Helena is the capitol city of Montana, albeit rather small with less than 40,000 residents. It was founded in 1864 as a gold camp during the Montana Gold Rush, the gold making the city wealthy. It’s estimated that 50 millionaires lived in Helena by 1888 (back in the days when being a millionaire meant REAL wealth).
The influx of mining money created a boom of fine (even elegant) Victorian homes, most of which still exist. Even when the gold had played out, Helena did well as it had become established as the financial and political center of the area.
Helena has 37 individual properties inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area west of downtown, near the base of Mount Helena, is one of the best areas in which to see such homes and was where we wandered around to take a look.
Like the personalities of the individual owners — politicians, businessmen, etc. — the appearance of the homes is quite variable. The yards are spacious and green, and the streets lined by huge trees. I’m sure there’s many more homes besides these that are noteworthy, but this is some of what we saw during our visit:
(love the fine details of this home!)
(post on which to tie up your horse)
(Lovely outdoor sitting area beside the above home)
