HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1920s tinsmith's building with a Prohibition-era brothel above, now a Butte paranormal tour stop
108 S Arizona Street, Butte, MT 59701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Visited as part of a paid Historic Butte Haunts tour; see the operator's site for pricing and schedule.
Access
Limited Access
Two-story masonry commercial building with an upper floor reached by interior stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1920 · Butte National Historic Landmark District · Prohibition-Era Butte · Canonica Tinsmith Family · Uptown Butte Commercial Building
Antone Canonica, a Swiss-born tinsmith, opened his first Butte tin shop in 1898 and built this Uptown building in stages: the ground floor in 1915 and the second story by 1920. He named the building for his wife, Myra, whose name was set into an ornate nameplate on the facade. The Canonica family lived and worked in the building, and Antone ran his tin business there.
From 1926 to 1929, the Canonicas leased part of the upper story to Mary Owen. Prohibition-era enforcement had shut down the formal red-light districts, and the trade scattered into rooming houses and hotels; Owen's furnished rooms operated as a brothel under that cover. In 1927, Owen's husband died suddenly while in another Butte building, and officials investigated his death as possible bootleg-liquor poisoning.
The building survives in Butte's National Historic Landmark District and is interpreted today both as a piece of the city's tinsmithing and Prohibition history and as a stop on paranormal tours. Local historical writeups document the Canonica family, the Owen lease, and the building's later preservation.
Sources
The paranormal accounts at the Myra come mainly through the tour operator and Butte ghost roundups. Tour material describes the presence of Mary Owen, who ran the upstairs rooms in the late 1920s, along with a man identified on the tours as Lucian Pippen, called the 'Mad Greek' and described as a violent figure tied to the building's history.
Reported phenomena on the tours include shadow figures, the sound of children laughing, the smell of cigar smoke, and women's voices calling out a name. As with most tour-driven accounts, these reports come from guides and visitors rather than documented investigation, and the named figures are introduced as part of the tour's storytelling.
The documented record supports the building's history more firmly than its hauntings: the Canonica family, the Owen lease from 1926 to 1929, and the 1927 death of Owen's husband are recorded in local historical sources, while the spirit identifications belong to the tour narrative.
Notable Entities
The Myra Brothel and the Tony's Tin Shop building are visited as part of a Historic Butte Haunts tour covering several Uptown Butte sites. The tour combines the building's documented Prohibition-era history with the paranormal accounts associated with it.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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