Open House at Broadwater County Museum
| Author: Nancy Marks, Reporter Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Open House at Broadwater County Museum Nancy Marks, Reporter Not enough can be said about Broadwater County History to the group of twenty-five who attended the open house Sunday at the Broadwater Museum. Most of them had family connections or loved county history.
At the open house, Curator Linda Huth chronicled a few early-day characters from the area over the years. She referenced county historians such as John Stoner and glimpses into Broadwater Bygones, the seminal history of the county written in 1977 by willing historians from Winston, Toston, Crow Creek, Radersburg, Townsend and Canyon Ferry and many areas in between.
The Outstanding Citizens and Colorful Characters is a series of presentations Linda does throughout the year. Included in this presentation were several people, the most interesting this reporter thought was “Chinee George,” the Chinese man who ran a restaurant in the gold mining town of Diamond City shortly after the camp’s hay day during the early 1870s. His real name was George Gowan. He is buried in the Centerville Cemetery near the former RY Timber mill.
Russell Harrison, the only son of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, was born in 1874. He came to Montana as a young man and married the daughter of Montana Governor Albert Saunders. He and Governor Benjamin F. Potts were business partners in Broadwater County. Today his name remains in our history books, according to Huth, as the Potts-Harrison Addition to Townsend, and probably for whom Harrison Avenue is named.
In 1877 Fanny Cory Cooney was born in Waukegan, Illinois. She came west to be with a brother who had followed the mining camps to Montana. Through her brother, she met Fred Cooney whom she married in the Canton Church, in Canton. She attended the Metropolitan School of Fine Art in New York City and became a graphic artist with illustrations in Harpers Bazar and Life Magazine. The Cooney ranch was on the north and east side of what is now Canyon Ferry Lake. She passed away in 1972.
Huth pointed out how close the connections with our past are in our county. “After my presentation, a person approached me to let me know she had original artwork done by Fanny Cory Cooney. Her family had known Cooney’s family,” Huth said.
Broadwater Historical Society members opened the county museum on July 4, 1976, in honor of the national bicentennial. The building, located behind the Court House, was built mostly with donations. The final payments, Curator Linda Huth said were made “on time” to construction contractor Frank Blasdell. Two additions have been made since then.
The museum is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily (except the 4th of July), including weekends, during the summer.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Open House attendees listen as Curator Linda Huth presented her Outstanding Citizens and Colorful Characters
Image 2 Caption: From left Terry Sullivan Love and Curator Linda Huth admire the hat collection of Terry’s mom Marie Sullivan.