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Background

Descending the steps leading from the bright sunlight of Havre’s business district into the dark, cool chambers of Havre Beneath the Streets is more than just an escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s a descent into history.  A history that represents an accurate and entertaining recreation of the wild and woolly days that were once the norm in this small North Montana community.  The displays compose a rich mosaic of characters and events that while unique to Havre, also successfully represent the common impressions most people have of daily life on the wild frontier.
Many communities at the turn of the 20th Century had businesses that operated from the basements of downtown buildings.  But what is unique about Havre was a fire that swept through downtown Havre in 1904.  The fire destroyed many of the businesses that had operated out of wooden structures above ground. Those that could reopened in the basements of their former buildings while waiting for new brick building to be built.
Mixed with the new businesses scurrying to keep their incomes flowing was an assortment of preexisting enterprises that had always operated underground – a few of which were less than seemly to begin with.
Another unique feature about Havre’s underground life was a series of passages that spider-webbed under the city’s streets.  The existence of underground passages allowed residents to travel from one business to another without having to cross busy and perhaps muddy streets.  Residents could also travel without the prying eyes of local gossips knowing their whereabouts.  This proved particularly useful to the town’s “men of character,” who might want to slip into a saloon for a beverage with spirit or a clandestine meeting with a woman of ill repute.
Built mostly by the Chinese, who stayed after the construction of the railroad, the passages were also useful as places where the Chinese could go to escape persecution by the white population, who were known to be abusive to non-whites found on the streets after dark.  The passages also served as convenient locations from which the Chinese could operate their own businesses.  This included a thriving opium market.
Later during prohibition, the passages proved extensive and secret enough to allow for the transport of illegal beer and whisky to various local speakeasies.  So extensive were the passages that one of Havre’s most successful purveyors of illegal hooch, Christopher “Shorty” Young is reputed to have operated an illegal brewery in one of the passages before it was discovered and closed by the long arm of the law.

Railroad Museum