Eagle's Store is a family business in

West Yellowstone, Montana West Yellowstone is a town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States, adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The population was 1,272 at the 2020 census. West Yellowstone is served by Yellowstone Airport. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropoli ...

, whose three-story

log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...

building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The original store was established in 1908 on the same site and was razed in 1927 to make room for the present building, constructed in Rustic architectural style. Two blocks from the west entrance to

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

, Eagle's Store is the oldest operating business in West Yellowstone, and is still run by the same family who founded it.

History

Eyeing the growing popularity of tourism to Yellowstone National Park, the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

constructed its Oregon Short Line segment to the West Gate of Yellowstone Park between 1905 and 1907. In 1907 Samuel Peter Eagle, a Yellowstone Park employee, requested a permit from the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

to lease commercial space next to the railroad's right of way. In June 1908 the Forest Service surveyed a six-block townsite on the western boundary of Yellowstone Park and issued business permits on one-acre (0.4 ha) plots. The first three business operators were Eagle and his partner, Alex Stuart, who built a general store; L. A. Murray, who opened the Yellowstone Hotel in 1909; and Charles Arnet, who opened the Yellowstone Store. While these and other ventures primarily serviced railway passengers in the early 20th century, the introduction of the automobile in 1916 brought many more visitors to Yellowstone Park and business flourished, turning West Yellowstone into a permanent town. In 1908 Stuart left the partnership to open his own business; he bought the lease to Arnet's store in 1910. Eagle's Store continued to be operated by Eagle and his descendants. When it first opened, Eagle's Store stocked "candies, tobaccos, Kodaks, postals, cigars, fishing rods and rented dusters". A white marble soda fountain manufactured by the Liquid Carbonic Company of Minnesota was added in 1910 at a cost of $1391.80., The local

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was located in Eagle's Store from 1909 to 1935, with Sam Eagle as the

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. Following the construction of its new building in 1930, the store began to offer a wider selection of merchandise and services. As of 2012, it sells sportswear, western wear, hiking and backpacking gear,

fishing tackle Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/ lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/ feeders, nets, stringers/ k ...

, Native American arts and crafts, and souvenirs. The newer building retained the

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

bar and soda fountain installed in 1910 and added a front bar and stools.

Design

The original Eagle's Store, built by Eagle and Stuart, was a by structure with a

false front False or falsehood may refer to: *False (logic), the negation of truth in classical logic * Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement *false (Unix), a Unix command * ''False'' (album), a 1992 album by Gorefest *M ...

. Eagle enlarged the store in 1913 and then had it razed in 1927 to build the three-story structure that stands today. The current structure, begun in 1927 and completed in 1930, was designed by

Bozeman Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

architect

Fred F. Willson Fred Fielding Willson (November 11, 1877 – August 13, 1956), most commonly known as Fred F. Willson, was an architect in Bozeman, Montana who designed many buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Early life ...

, who also designed the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

bottling plant that is part of the Bozeman Brewery Historic District. Willson donated his services to the project in order to promote the Western Rustic architectural style. The design was similar to that of

Old Faithful Inn The Old Faithful Inn is a hotel in the western United States with a view of the Old Faithful Geyser, located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The Inn has a multi-story log lobby, flanked by long frame wings containing guest rooms. In t ...

in Yellowstone Park, which utilizes

National Park Service rustic National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings ...

style, of which exposed logs are a key element. Willson set

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

logs measuring to long into a base of

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

Buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es were made of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

Family business

All 10 of the children of Sam Eagle (1881–1950) and his wife, Ida Christine Carlson (1883–1962), worked in the store as children, as have many other descendants and relatives. Now in its fourth generation of ownership. Many family members are avid skiers, including

Heather McPhie Heather McPhie (born May 28, 1984) is an American freestyle moguls skier. She competed for the US Olympic Team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. McPhie earned the Olympic team spot with a 2nd-place finish at the FIS World Cup event at ...

, a great-granddaughter of Sam and Ida, who competed in the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. The family has set up its own charitable foundation, which benefits people with disabilities, education, and youth programs.

References

Sources

External links