women's labor in Butte, and how this line of work could have both empowering and difficult elements. In terms of Butte museums, this was the one I enjoyed most.

If you enjoy house museums, then you should definitely take time to visit this house. The house has…read morelimited furniture, but it has a unique history and floor plan. The entrance fee is only $7 for adults.

They do a lot of community events and tours go towards historic preservation of the building and…read morepublic programs. Lots of information throughout the house and rotating gallery exhibits.

Hunter Thompson once said, in describing his infamous lawyer, "There he goes. One of God's own…read moreprototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." The same can be easily said of Butte. It's a mutant monster of a place that is too weird to continue living, and yet it's too rare and tough to die. After all, we're talking about a city that turned both a brothel and a toxic superfund site into tourist attractions, and St. Patrick's Day is treated as a major holiday. Like many cities of the west, Butte's origination was that of a gold-rush era mining camp in the early 1870's. But its wealth and fame came not from gold or silver, but copper, for which demand skyrocketed with the advent of electricity (as well as bullet manufacturing during WW I and II later on). Life in Butte was definitely good. Unfortunately, just like so many mining towns of the West, the good times were destined to end. In this case, the falling cost of copper, making importation from South America cheaper than mining and processing it here in the US. As the mining operations shut down, businesses and individuals packed up and left, with arson becoming the leading business in the area. Almost overnight, the city that was considered the Paris of the West became a tarnished empty shell of its former glory days. Many now call Butte "The Detroit of The West". These days, the population is under a third of what it once was, and continues to dwindle. No doubt about it, life has dropped trousers, squatted over the area, and let fly with a fresh steaming load of lemons, over and over and over. But leave it to the lifelong residents to prove to the world exactly how tough they really are. The mining is gone? Let's build a giant statue to bring in the tourists! The statue isn't bringing in as many tourists as before? Let's build a speed skating arena to train people for the Olympics! Man-made lake so toxic that it almost instantaneously killed more than three hundred Canadian geese that landed in it? Turn it into a tourist attraction! Water so filled with toxic minerals that it can be mined? Mine it! You get the idea. As much as people outside the area love to dump on and make fun of the community, there's no getting around the fact that Butte has contributed greatly to Montana and world history. After all, would there be extreme sports if Butte-native Evel Knievel had chosen to become a miner instead of a world-class daredevil? Would Dashel Hammet's novels had been has hard-boiled as they were if he didn't spend time as a Pinkerton Detective on The Richest Hill on Earth? These days, with most of the mining gone, Butte plays host to various conventions and festivals. The most famous of which, outside of St. Patrick's Day, are Evel Knievel days, which is a celebration of Butte's most famous son. There are hundreds of reasons one should visit Butte, far too many to list here. Instead, I recommend you, again to quote Thompson, "Buy the ticket and take the ride." Marvel at the rich history. As you take all the attractions in, remember this: you are standing in what is quickly becoming one of the most modern and largest 20th century ghost towns. Enjoy!

Butte, Montana: The fastest and most colorful way to learn about Butte is a Trolley Tour. In about…read moretwo hours, you'll see where the characters, famous folk, miners and scoundrels lived and worked. Plus, you'll hear how they made Butte the lively, urban center it was. Drivers are especially chosen because of their knowledge of Butte history and folklore, which is presented in an entertaining manner. Sightseeing tour includes: National Historic District, Charles W. Clark Chateau, Victorian neighborhoods, Copper King Mansion, Dumas Brothel Museum, Piccaddily Museum of Transportation, World Museum of Mining, Mai Wah, and our Lady of the Rockies. The only stop is the Berkeley Pit viewing stand.

Excellent resource for genealogy research. Began using them back around 2005, but hadn't been here…read morein a couple of years. The building is completely renovated in and out, and the staff is very friendly and willing to help in your research. Highly recommend stopping in for any historic research you need for Butte/Silver Bow County

Wow these folks have everything, they know their stuff, and everyone is so positive and helpful…read more They have sanitizing going on all the time (at least continuously for the hour I was there) and masks are required.

The Montana Folk Festival is one of the Northwest's Largest Free Outdoor Music Festivals…read more The Montana Folk Festival is held in Uptown Butte Montana, featured performances and demonstrations by over 200 of the nation's finest musicians, dancers, and craftspeople. It showcased multiple performances by more than 20 Artists/groups on six stages including a dance pavilion dedicated to participatory dancing, a family stage with performances appealing to children of all ages, and a Montana folk life stage. In addition to the performance stages, there are several themed festival areas: the Montana Folk life Area, the Family Area, two Festival Marketplaces and the Festival Food Courts. The festival site is situated in the heart of the nation's largest National Historic Landmark District in Butte, Montana. Open air and tented sites provide a variety of performance venues ranging from intimate stages to amphitheater-sized venues. The Original Stage, which offers a panoramic view of Butte's historic high rise buildings and the surrounding mountains, is located on the site of the historic Original Mine Yard, with its dramatic headframe that is a remnant of Butte's early days as an underground copper mining center. The next scheduled date of the festival is: 07/10-12/20.