Ever since 1883 came out on Paramount+, I’ve been obsessed with the Yellowstone TV series. I first watched 1883, then the whole of Yellowstone, and then 1923. Although I love all of them, 1923 is definitely my favourite so far – it’s such a great series, but it’s also set in Montana, where a lot of my Great-Grandad’s family ended up in the early 1900s, in the same time period that my family were living there.
While the series is mostly set around Bozeman, it was actually filmed in Butte, a small mining town just 2-hours away from Bozeman. Weirdly, it was Butte where my family ended up, and you may remember how my Grandma found a copper letter back in 2011, when I first started this blog, that was sent to my great-grandfather from his brother in the 1930s.
When she first handed me that copper letter, I always told myself that one day I would go to Butte and see where the letter was from and where our family lived…and well, in 2023, 12-years later, I finally made it.
With my obsession with the TV show, it was only natural that I would go and visit all of the filming locations while I was in town, so I thought I’d put together a blog post that shows you where all of the locations are!
Where is 1923 Filmed?
1923 was mostly filmed all over Montana, but other filming locations included Tanzania, South Africa, and Malta. In this post I’m going to specifically cover the filming locations in uptown Butte, Montana, and how you can visit them!
Visiting the 1923 Locations in Butte, MT
It’s super easy to visit the locations in uptown Butte – they’re all very walkable and super close to one another. Butte is a very friendly mining town that’s had a rough time of it in the past few decades, but it was once a bustling city that was bigger than New York City at the turn of the 1900s, with over 100,000 people living here!
It very much feels as though you’re travelling back in time when you go there, as it’s mostly made up of the original buildings that were built here during that time, with very few modern buildings – making it the perfect filming location for shows like 1923! I was not-so-secretly hoping that I’d spot them filming Season 2 while I was there in September, but sadly the writer’s strike was still ongoing.
1. Thornton Building – 65 E Broadway St, Butte
Originally a luxury hotel opened in 1901, called The Thornton Hotel, ‘The First Bank of Montana’ was filmed at the Thornton Block at 65 East Broadway Street. This was actually across the road my hotel, the Finlen, so I saw it every time I stepped out of the hotel building, and I even found an old advertisement for it in one of the old newspapers in the Butte Archives!
This is the location where Jacob Dutton tried to get a loan to feed his cattle. To be honest, I was a bit confused why they didn’t just use the actual ‘First National Bank’ building on the northwest corner of Main and Broadway?
2. Butte Water Building – 124 W Granite St
The Butte Water Building was used as the ‘Bozeman Town Hall’ in ‘1923’. This neoclassical building is one of the most beautiful in the city, and is just as imposing and grand as it seems in the TV show!
3. Sheriff’s Department – 225 North Alaska Street, Butte
The Butte Sheriff’s Department at 225 North Alaska Street doubled up as ‘Bozeman’s’ Sheriff’s Department in 1923. It’s a really beautiful building – I was obsessed with this detailing on the arches above the lower-floor windows!
4. Opal’s Diner – 62 W Broadway St, Butte
A lot of the ‘1923’ facades are still in place, even though filming wrapped up earlier this year, including ‘Opal’s Diner’. I actually thought this was a real diner when I saw the signage across the street, and got super excited haha! I went bounding up to it ready to order breakfast, only to find the inside was a shell 😂 oops!
5. Silver Dollar Soda Shop – 45 W Broadway St, Butte
The Silver Dollar Soda Shop was where the women in 1923 were standing outside protesting against alcohol and for Prohibition! You can’t see inside this shop at the moment as there’s brown paper covering the windows of it.
6. Honest Jim’s Pawn Shop – 45 W Broadway St, Butte
Honest Jim’s Pawn Shop is right next to the fake Silver Dollar Soda Shop – there’s a whole row of fake shops from the show along that part of the street, and they’ve all been left there for Season 2!
7. Mary Foley’s Flowers – 53 W Broadway St, Butte
Just a couple of doors down from Honest Jim’s is Two Bits & A Nick, and Mary Foley’s Flowers, two fake shops from 1923. The signage is all still there, and there’s also ‘Cafe Martin’, which is another fake frontage for the show.
In fact, it became a recurring theme of me looking at buildings from across the road and thinking “Oh that looks cute, I’ll have a look inside!” only to discover it was a fake front from the TV show. I felt like I was being constantly punked haha, even though I’d seen the show I just kept thinking these places were real! But, I’m hoping the fact they’re all still there means they’ll be starting to film Season 2 shortly….
8. Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse – 155 W Granite St, Butte
The courthouse in the season finale, “Nothing Left to Lose”, is Butte Courthouse at 155 West Granite Street. It’s a beautiful building, and has a statue of a cowboy next to it.
9. Museum of Transportation – 20 W. Broadway St, Butte
The Piccadilly Museum of Transportation on 20 W. Broadway St was used as the ‘Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicles’ showroom in the 1923 TV show.
10. Carpenters Union Hall – 156 Granite St, Butte
Completed in 1906, the Carpenters Union Hall houses Butte’s oldest radio station, KMBF. This building was among the locations that camera crews used for interior shots!
After a few days in Butte I did also then spend a couple of days in Bozeman, and could 100% see why they chose Butte to film rather than Bozeman. Butte feels as if you’re stepping back in time to the 1920s, it’s quiet and there aren’t any modern buildings, whereas Bozeman is super busy and the main street is all modern.
I really loved my time in Butte, and can’t wait to tell you all more about it soon!
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
