05/01/2026
May is National Historic Preservation Month, a time to celebrate what has been saved, support those sites being saved, and reflect on the sites and places we have lost. This month is the catalyst of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and this year's theme is All People Are Created Equal.
I have been celebrating this event in Havre since 1999, so this year marks the 27th year of celebrating this special cause in Havre. Back then, it was National Historic Preservation Week, and I announced the first Havre Historic Preservation Awards, now the Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Award, which I still offer and present.
For the past several years, I have used this month to share old photographs and/or artifacts with you, and this tradition will continue! This is fun, and the best part is you, sharing your memories!
From May 1 to 15, I will feature pictures of buildings and sites that are still with us. From May 16 to 30, I will share those that have been lost to time. On May 31, I will share a special historic place that my hard work is going towards restoring.
So, in celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, here is the first picture. There is no place in Havre and Hill County to exercise the one activity that makes us all equal-your right to vote. If you are registered, you have the right to vote, and all those ballots get counted here in the Hill County Courthouse.
The Hill County Courthouse's existence is rife with controversy. Hill County was created on February 28, 1912 by the vote of registered men. (Women didn't have the right to vote then.) There were many who felt that having county offices scattered around town paying rent to private owners was just fine. However, there were others that felt we needed to progress, and a vote for a courthouse was put on the ballot in 1913. It failed 628 against with 531 for, a difference of 97 votes. The following year, on November 3, 1914, the effort for a courthouse and jail passed 1038 for and 1027 against, a difference of 11 votes.
Now, where to put it? Many wanted it put near where the High School was then located, in the area of Third and Fourth Avenues and the Seventh and Eighth Street area. At the time, there weren't many homes in that location, but development was ambitious. St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church sold their location between Third and Fourth Avenues, facing Fourth Street, to Hill County and built their new complex on an entire block, two blocks away. This made Joseph Gussenhoven, one of Havre's founding fathers and biggest businessmen, furious. He was Catholic and was none too happy with the Commissioners. So much so, he created his own newspaper to criticize the Commissioners freely, because the other three newspapers in Havre were not.
Mr. Gussenhoven didn't get his way, and construction started in 1915. By February 1916, offices were occupying the new courthouse, which was lauded by the local newspapers as being "well-appointed" and that "the people of Hill County can take just and pardonable pride in that structure."
There is a lot more history behind the Hill County Courthouse, and I'm working on a video of this magnificent structure. It's one of my favorites, and although I'm not a fan of the interior changes, I still take a "just and pardonable pride" in this Beaux Arts style courthouse!
