The Manlove Homestead

During the summer of 1864, a wagon train from Iowa bound for the Oregon country stopped near this site to rest and repair a wagon before crossing the Rocky Mountains. Among the pioneers were Jonathan and Elmira Manlove and their two small children, who liked the Prickly Pear Valley and decided to remain and make it their home. Their first dwelling was a log house originally built about one-half mile northwest of this site. Part of the East Helena Townsite was once their potato field and pasture, still called the Manlove Grove. They never left the Prickly Pear area and became the first permanent settlers in what is now Lewis and Clark County. The house is regarded as the county's oldest structure. Five more children were born to the Manloves, and one son, Wilber, was a barber who operated a shop on Main Street in East Helena until past 90 years of age.

East Helena, Montana · United States