'A community treasure': Montana Club seeks resurgence in downtown Helena

This article originally appeared in the Helena Independent Record on December 14 by Phil Drake."The iconic Montana Club in downtown Helena, which rose from the ashes after being destroyed by a fire in 1903 and sidestepped urban renewal in the 1970s, is once again seeking new life as it tries to become a much-desired destination for the public.

Vijay Dias, the club’s board president, told members of Hometown Helena last week that the Montana Club has hired an executive chef and is now open to the public, serving dinner Wednesday through Saturdays.

“We’ve got a top culinary chef, but it’s still a struggle and we are still working hard,” he said.

Dias said the club is having a $100-a-plate Winter Solstice Gala and Silent Auction on Dec. 21 as a fundraiser. The meal features huckleberry glaze ham l’orange with sweet potato puree, green bean almondine and charred lemon.

He said they also wanted to create an event that was “fun and formal where people get dressed up.”

The club is trying to reinvent itself, he said. The club has been open and closed sporadically since 2020, when COVID hit, forcing businesses to close, mostly due to staffing issues.

Prime rib is now served every weekend and the Montana Club is now open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to close. The menu is online at https://www.facebook.com/theoriginalmontanaclub.

Other fare includes drinks, a prime rib sandwich, charcuterie board, mushroom marsala, smoked chicken wings and a mixed green salad. On Saturday it offers a plated 14-ounce prime rib.

"We are really coming along, made a lot of headway with small plates or larger items," Dias said.

“We’ve been squeaking by and trying to gain traction,” Dias said, adding they want to bring Helena folks together and show they have an executive chef available. He said the club wants to do holiday parties and have some “'fun and formal events where people get dressed up.'"

In 2018, the Montana Club announced it would become a community cooperative and dissolve as a members-only social club. The club’s board of governors voted to convert from the membership-club model, meaning the cooperative formed on a subscription-share model with the dining room open to the general public.

The club said at the time in a news release that the decision came amid “dwindling membership and financial difficulty.”

Dias, who said he came to the club in late 2021, said he was drawn to the Montana Club by the fact it had been restructured into a co-op.

“I was drawn in by how club was progressing,” he said, adding that shareholders, of which there are now more than 400, have a voice.

The Montana Club stands as a landmark in downtown Helena.Charlene Porsild, the Montana History Foundation president and chief executive officer, told members of Hometown Helena the Montana Club was founded in 1885, when local businessmen came together as a club.

She said they did not want out-of-town business people to think of Helena as a mining camp.

“They wanted to show people we will be here for a long time,” she said.

A seven-story building was built in 1893 at 24 W. 6th Ave.

In 1903, Harry Anderson, the 14-year-old son of the club’s longtime bartender, started a fire on the sixth floor and the building burned to the ground, along with its valuable art collection. Members vowed to rebuild and the new building went up in 1905.

Cass Gilbert, who designed the U.S. Supreme Court building, Minnesota state Capitol, Metals Bank in Butte and the Woolworth building in New York City, was hired to design the new club, which cost $125,000.

It is honored as part of the historic district and there is a National Register Plaque on the building.

“Over the years members have included copper kings, millionaires, and politicians who hosted such notables as Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Perseverance and adaptability have seen the club through hard times and change. In 1915, women were first invited to the New Year’s Eve celebration, and gender segregation eventually became a thing of the past. Today, the Montana Club is one of Helena’s most commanding anchors, an ambassador from another era, where tradition endures in grand style,” the plaque reads in part.

Dias said club members have been putting a lot of work into getting the Montana Club operating in the right direction, getting the doors open, building staff and creating consistency.

He credits board member Charles Robison and chef Heather Hatwan for coming up with the idea of the fundraiser dinner.

The sixth floor of the club now serves as a meeting place on Thursday mornings for Hometown Helena, a grassroots citizens and civic group, which discusses issues of local interest.

Jordan Conley, operations director for Downtown Helena Inc., which promotes shopping, dining and entertainment in Helena’s downtown area, said they are aware of the Montana Club’s plans and pleased that it is open, planning events and serving food again.

She said they are in talks to have an event there in February.

“The building resonates with a lot of people downtown and resonates with the community,” Conley said.

She said it is a beautiful old building that has a unique ambiance that is not available elsewhere in Helena.

Dias said he wants to send a message to the community about the Montana Club.

He said the next phase involves fundraising events and consistent hours of accommodations for the public.

City Commissioner Emily Dean, who has served as a president of the Montana Club, said she is optimistic about its future.

“The Montana Club is near and dear to my heart,” she said, adding she worked there while attending Carroll College.

Dean said the club closed when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. She said it was able to reopen but had staff challenges and then concentrated on private events. She said it ramped back up last spring.

She said the last six months have shown the demand there and staff has been able to keep up with it.

“I am feeling so optimistic for the club,” she said, adding “The club always figures out a way to reinvent itself. And it is still here and that is really neat.”

“We all look for places where we can build a community and be with friends and family and the club will continue to be that for the community."

Dias also said he wants the club to be a gathering center for downtown, noting the revitalization of the area is amazing with businesses such as Big Dipper Ice Cream, Ten Mile Creek Brewing and The Hawthorn Bottle Shop and Tasting Room.

Dias said the Montana Club is a great symbol of resurgence in Helena.

"It’s a community treasure," he said.