EDITOR'S PICK

Fire guts iconic Montana bar

Montana Standard May 7, 2021 Updated 3 hrs ago

MIKE SMITH, MICHAEL CAST

BUTTE, Mont. — Fire destroyed the iconic M&M Cigar Store in Uptown Butte early Friday morning, taking out the roof and leaving the rest of the building charred and gutted. Nobody was injured but the building was a compete loss. ... Firefighters were called to the bar and grill at 9 North Main St. around 3 a.m. and there were 12-foot flames coming from the roof. It took two hours to get the fire under control and two hours after that, crews were still on the scene.

“There was smoke in every orifice of the building,” said Jim Merrifield, a battalion chief with the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department. “The fire was on the roof and spread throughout the building through the duct work.”



Firefighters battle the M&M blaze Friday morning.

Michael Cast, The Montana Standard

About 30 firefighters responded and at 6:30 a.m., two were on a ladder truck moving about in a bucket examining the damage. The upper-store windows were blown out and fallen bricks were piled about the sidewalk. ... “It’s a total loss. No question,” Merrifield said. He said he did not know how the fire got started but firefighters would likely remain on the scene for several more hours. ... The M&M is one of Butte’s most historic landmarks, having opened in 1890 by Sam Martin and William Mosby.



M&M, Main Street, early 1950s

It was closed from 2003-2005 and from 2009-2011 after a run of more than a century where the doors never closed. Sam Jankovich purchased the property in 2011 and reopened it in May that year but closed it in October 2014 amid legal and financial troubles.

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