Nevada City Montana

In Nevada City and Virginia City, shop, dine and sleep without leaving the atmosphere of the 1890s. You will find fascinating nuggets of history and memories to treasure. The restoration of these towns began decades ago, and the state of Montana recently purchased much of Virginia City and all of Nevada City so that the preservation can continue.

Nevada City's Music Hall was built as the ""Recreation Hall"" at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, about 1910. It was disassembled in 1959 and moved to this site. The Music Hall now contains perhaps the world's largest collection of band organs and music machines on public display, including possibly the biggest band organ in the world. This building houses the biggest collection of music machines in Montana. The 90-key, intricately carved Gaviolli military band organ is one of the ""Headliners"" in Nevada City Music Hall's collection of nickelodeons (the very first jukeboxes). Built in Paris, France, about 1895, the instrument is 27 feet wide, 12 feet high and four feet deep.

In the Music Hall, you'll also find the largest rifle in Montana and mutoscopes, which were the first form of movies before they were show in theaters. When a coin was put in the slot, customers looked inside and turned a crank to watch a little movie flip by. The enormous, elegant chandeliers that once hung here have returned to the restored Capitol building rotunda in Helena. The chandeliers placed back to the Capitol rotunda once the building's extensive renovation project is complete.

The Nevada City School perhaps the oldest standing public school building in Montana. The school was built in 1867 in Twin Bridges and used until 1873. In 1873 the Masons built a school with their lodge hall upstairs similar to the one in Bannack.

Virginia City/Nevada City was born with the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch in 1863. A boom town of the post-Civil War era, Virginia City served as the Montana Territorial Capital for 10 years, until the gold ran out. Just a mile away lies Nevada City, a western town created from a collection of buildings from other ghost towns. Both towns have been largely restored and preserved as they once stood living examples of the real Old West. The Montana Historical Society has certified 150 authentic buildings. Original buildings, dating from the Territorial days, are filled with merchandise and implements used when gold camps flourished in the West. Boardwalks, mechanical music machines, a penny arcade, antique automobiles and even a two-story outhouse add to the Old West atmosphere. The majestic Madison River Valley, just east of Nevada City, features some of the world's finest trout streams, as well as a beautiful mountain backdrop..

Nevada and Virginia Cities are located in southwestern Montana. These cities are a mile apart and are 72 miles southeast of Butte on MT Highway 287, 85 miles north of Yellowstone National Park.

Nevada City Accommodations Hotel/Motel (1) Nevada City Restaurants Family Restaurant (1)

All Nevada City Businesses Museum (1)

Cities near Nevada City Montana

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