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 37 KALISPELL CONRAD MANSION The palatial estate built in 1895 by Kalispell's founding father is lovingly restored and staged. The dining room, with six place settings—in- cluding a highchair—looks like it may be receiving Charles and Lettie Conrad at any moment, escorting guests like Teddy Roosevelt to a fine Montana repast. The three-story man- sion is crammed with room after room full of historical artifacts, but one of the most curious displays is the dollhouse replica of the mansion itself. Carl Spoonheim, a Hamilton dollhouse maker, created the piece at ¾" scale, which was a nonstandard size requiring a ton of work. "I really lost a lot of money on that project," the craftsman said shortly before he died in 2014. The attention to detail, from the fixtures to the furniture to the wallpaper in each room, is just astonishing. You may find yourself gazing into the tiny rooms, expecting to see a miniature version of yourself looking at a dollhouse. Whoa. The Conrad Mansion, located at 330 Woodland Ave. in Kalispell, offers guided and self-guided tours from mid-May to mid-October. Admission and hours vary; find out more at conradmansion.com. DEER LODGE YESTERDAY'S PLAYTHINGS The Deer Lodge Museum Complex, between the state pris- on and I-90, is a massive, diverse collection of facilities from the old Montana Prison to the Frontier Museum. And then there's Yesterday's Playthings. It's a collection of toys, yes, but any sem- blance of normalcy ends there. For starters, it's housed in a brick building that was once the deputy warden's quarters for the pris- on across the street. A wisp of creepiness hangs in the air as you gaze upon the hundreds of vintage dolls, most donated by Harri- et Free, some nearly 200 years old. Smooth porcelain faces watch with shiny, lifeless eyes as you wander past them, checking out the toy fire tru—hey, did that doll just move? It's really a fun museum with many throwback toys like mod- el planes and trains, toy trucks, child-sized pedal vehicles, even an entire collection of Teddy bears. Yesterday's Playthings is usually open during the summer months. For information click on pcmaf.org. Among the vintage toys and other artifacts on the top floor of the Conrad Mansion in Ka- lispell, you'll find…the Conrad Mansion. This dollhouse replica of the historic mansion is amazing in its level of detail and accuracy. There are a ton of amazing displays at Glasgow's Valley County Pi- oneer Museum, including an entire western cherrywood bar, com- plete with a bullet hole purportedly put there by Buffalo Bill Cody. One curious item is this eight-legged lamb. Oddly, it was not faster than the other lambs. Not even a little. The Old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge was scary enough for the in- mates who called it home until it was decommissioned in 1979. Today it is open to tours, including a midnight Halloween tour that sells out every year. It's the heart of one of Montana's biggest museum com- plexes. CONRAD MANSION CASTLE MUSEUM HUNTLEY PROJECT MIRACLE OF AMERICA AMERICAN COMPUTER MUSEUM PICADILLY YESTERDAY'S PLAYTHINGS

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