Summer 1966? Anyone know a closer date? I'm writing a column on the building.

You should check with the person who does the Stardust column in the Miles City paper as she seems to have a good feel for dates.

Thats pretty funny Jack.

I went from May 1 to August 31, 1966 and found the beginning of Medicare, the Texas Tower massacre, nasty news from Nam but no Wibaux fire. Looks like I need to check 1965.

All I could find in the Newspaper Archive was this excerpt from the Billings Gazette January 25, 1966:

Miles City Bank
Under construction at Miles City is this building for First Security Bank & Trust Co., scheduled for completion next June. The structure is at 7th and Main Streets, on a site formerly occupied by the Wibaux Bldg., which was destroyed by fire. Pederson Const. Co. of Billings is general contractor. Architects are Cushing, Terrell & Associated Architects of Billings.

That makes it sound like 1965! Back to the archives!

It could have been in 1964 or before. I remember going to watch the fire that evening but not the date. It was spectacular.

Amorette,
Do you have any photos of the Wibaux building?

My name isn't Amorette ; -) but here's a photo:

http://i221.photobucket.c...ilding.jpg

Thanks, Hal. I remember that building being SOOOOO big when I was little. And I remember watching the fire along with most of Miles City.

Well, I moved to Miles City in January 1964 as a HS sophomore and do not remember any building that looks like building pictured...and I have a pretty good visual memory. So possibly it burned in 1963?

Maybe you could contact the construction company or architect?

Yeah I remember watching the fire as a kid, but I don't even remember the time of year, let alone the year. I remember watching a couple grain elevator fires back in the day too - closest dates I could put on those would be "a long time ago." ; -)

It burned before I started grade school which was 1967. And I remember it burned on a Saturday evening, Monsignor Hennesy was the mass celebrant the following morning and there were four or five Bonine kids at the time. So it should be 1964 - 66. I remember driving by the smoldering building on our way from church to the post office to grandma's house.

Did that clear it up?

My aunt and uncle lived there, although they were out of town when the fire hit. I was staying with another aunt & uncle in SD at the time and was woken up early that morning and told I had to leave for Miles City because the building had burned to the ground. All I remember was being in junior high, or had just started high school.

Shortly afterwards the Miles City Bank moved to that location in a new building and changed their name to First Security Bank, which marked the beginning of its growth in Miles City.

What all was in the Wibaux building?

I thought 1st National Bank was the bank that went in there. Try 1962 for the fire?

1st National was north of the Bison.

>>What all was in the Wibaux building?

I have it in my head that the Miles City Club was in the Wibaux Building, at least at one time. Anyone know for sure?

The Wibaux Building has been discussed here before:

http://www.milescity.com/...?fpid=5386

When I googled Miles City fire in books, a listing for "Montana and the Sky: The Beginning" came up.
The book excerpt stated that the Miles City Club was destroyed by fire June 1964.

The Wibaux started out as the home of the State National Bank and just about every fraternal organization in town. Bunch of offices, too. When it burned, there were apartments, retail businesses and the Miles City Club.

Cindy--I thought it was 1964 but wasn't sure! Thanks for the confirmation! Now I can finish the column and send it to the Star.

The Miles City Club minutes show that the club rooms at the Wibaux Building were destroyed by fire on June 8, 1964. They were able to save most of the Club contents, including the original Huffman photos and the personalized photograph of Teddy Rossevelt. That photo still hangs in the Club and there are signs of water damage on it from the fire.

Thank you, Jerry. Tom Clarke suggested I call you in the first place. I should have!

I've added a page to my personal wiki about Miles City history for the Wibaux Building. I've stolen liberally from this and other threads. Get over it.

Lots of conflicting details. EG, it was a Monday night.

The Gazette photo shows Della's as one occupant, can't read the other.

Hoping this stirs up some new rememberances/details. Anyone know when First Security became the Stockman Bank?

http://www.birchy.com/his...x_Building

According to Stockman Bank's website:

• 1997 Stockman Bank of Montana was adopted as the common name for all banking locations and Stockman Financial Corporation was adopted as the holding company name.

stockmanbank.com: About Stockman Bank

I'm not saying this is for sure when the Miles City branch changed its name from First Security Bank to Stockman Bank but it's a good guess.

Jim,
Really good job on the Wiki page! Enjoyed reading it and seeing the photos.

Thanks!

I've been working on Pierre Wibaux, his bank and most recently Judge Strevell and his son.

I'm hoping Amorette et al will peruse them and offer corrections/additions. Hal is winging his way to Hawaii, so he'll have to chime in later.

Some questions:
Any pics of Charles Nettleton Strevell?
Who was his bio father?
Exact birth date?
Best guess is that his mom never married his dad, or his dad was not the Z. N. Nettleton was also a Pontiac town founder with J. W. Strevell.
Anyone know what Helen Strevell died of?
Can anyone confirm that she died exactly 15 years to the day before her mom did?
How much was papa Strevell involved in "Miles & Strevell" hardware store?
Charley branched the store into Utah, but Jason had operated a hardware store almost the entire time he was in Pontiac. I'm guessing that papa was the money partner, Charles the operational partner.
Was Jason ever really a judge? I've seen no evidence yet. In fact, Geo. Miles was not a lawyer (AFAIK), but *he* is referred to as a Federal judge in at least 2 sources, I think.
I wonder how much of Jason Strevell's wealth was from livestock operations? I know those operations were 100 miles from MC. Anyone know which direction?
Any kids other than Helen and Charles?

If you haven't read about Charley N. Strevell's life, check it out. Especially the part about surveying Indian land at age 12 with no military escort.

http://www.birchy.com/his...._Strevell
http://www.birchy.com/his...n_Strevell
http://www.birchy.com/his...rre_Wibaux