History of the Courtney Hotel

The Original Town site Block 3 lots 1-4 at 135 S. Sansome Street in Philipsburg, Montana was owned by Alice Weinstein. Around 1914 the lots were bought by Humphrey and Maurice Courtney, with money they were earning from Manganese ore mined from their “Coyle Mine” and they began construction of the Courtney Hotel. Humphrey’s obituary states he lived in Philipsburg six years before the Hotel opened in 1919 under the ownership of the Courtney Bros. The building had the Philipsburg Garage with Gus Olson on the bottom floor on the west side and on the main floor was the Overland Auto Company who could drive their automobiles into the show room through the massive front doors, on the east (Sansome Street) side. The two upper floors were rooms that were rented out for the night, weeks or longer. 

The 1920 Federal Census had Michael, Patrick and Maurice Courtney and Edwin Harrington listed as Boarders. Humphrey married Agnes Catherine Lowney from Butte on April 29, 1925. She was teaching school in Butte according to the 1920 Census. Their son Humphrey J. was born in 1927 and Humphrey, Agnes and toddler Humphrey were living in North Philipsburg in the 1930 Census. The 1940 Census has Ida Fullerton, Patrick and Maurice Courtney as Boarders and Walter Kramer age 60 as an employee living there. The 1950 Census showed Wallace McPhetters, John Erickson, Fred Coward, and Gerald Sullivan (age 34) living there. Mr. Sullivan, the music teacher for both the grade school and high school, stayed there during the school year until he retired (at least 16 years later). 

Humphrey managed the hotel until he retired in 1957 and sold the hotel to Agnes and Humphrey J. Agnes was, at that time, a math teacher at Union High School in Seattle, Washington and Humphrey was a Priest teaching at Carroll College, in Helena. Jack and Gert Lorenz took over the management of the Building when Senior Humphrey retired. They remodeled and renamed the hotel “The Pintlar”. There was now a restaurant and lounge where the defunct auto company had been housed. The basement housed the massive furnace where the original garage was.. EBay, currently has a matchbook cover advertising Jack and Gert at the Pintlar Hotel for sale for $7.87. 

Rita Immenschuh, and her three children, took over the management when Jack and Gert moved to Alaska about 1963. She married Joe Metesh in 1965. Steve Immenschuh has memories of the following: removing many wheelbarrows full of dirt from the basement floor before reaching cement, Instead of having a snow day off from school, he and his brother Kevin had a “Coal Day” when the train brought a car of coal (Twenty-five tons) to be used every year in the furnace, By adding lodge pole to the coal it burned a hotter fire, Receiving “probation’ for not following the rules, which consisted of painting the hotel rooms, Dr. Cunningham had his office across the street and Rita had a little sign that she put up when he came over for lunch or a break that stated “The Doctor is in”. 

Eldridge Petersen bought the hotel about 1969 and Rita and Joe gave up management. The Petersen’s operated the Hotel for about ten years and then sold to Loretta Sternberg, who never operated as a business. Next it was owned by James Herron and Loretta Sternberg and was a vacant building. Robert L. Derosia then bought the building and used it for storage. About 1990 the Flint Creek Valley Bank took the building over due to unpaid debt. The bank turned the building over to the Town of Philipsburg for unpaid taxes and in 1993 the town deeded the building to The Granite County Museum and Cultural Center. 

The Museum volunteers have worked tirelessly to update and restore the historical building.