Celebrating Butte’s Past, Present, and Future Women on International Women’s Day

In Butte, we are incredibly honored to celebrate and salute the women that make our community the vibrant place we call home.  From Butte’s early history, women were revered as some of the most powerful business proprietors in town. There are some very interesting and fun stories locals share about these ventures, such as one about entrepreneurial women who capitalized on the distillation of spirits through the prohibition era, but we would encourage you to ask our local distillery mainstay, Headframe Spirits, on how these stories “shaped” some of their storytelling.  Often, the mine’s tragic disasters left widowed women in Butte and neighboring communities, such as Anaconda, to caretake for their family alone and came together to build business ventures, housing camps, or safety networks.

Photograph by C. Owen Smithers

Other historical women of Butte have left their impression as a reminder to honor women everywhere, especially mothers, which now symbolically overlooks all of Butte from atop the Continental Divide and is known as the Lady of the Rockies.  One notable historical woman from Montana was a supporter of Butte and its women and became the first woman elected to Congress. Jeanette Rankin, fought for miners’ rights in Butte, as well as maternity and infant care, and woman suffrage.

Photo by Wikipedia

Today, we recognize the women who have historically and today work tirelessly from home to business and everywhere in between in being our leaders, supporters, and pioneers for our next generations.  Happy International Women’s Day!