Belton
Seeing the chalet’s splendor and popularity it’s hard to imagine it nearly vanished once upon a time. The Great Northern Railway built the chalet the same year Glacier Park was formed, hoping to create an attractive lodge for visitors. It was the first of many chalets created in the park, modeled after the Swiss sites. The railroad sold the site after World War II. A series of owners juggled the site over a 50-year period, operating the bar and lodge sporadically while deferred maintenance piled up. Eventually the historic site lost its luster and began falling apart. In the 1970s, the state’s highway department nearly bulldozed the chalet and its lodge to reroute U.S. Highway 2, but the site’s owners, the Luding family, successfully had the building placed on the National Historic Register. Instead, the train depot was moved to its current location and the highway was paved between the train tracks and the chalet.
For 40 years, the lodge sat closed while the chalet operated intermittently. Overgrown trees and brush nearly swallowed the site into a garden.
And then Cas Still and Andy Baxter drove past. The Yellow Bay residents had restored historic buildings in the past and were eager for a new challenge. They discovered the Belton and purchased the site in 1997. Within a couple years, the property was revitalized and restored.
For railroad travelers in the first half of the 20th century, West Glacier was THE west gateway into Glacier National Park. The Great Northern Railway developed both the classic Rustic-styled passenger station and the adjacent Arts and Crafts/Chalet styled Belton Chalet Hotel in 1909-1910, a year before Congress created Glacier National Park.
For 40 years, the lodge sat closed while the chalet operated intermittently. Overgrown trees and brush nearly swallowed the site into a garden.
And then Cas Still and Andy Baxter drove past. The Yellow Bay residents had restored historic buildings in the past and were eager for a new challenge. They discovered the Belton and purchased the site in 1997. Within a couple years, the property was revitalized and restored.
For railroad travelers in the first half of the 20th century, West Glacier was THE west gateway into Glacier National Park. The Great Northern Railway developed both the classic Rustic-styled passenger station and the adjacent Arts and Crafts/Chalet styled Belton Chalet Hotel in 1909-1910, a year before Congress created Glacier National Park.