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Amid Relics of Copper Mines, Artistic Revival Takes Root in Butte, Montana

In Butte, Mont., historic buildings built by copper mining wealth anchor the uptown district, now home to the beginnings of an arts renaissance.

This is the city that copper built, in the mountains atop the Continental Divide.

When the copper played out, though, most of the people left. A city of more than 80,000 people at the turn of the 20th century, Butte now has about 35,000 residents. The dwindling population has left many historic buildings in the heart of uptown Butte empty or greatly underused.

Now community leaders hope the lure of cheap square footage in the 19th- and early 20th-century structures will transform the decaying former mining-company town into a refuge for artists, whose creativity will spark reclamation.

Anne Sherwood for The New York Times

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/us/26butte.html?em&ex=1169960400&en=ec1b6fa322f37d65&ei=5087

(Many thanks to Hayla C. K. Wahl for passing along this great story about the creative opportunities available in Butte. Russ)

The Montana Standard- Butte, Montana http://www.mtstandard.com/

Butte Local Development Company http://www.bldc.net/flash.html

Butte- Silver Bow City Government http://co.silverbow.mt.us/

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Contemporary Art: Artists lead revival of a Montana mining town

By Jim Robbins

Full Story;
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/29/news/butte.php

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