thelocaldiner.com

The Montana Club, the oldest social club in the Northwest, was founded in the 1880s on the legendary site of Helena’s first gold discovery. In 1903 the bartender’s son burned down the clubhouse. So in 1905 the Club invited the great architect Cass Gilbert–whose credits include the Minnesota State Capitol, the Woolworth Building in New York (at the time the world’s tallest building), and the United States Supreme Court Building, as well as Montana’s Original Governor’s Mansion and a wing of the Old St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena–rebuilt the current Renaissance style clubhouse in 1905.Walk through entrance–tiled with true swastikas, which are eastern mystical symbols opposed to the backwards swastika used by the Nazis, but are offputting nonetheless–and down the stairs to the the Rathskeller. Yes, more German, but the Rathskeller dates to the middle ages and literally means “city-hall cellar,” a bar built below goverment buildings in old Germany. I imagine that when it opened many of Helena’s burghers clanked mugs at our Rathskeller, possibly sneaking in and out through Helena’s network of tunnels. (Interestingly, Cass Gilbert built a proper sort of Rathskeller in the basement of the Minnesota State Capitol. I don’t know whether they pour beer there in Minnesota, but we could sure use a bar here on Montana’s Capitol Hill. I’ve also read about a Rathskeller in Gilbert’s Woolworth Building. What was it with him and bars in basements?)

The Rathskeller no longer serves members regularly, but anyone can rent it out for a special occasion.Â? I’d say the chance to enjoy a drink down there with a few friends and Helena’s ghosts qualifies.