Reeder's Alley

Pennsylvania brick mason Louis Reeder came to Helena in 1867 to practice his trade and invested in real estate, including lots along the steep hillside of West Cutler Street. Between 1875 and 1884 he constructed a series of apartments and bunkhouses that offered single miners a comfortable alternative to log cabin accommodations. Their simple masonry gave permanence and resistance to fire, a menace in the early community. The complex included about thirty-five housing units in stone and brick buildings, with an existing log cabin ingeniously incorporated into the largest structure. The area was already known as Reeder’s Alley when Reeder died after a fall in 1884. The miners moved on, but for years the tenants remained mostly single and male. In 1961, twenty-three pensioners lived there when the buildings were rescued from demolition and rehabilitation began. Today the narrow alleyway and closely spaced buildings against the slope of Mount Helena form the town’s most complete remaining block from the territorial period.

South Hills, Montana · United States