Architect's rendering of the Green Meadow Ranch, ca. 1914. Built by Harry W. Child (1856-1931), former President of the Yellowstone Park Company. The 620-acre spread was located along Green Meadow Drive, just north of the Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds.

The four main buildings (house, barn, blacksmith shop and granary) were designed in a romantic Swiss chalet style by Robert Reamer (1873-1938). Reamer is best known as the architect of the rusitc Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park.

In 1887, Harry W. Child made a financial killing in the purchase and resale of the land that would become the Green Meadow Ranch. Acting as trustee for a consortium of Northern Pacific Railway executives and others, Child purchased the 620 acres for $62,000 in May and June of 1887. It was sold in August to the St. Paul and Helena Land and Improvement Company for $250,000.

In 1914, Child bought back the Green Meadow Ranch (under his wife's name) for an unknown amount. He contracted with Old Faithful Inn architect Robert Reamer to design the main structures.

The showplace barn was 450' long, and 40' high. It was constructed of heavy hand-hewn timbers; the window-frames were hand-carved with fanciful designs featuring horses heads, birds, etc. The barn had three cross-passageways, large enough to drive a team and wagon through. It had three lofts, one of which was sometimes used for dancing.

The residence burned to the ground in 1924, as did the barn in 1956 -- with the loss of twenty head of prize stock. The last owner of the Ranch was Black Angus breeder W. J. Harrer, who sold the land in the 1970s. It has since been subdivided. Harrer and his wife were major benefactors of Helena's Grandstreet Theatre.

For more about the remarkable career of Harry W. Child, visit here.

Dennis Dickert has kindly sent in two wonderful photos of the Dickert Dairy operation, which was in the Helena Valley. He writes:

Home of Peace Cemetery is located near the west side of Capital High School, south of Custer Avenue, close to the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. Home of Peace was founded in 1867 by Helena's Hebrew Benevolent Society.

The Jews who settled in early-day Helena were primarily from Prussia or Germany and practiced Reform Judaism. They were prominent in trade during Helena's beginning, and were held in high esteem by the gentile community. Jews easily partnered with non-Jews in building and rebuilding the fledgling city. The Montana Club and the various Masonic orders in Helena welcomed Jews as members. Such easygoing integration was not the case in other Montana cities of the era.

On July 11, 1867 Helena's Hebrew Benevolent Society began steps to acquire a plot of land for use as a cemetery. Prior to establishing Home of Peace, Jews were buried along with everyone else in the City Cemetery, which occupied the site where Central School is today. The bodies of those pioneer Jews were later reburied at Home of Peace; the others buried there were eventually re-interred at the Benton Avenue Cemetery.

Helena's Jewish population reached its peak in the 1890s. The second generation began to move away for better educational and employment opportunities, and the city's Jewish population began to decline.

There are inscriptions carved into the central pillars of the stone gate shown above. The one on the right (south) reads: "Erected by Morris Sands as a memorial to the sacred memory of his beloved wife Lizzie who departed this life Jan. 9, 1907". The inscription on the north pillar reads: "Erected to the memory of Morris Sands who departed this life Dec. 14, 1910."

A map of Home of Peace, in the same orientation as the satellite image. The structures shown at the bottom left-center are two sheds (a landscaper's shed and a pump house) and a water tower. The water tower was supplied by a well until 1921, when The First Jewish Benevolent and Cemetery Association opted to connect to the City of Helena water supply.

A few early burials are still in place beneath the area designated "Practice Football Field", adjacent to Capital High School, separated from Home of peace by a chain link fence. Some broken tombstones from burials outside the fence have been placed near the base of the water tower.

Looking west at the undeveloped NW section of the cemetery property. This view shows some of the 1867 wrought-iron fence which still surrounds most of the property.

The cemetery is currently administered by The Home of Peace Cemetery Association, 1615 Stuart Street, Helena MT 59601.