They’ve teamed up with Montana Studios, which offer “full service production capabilities, including production space, basecamp, professional crew, and tax credit services” from their beautiful uptown location, to make Butte an even more irresistible place to shoot. And not just narrative films, but documentaries, television programs, and more. They do so in the knowledge that these productions mean more income, more jobs, and more recognition for the community. And maybe, just maybe, the world’s next global superstar, the next Charlie Chaplin maybe, will get another big hand up here in Butte, Montana. He or she could even get their start as an extra on 1923. Let’s just hope they can stay away from those exceptional “working girls” Chaplin was never able to forget, shall we?
II. Butte’s Uptown Renewal If you’ve never seen Butte, and especially Butte’s historic uptown area, then you’re probably not prepared for the shock—but let me warn you, for your benefit and for the benefit of those around you, it’s pretty. I’m telling you this so that, as you drive into town on the I-90, you don’t just run into the car in front of you or beside you. Because it’d be easy to forget to keep your eyes on the road, jaws agape, unable to tear your eyes away from Uptown—which sits, magisterial, at the crest of the hill overlooking the rest of the city. I know that whenever I return to the city after some prolonged absence I’ve got to keep my peepers focused on the dotted line of the road lest I go careening into the Berkeley Pit like a Hot Wheels car into a bathtub. Heck, even the Berkeley Pit is kind of pretty, if you ask me. Of course, that’s a big part of why productions like 1923 choose to film in Butte—uptown Butte has a look like no other, frozen in time, you might say. A friend of mine says it reminds him of steel mill cities back east due to the red brick and regal Victorian houses. But then Bethlehem, PA or Bangor, ME don’t have a view of the Rockies, do they? All of which is to say that if Uptown Butte gets any prettier, I won’t be able to stand it. I’ll be mooning up and down the streets, smooching everything. It looks like I’ll be puckering up soon, thanks to the Uptown Butte Master Plan, a joint effort between the Urban Revitalization Agency (URA) of Butte–Silver Bow and DHM Design, with help from grants from the Montana Department of Commerce. I spoke to Walker Christensen, a Principal with DHM Design, a firm that has done landscape, architecture, and design work for multiple National Parks including Glacier, cities such as Telluride and Calgary, National Monuments, and more. The side of the Hirbour Tower, a high-rise frame building, built in 1901, was one of the country’s first “skyscrapers,” and is shown in this concept rendering by DHM Design in the Uptown Butte Master Plan.
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First, I had to test him. “What do you think of Butte?” I asked. It was a leading question, perhaps, but essential nonetheless. “I think Butte is one of the most amazing places in the West and in the country. Butte’s history and people have stories that need to be told. I have been impressed by the passion and energy that the residents have for Butte’s history and future,” he told me. This was, of course, the right answer. Walker said that he recognizes that “the strength and draw of Uptown are these urban architectural elements in the rural Western backdrop. For the vitality and economic growth of Uptown these architectural elements must be preserved, promoted, restored, and occupied.” The Uptown Butte Master Plan, Walker says, intends to honor what makes Butte’s Uptown so singular and beautiful while also aiming to “transform Uptown into a place that ensures a high quality of life, maintains its authentic character, and has diverse economic vitality.” It’ll do so only after being sure to “document and prioritize the great ideas that the community has been thinking about—people who work, live, play and learn in Uptown—and synthesize that into the plan.” Many of those planned improvements are “supportive of improving the connection between Montana Tech and Uptown,” taking advantage of “nice existing sidewalks and key view corridor connections between the two landmarks” while adding “more pedestrian lighting, seasonal banners, flower pots, and painted bike lanes.” Christensen even notes the “potential for micromobility features such as scooter or ebike rentals.” While their architectural plans are still subject to many variables, they’ve made some concept renderings to illustrate the possibilities of Uptown. They’re handsome, and they enhance, rather than change, the essential character that it is so important to preserve. As far as I’m concerned, that settles it. They’d better put up a wall to enclose the interstate. Or else the folks pouring into Butte to see where 1923 was filmed won’t be able to peel their peepers away from the stunning, tastefully designed but still authentic, and most importantly, renewed, Uptown. And then, inevitably, their eyes will alight on the always lovely Montana Tech, and the tastefully maintained walking corridor that runs between them. Again, this seems dangerous to me, because they really ought to be keeping their eyes on the road, and off of the startling beautiful city on a hill. I questioned whether I should bring up my concerns with Christensen, but instead, I asked him another leading question. “How has it been working with us Buttians?” “I can’t express how great the people of Butte have been to work with!” Once again, he had the right answer. MNews Fall 2022
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