Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 59 Monticello, no longer extant) as a porter. When the hotel went bankrupt, W.A. Brown, the receiver, took over, making Anderson manager. e following summer he became night clerk at the Broadwater Hotel. In June 1893, Anderson went to the newly minted Montana Club as bar- tender for what he recalls as being "a very exclusive club of men." Anderson apparently found his forte for he stayed on until 1953, when he retired as one of the "Queen City of the Rockies'" most recognizable characters. At that time, the Montana Club soared above the cityscape; before long blocks of five-story buildings pushed up in the fledgling capital (statehood was granted a few years earlier in 1889). Initial members included selected (all-male) individuals in mining, farming, timber, law, banking, transportation, and wholesale goods. According to club reports, "Fifty constituents became nearly 300 members within six years." An arson fire decimated the Montana Club in April 1913. e blaze, unintentionally set by Anderson's 14-year-old son, Harry, started on the sixth floor but extended swiftly. Insurance didn't even cover the full $150,000 damage; however, club members quickly gathered enough money to build a new clubhouse shortly after the fire. Minnesota-born architect Cass Gilbert, who became known as "father of the skyscraper" and also designed the Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia Capitols, went to work on the restructured design. Despite the fact that his own son caused the incident, Anderson smilingly persevered, continuing to shake well, strain, drop the cherries in, and serve. In 1918, Helena was purportedly home to "at least 65 sa- loons," according to one newspaper account. One of the city's fanciest drinking establishments, the Rathskeller, or basement beer hall, offered an elevated level of coziness, which included expensive reproduction leather, lavish coats of arms symbols and floor-to-ceiling paneling fashioned from Washington fir. Prohibition in Montana went into effect at the end of 1918, which was two years before national prohibition, and during this period Montana Club members kept their own cabinets of clandestine liquor down in the cellar bar. Anderson held the key to their stashes and would fix drinks for patrons using their personal reserves. (e Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on December 5, 1933, repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ended national Prohibition.) During his tenure, Anderson garnered local fame as the master of mixes. Even though he was an adept drink technician— concocting everything from champagne punch bowls for a party of fifty, to unique Montana Club martini cocktails—he often said that he "never" took a drink himself. "e proudest moment in my life was the time I served Teddy Roo- sevelt," Anderson told a local newspaper in 1950. "He was President then (serving between 1901 and 1909) and about the biggest man in the world. Everyone respected him and his word was generally law, but he was kind and pleasant to me." He even said that he heard Teddy say "dee- lighted" in person. President Roosevelt was but one of the many prominent figures served by Anderson at the Club. Humorist Mark Twain, actor Otis Skinner, artist Charlie Russell, and politician William Jennings Bryan were also served with one of Anderson's recipes. Other notables were foreign princes and domestic copper kings, including Prince Albert of Belgium, Prince Olaf of Norway, W.A. Clark, F. Augustus Hinze, and Marcus Daly. Anderson's residence on 613 E. Broadway served as a constant hub for the city's small African-American community for decades. First platted in 1887, Anderson purchased the property in 1913, though census records reveal that he had lived there even earlier. City directories list the Anderson family at 613 E. Broadway by 1910, and that year census takers cataloged the household. At the time it included Julian, age listed as 44 (which would again mean Julian was born after the Civil War and not in 1859 or 1860 as he later claimed), and working as a "steward" at the Montana Club, and his 41-year-old wife Margaret, whom he'd married in Helena in 1888. It also included their seven children, all of whom were born in Montana, ranging in ages from 21 to one-year-old. A JULIAN ANDERSON RECIPE FOR A MARTINI COCKTAIL: (Use a mixing glass) ½ glass of shaved ice 2 dashes of orange bitters 1 jigger Old Tom Gin ¼ jigger Italian Vermouth Stir with a spoon, strain it into a cocktail glass, squeeze a piece of lemon peel over the top and serve. Helena's prestigious Montana Club in the 1890s (above), and after the fire in 1913 (middle). MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (2) ª ª ª CONTINUED

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