Historical records on this building are incomplete, but it is believed to have always housed an alcohol-related business. From 1915 to 1919, it was home to the Kalispell Malting and Brewing Co. For most of the time since then, it has been known as the Palace Bar, a typical small-town Western watering hole. According to local lore, the building featured a brothel on the top floor in its early days, but that era passed, and it later had a succession of respectable owners, including a one-time member of the Whitefish City Council and an attorney who became a district judge and later a federal magistrate. Although never pretentious, it featured a beautiful old wood backbar said to have traveled up the Missouri River by steamer to Fort Benton, then overland by wagon to Flathead Lake and up the lake to old Demersville, the Flathead Valley's original settlement. In more recent times, it became known for games of skill and chance, especially mouse races in which live mice were auctioned to patrons and sent along 1-inch ropes on an 8-foot course, with the winning mouse and owner placed in a winner's circle and photographed together. Not much changed in nearly a century, it remains a spot for local residents and tourists alike.