An Early Log Building

The small building known today as the Dress Shop appears to be an original log structure dating back to about 1863, during Virginia City's first gold-rush years. Over time, the rough log walls were covered with "board and batten" siding-wide vertical boards with narrow strips over the seams-possibly when a neighboring Chinese laundry was removed around 1880. Early owners included Jacob Simpson, S. L. Simpson, and Augustus Griffith, all blacksmiths by trade, but the building seems to have been used mainly as a residence for much of its life. The distinctive projecting bay window on the front dates from this earlier period and gives the tiny house a more stylish look than many simple frontier cabins.

The interior exhibit today is arranged as a nineteenth-century dress shop, representing a common occupation for women in small western towns. In the 1800s, very few families owned sewing machines before about 1890, so most women relied on local dressmakers or seamstresses to make or alter everyday clothing and special outfits. A blacksmith's wife or daughter could easily have turned part of this house into a small sewing business, taking in work from neighbors while still caring for children and cooking meals. The display helps students see that women's skilled labor was essential to community life, even if it did not always appear in official records.

From about 1870 to around 1900 and a bit beyond, the building was used as a saddlery-first by Julius Kramer and later by Frederick (Fred) Kramer. Saddlers made and repaired saddles, harnesses, and other leather gear that riders and teamsters needed to travel and haul goods in and out of the gulch. The Kramers probably used the front space as their workshop and sales area while keeping their living quarters in the rear rooms, a common pattern in small frontier buildings. This mix of work and home under one roof shows how closely business and family life were connected in early Virginia City.

When preservationist Charles (Charlie) Bovey first visited Virginia City in the 1940s, a carpenter named Fred Weingart was living in the little house now called the Dress Shop. Bovey needed new windows for another restoration project, and Weingart asked if he would also order a large picture window so he could replace the old bay window on his house. Worried that this unique historic feature would be lost, Bovey instead offered to trade Weingart a different house-one of the few in town with a bathroom-in exchange for the old building and nearby properties. Weingart later joked that he had gotten the better end of the deal, but Bovey replied that a trade is wonderful when both people feel they have gained, and the bay window was saved as part of Virginia City's history.

Today, the Dress Shop stands as one of many small historic buildings cared for by the Montana Heritage Commission in Virginia City. Preservation reports list the structure as the "Kramer Dress Shop" and note ongoing needs such as window and door repairs to keep weather out while protecting the historic fabric. Inside, the dress-shop exhibit uses period-style clothing, sewing tools, and furniture to help visitors imagine what everyday life and work were like for women and families more than a century ago. Together with nearby blacksmith shops, homes, and stores, this tiny building helps students see that history is not only about big events, but also about ordinary people's homes and workplaces.

Special acknowledgements go to John D. Ellingsen, John N. DeHaas, Tony Dalich, Ken Sievert, Tom Cook, and Ellen Baumler of the Montana Historical Society, whose research and interpretation have helped share the story of the Dress Shop with students and visitors.