Urban renewal was a national effort to roll back blight in mid-twentieth-century America by knocking it down and starting over. Save a few buildings, clear the rest, build new roads, sell the land to developers, and wait for a rejuvenated town.
The project in Helena’s downtown was the largest in Montana. Urban renewal moved over seven hundred people out of their homes, cleared the larger portion of ninety acres in the city’s core, and spent millions of federal dollars to prep the area for its next century. Depending on who you talk to, it saved or destroyed the downtown.
Paul Cartwright will present research he did for a book on the history of Helena’s project. He will discuss the why and how of planning the project and then three of the central initiatives: the new downtown hotel (now the DoubleTree), Cruse Avenue, and demolishing the Marlow Theatre.