(Rank's Drug - Old Masonic Temple)
Paris Pfouts, Vigilante president and Virginia City's first mayor, was instrumental in laying out the town. He and his partner, Samuel Russell, built a log store on this site in summer, 1863. Local hell-raiser Jack Slade was arrested here on March 10, 1864 and, in an execution controversial even among the Vigilantes, hanged on the corral gatepost behind the building in 1865. Lime was not yet available for mortar, so the stone walls were secured with adobe mud. A loyal Mason, Pfouts gave the second floor to the Masonic Lodge. There, the Grand Lodge of Montana A.F. & A.M. was founded on January 24, 1866. W.W. Morris moved his drug store, established in the Hangman's Building in 1864, to this location circa 1877. C.W. Rank bought the business in 1889. He and his wife ran it until 1946. Now housing the oldest continuously-operated business in Montana, the building has been little altered since the 1860s.This property contributes to the Virginia City Historic District · Listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior · In cooperation with the Montana Historical Society| HM Number | HMXE0 |
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| Tags | |
| Placed By | Montana Historical Society |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Monday, September 15th, 2014 at 9:25am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 12T E 425815 N 5015992 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 45.29351667, -111.94608333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 45° 17.611', W 111° 56.765' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 45° 17' 36.66" N, 111° 56' 45.90" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 406 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 207 Wallace St, Virginia City MT 59755, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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