Est. 1888 · Gilded Age Mansion · Copper Boom Era · William A. Clark · National Register of Historic Places
Construction on the Clark mansion began in 1884 and was completed in 1888 under the direction of architect D.T. McDevitt, with woodwork by Chicago firm W.F. Beall & Co. William A. Clark had built one of Montana's largest mining and smelting fortunes and was on the path to becoming a U.S. Senator from the new state of Montana. Materials for the home were imported from Europe and the eastern United States at a reported cost of roughly $260,000 in period dollars, an exceptional sum for residential construction in 1880s Butte.
The completed house contained 34 rooms across four floors, with hand-painted frescoed ceilings, imported parquet floors, stained glass windows, and Clark's preferred Victorian interior craftsmanship throughout. The third-floor ballroom remains essentially intact. Clark built the house as his Butte residence.
The mansion was purchased in 1953 by the grandmother of the current owner. The owner lives in the home today and the family operates it both as a year-round bed and breakfast and a guided-tour destination during the May through September peak season. Tours run at 10am, 12:30pm, 2pm, and 3:30pm during the open season; off-season tours are by appointment. The Copper King Mansion is one of the most intact Gilded Age industrial-baron homes in the Mountain West.
Sources
- https://thecopperkingmansion.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_King_Mansion
- https://visitbutte.com/attraction/copper-king-mansion/
- https://www.kbzk.com/news/local-news/family-preserves-buttes-historic-copper-king-mansion-while-offering-summer-tours-to-locals-and-visitors
- https://wbckfm.com/copper-king-mansion/
Phantom footstepsDoors opening/closingCold spotsApparitions
Copper King Mansion's paranormal reputation rests on visitor and overnight-guest accounts rather than on heavily promoted programming. Reported phenomena reach back decades and include footsteps in the upper hallways after the house has settled for the night, doors opening between the principal bedrooms on the second floor, the rustle of period clothing in the third-floor ballroom, and the impression of company in a room moments after entering alone.
The owning family, who occupy the home as a fourth-generation private residence and run the B&B, do not market the mansion primarily as haunted. Wikipedia's haunted-locations list and several Butte historical-tour itineraries reference the home's reputation, but the operating philosophy emphasizes intact Gilded Age architecture and the Clark family's social and political history over paranormal claims.
The broader city of Butte carries an unusually deep mining-era ghost tradition rooted in fatal mine accidents, the 1917 Speculator Mine fire (which killed 168 men), and the labor violence of the Western Federation of Miners era. The mansion sits within this denser cultural context.
