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11/24/2025
City decision pending on historical barn’s fate
An effort to save the last-standing structure from the Anaconda Mining Company smelter in Black Eagle came before city commissioners last week. Some commissioners are skeptical of the effort’s chances.
A private committee, an offshoot of the city’s Historic Preservation Advisory Commission (HPAC), has raised $28,645 toward the security and stabilization of the barn, the only remaining structure from the once-sprawling Anaconda Mining Company smelter. Supporters hope to preserve the barn as a marker of that legacy.
The structure is severely unstable, and officials are uncertain whether it will withstand the winter.
“The city faces a choice now,” said Rich Ecke, an HPAC member and barn fundraiser. “Stabilize the barn using private donations and grants raised by volunteers or destroy the barn and possibly use tens of thousands of taxpayer money to level it.”
City commissioners at the meeting last week had concerns about the security of the site and the city’s liability if work continued on the ailing structure.
“At this point, I just think unfortunately the barn is toast,” Mayor Cory Reeves said.
Ecke said that the fundraising group would commit to paying for higher-quality fencing around the site — even if it wipes out the current fund reserve. The next goal would be to raise an estimated $175,000 to stabilize the structure and rebuild the roof, making it suitable for future restoration.
Commissioners Rick Tryon and Shannon Wilson supported transferring the site to a nonprofit that would manage the restoration.
“That might be a way to totally escape liability, if we do that now rather than waiting until later,” Tryon said.
City Manager Greg Doyon said that the plan could be complicated by the unique nature of this property. It was given to the city in the 1970s by ARCO, the successor to the Anaconda Company, along with the Anaconda Hills Golf Course. It’s also part of a larger superfund site, which could add layers to future development plans. Superfund is a designation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that spearheads the cleanup of legacy industrial pollution.
Commissioners asked Doyon to research potential deed restrictions and other factors related to the potential property transfer.
The other risk is that the barn collapses on its own due to decades of deterioration. City Parks Supervisor Kevin Vining estimated that the structure has, at best, 15% of its structural integrity. Ecke said his group is prepared to spend money to fence the property, despite the risk of collapse.
The ultimate goal is for the site to be restored and made into an interpretive and event center. City Commissioner Joe McKenney, who frequently attends HPAC meetings as a representative of the commission, said that he wanted the city to find a way to support this restoration.
“I’m with you,” McKenney said. “Let’s save it. Let’s find a way to do it.”
McKenney joined the fundraising group in urging the city to memorialize the historical significance of that north Missouri River slope. The site was home to multiple smelter and refining operations and was a major industrial site, linked for decades to the Anaconda Mining Company’s southwestern Montana operations.
The barn that stands today predates the Anaconda Mining Company’s presence in Great Falls and was built in 1901 by the Boston and Montana Copper and Silver Mining Company. The barn housed horses and mules, which were the primary means of transportation before the advent of cars and trucks. The Anaconda Company acquired Boston and Montana in 1910.
The 1982 demolition of the landmark smelter stack in Great Falls struck a blow to that historical legacy for many in the area. There are various stone and wood structures visible in the hillside, but there are few indicators of the industrial site that once covered the area.
“And all we have left is that barn,” McKenney said.
After city staff explore additional options, the city commission may get another briefing at its next work session on Dec. 2.
County’s emergency notification system fails prior to test
Cascade County has cancelled a contract with an emergency notification system provider after the tech platform went down prior to a test. In a press release and letter to the platform company, Sheriff Jesse Slaughter expressed frustration at the lack of communication from the provider.
The emergency notification platform CodeRED is part of a system called OnSolve, which is run by Crisis24. That company is a subsidiary of the large security corporation GardaWorld. Cascade County abandoned a scheduled public test of the system Nov. 12 amid a system outage.
“It should go without saying that the fact that OnSolve, LLC took no steps whatsoever to notify Cascade County of the CodeRED System suspension prior to such suspension is deeply troubling,” Slaughter wrote to the company on Nov. 13.
The county had been using CodeRed for a decade with few issues, according to Slaughter. In October, Cascade County commissioners approved a three-year contract renewal for $30,334. Slaughter said he wanted to run a public test of the system and encourage residents to opt into notifications.
In the days leading up to the test, Slaughter said that his office learned residents were having issues logging onto CodeRED. By Nov. 10, the Great Falls Police Department found issues with the system and the county learned that it was offline. It wasn’t until Nov. 11 that the company announced the issue.
On Friday, Slaughter told MTFP that they still hadn’t learned what caused the platform outage.
“They still never explained why,” he said.
In an emailed statement to MTFP, the Crisis24 communications department said that it had a “security event involving unauthorized access” to the CodeRED platform. Access will “remain suspended for an extended period of time,” the representative said. The company said it has no indication that customer data or personal information was compromised.
Slaughter said that the county is reviewing other vendors for a replacement program.
“We’ll get a new one up and running, and when we do, we’ll run a test,” he said.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
Area law enforcement officials reminded residents not to leave guns in unlocked vehicles amid a “serious uptick” of juvenile gun violence. In a recent announcement posted to Facebook, Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, County Attorney Josh Racki and Great Falls Police Chief Jeff Newton linked the theft of firearms from vehicles to violent crimes in Great Falls and elsewhere in Montana. “Please, please secure your firearms. Don’t leave them in unlocked vehicles. Take them inside with you at night,” Newton said in the announcement.
The Great Falls City Commission approved a new process for geological reviews prior to construction that’s aimed at easing the reviews for certain properties. In the past, the city required all construction projects to have a thorough geotechnical review in response to lawsuits and issues with failing foundations built on unstable Great Falls soils. The wait times for these reviews were sometimes nine months. The new ordinance introduces a less intensive review for smaller projects that meet certain criteria and have demonstrated histories of more stable soil conditions. The new ordinance can be found in the city commission meeting materials. Read prior coverage of the ordinance here.
Developer TAC Data Centers has dropped its bid to build a massive data center on Great Falls’ east end. Great Falls Development Authority President Brett Doney confirmed the news to MTFP and said that, while the update is disappointing, the organization has other leads in the works. The TAC proposal made a splashy introduction in the spring but would have required major upgrades in electricity infrastructure to reach fruition. Multiple data center developers are courting NorthWestern Energy, the utility that will play a big role in the future of these energy-intensive facilities. The Great Falls proposal was in line behind other large proposals elsewhere in the state, and the Montana Public Service Commission is reviewing the plans and potential impacts to electricity ratepayers. Read more about where those proposals stand here.
Great Falls Public Schools Foundation Executive Director Stephanie Becker will resign in March, according to a press release. Becker has led the organization for five years but said in a statement that it’s time to transition out. “I am confident that the future holds great things for this organization and the students and teachers of Great Falls Public Schools,” she said.
The Great Falls Public Library has acquired a “Charlie Cart,” a mobile teaching kitchen. The cart will bring additional food education programming to library patrons, including cultural cuisine experiences and culinary complements to the occasional Armchair Traveler presentation series. The cart was possible through a donation from the Great Falls Public Library Foundation, and Great Falls is the fourth Montana location to use the cart. The Charlie Cart organization’s website is here.
Dept. of Corrections
The Nov. 17 edition of Great Falls This Week was revised to clarify that the Great Falls Public Library Foundation, not the library itself, is fundraising for the future remodeling project.
