Bovey, Charles, 1907-1978

Charles Argalis Bovey was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 1, 1907. His parents were Charles Cranston Bovey and Kate Koon Bovey, and his siblings were Martin Koon Bovey and Ruth Bovey Stevens. The Bovey family was part of the Washburn Crosby Milling Corporation, which became known as General Mills. Charles lived in Minneapolis until September 1923 when he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from Phillips, Charles decided he would rather learn the milling trade than attend college. His father sent him to Great Falls, Montana, in October 1926.

In Great Falls, Charles began learning the milling trade through involvement with the Royal Milling Company, a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based Washburn Crosby. Not long after arriving in Great Falls, Charles was introduced to (Rachael) Sue Ford who was the daughter of Great Falls National Bank President Lee Ford. Charles and Sue would eventually be married in 1933. Though Charles was involved with the Royal Milling Company for a number of years, he soon turned his focus to farming and ranching. He purchased the Sunnyside Ranch in 1929 and two other ranches, the Deep Canyon Ranch and the Cascade Ranch, in later years.

In the 1940s, Charles started to become very interested in preserving Montana's living history. He created the "Old Town" display for the Great Falls Fair in the early 1940s, a display which remained a popular attraction for nearly twenty years. "Old Town" was a recreation of what an Old West town might have been like in the 1800s. It was created using a variety of historic buildings collected from different Montana communities, as well as with items from Charles' own personal antique collection.

Around the same time as the creation of "Old Town", Charles was becoming involved in politics. In 1942, Charles ran on the Democratic ticket for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives representing Cascade County. He won the position and served until the next election, at which time he decided to run for a seat in the Montana Senate. He again won and represented Cascade County in the position through 1965. While in the legislature, Charles was concerned with the well-being of the elderly and the mentally disabled, as well as with efforts to preserve Montana's living history.

Though not funded by the state as he had hoped, the Historic Landmarks Society was incorporated by Charles Bovey in July 1944 as a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving facets of Montana's living history. Some of the Society's projects included the preservation of a sawmill in Craig, Montana and the restoration of a settler's cabin near Loma, Montana.

More significant, however, was that it was through this organization that Charles Bovey was able to begin the restoration of Virginia City, Montana. The Society's first project in Virginia City was to restore the building that had housed Montana's first newspaper press, the Montana Post. After the Post building was completed, the Society went to work restoring and preserving other buildings in Virginia City.

The restoration of Virginia City proved to be a very large and expensive project. The Historic Landmarks Society depended greatly on donations and membership dues for funding, but with the tight postwar economy, those funds were hard to come by. When the Historic Landmarks Society could no longer fund the restoration efforts, Charles invested a great deal of his own money to continue the restoration. In 1950, the Great Falls Fair Board dissolved the "Old Town" display. Charles, not wanting to dispose of the display, moved it to Nevada City and began the recreation of the little ghost town located only a couple miles from Virginia City. As with "Old Town", Charles moved in historic buildings donated or purchased from people around the state. By this point, Virginia City and Nevada City were becoming very popular tourist attractions and were starting to appeal to film makers as well.

Charles Bovey dedicated nearly thirty years of his life to the preservation and restoration of Virginia City and the recreation and preservation of Nevada City. After his death on June 9, 1978, his efforts continued first through his wife, Sue, and then through his son Ford. In 1997, Ford Bovey sold the properties at Virginia City and Nevada City to the State of Montana. After the sale, the state created the Montana Heritage Preservation Commission through the Montana Historical Society to continue preservation and restoration efforts in Virginia City and Nevada City.

From the guide to the Charles A. Bovey Papers, 1882-1983, (Montana Historical Society Archives)