From an immigrant family, Henry Frank, a self-made millionaire from liquor sales and mining, became a major modernizing force in Butte, Montana, and the town mayor. A disaster at one of Frank’s mines that killed at least 90 people seemingly unhinged his mind, leading to a tragic early death.
Shown here, Henry Luplin Frank was born in July 1951 in Ironton, Ohio, an industrial town on the Ohio River. His father, Moses Frank, was born in Alsace, France, and his mother Esther in Bavaria. The couple met and married in southern Ohio. Henry was their firstborn, the eldest of eight children, educated in local schools as the family moved from Ironton, to Gallipolis, to Pomeroy City, Ohio. The 1870 Census records Henry, at 18 working for his father, a merchant running in a dry goods store near the Ohio River.
A Butte newspaper, in a biography, later would report of young Frank: “From that position he was soon advanced to the position of traveling salesman. At the age of 21 he embarked in business for himself and this was the beginning of a most successful business career.” Leaving home to find his fortune in the West about 1875 the young Frank spent two years roaming Colorado and New Mexico before arriving in Butte, Montana, in 1877. It would prove to be a historic meeting of a man and a town.
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| Butte Montana |
Henry Frank in Butte. Frank began his Montana career modestly, running a saloon and wholesale liquor business run out of a log cabin with a dirt roof in Butte, shown above as it looked in the 1880s. In 1897 Author Guy Pratt described Frank’s rapid ascendancy in the liquor trade: “Mr. Frank remained in that location for three years, and then removed to the corner of Main and Broadway, remaining there four years. Next he located at the corner of West Broadway and Hamilton street for six years, when, his largely increasing business necessitating larger quarters, he removed to his present location on East Broadway."
Frank’s flagship brand was “Overland Rye,” advertised widely on signs in Butte and surrounding communities and registered as a trademark in 1905 by his Montana Liquor Company. The whiskey was sold in Redwing ceramic jugs of varying sizes and labels, as shown above. The company also sold its liquor in glass quarts, as below, marked with a medallion identifying it as a Butte product.
Like many whiskey wholesalers, the Montana Liquor Company also featured a number of items to be given away to customers operating saloons, hotels, and eateries featuring its liquor. Those included back-of-the bar bottles advertising Overland Rye and a serving tray featuring a comely young woman holding flowers also plugging the flagship brand.
In addition to his highly successful liquor sales that over time resulted in considerable wealth, Frank was active in Butte’s development, elected its first mayor in 1885 and returned for a second term. That was followed by service in the Montana State Legislature from 1889 to1891. He was nearly nominated for the US Senate in 1901 during a dramatic overnight debate (a clock was smashed so that nomination could be completed before a midnight deadline), eventually supporting another candidate. Additionally he was chosen as a Presidential Elector at a Democratic National Convention. Frank achieved the 33rd degree of Freemasonry and in 1905 was named “grand master” of the Masonic Lodge of Montana, and also was active in the Elks and Knights of Pythias lodges.
This political and social success was the direct result of Frank’s notable civic contribution to Butte. He had spearheaded the organization of the Butte Water Company and became its first president. He also served as president of the Silver Bow Electric Light Company, another utility in which he had been a guiding force. The fruits of Frank’s leadership can be seen below in the 1892 picture of downtown Butte with a paved street and substantial buildings.
The Frank Slide. Henry Frank’s interests ranged far beyond Butte as his wealth made him a major investor in mining in the United States, chiefly Montana and Idaho, and Canada. He also was appointed to the Executive Board of the Montana School of Mines. His canny mining investments apparently were rewarded. The local press reported: “Mr. Frank… has added materially to his wealth thereby, one recent sale returning him, it is understood, about $100,000.”
A key investment by Frank was a coal mine in a small community in the Alberta District of the Canadian Northwest Territories, lying adjacent to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and Turtle Mountain. The Montana capitalist paid $700,000 for the property. The small community, chiefly miners and their families, named the town “Frank” in his honor. On the early morning of April 29, 1903, a disaster of catastrophic proportions occurred. Turtle Mountain collapsed, throwing down 120 million tons of rock, burying the eastern edge of Frank and the railroad and obliterating access to the coal mine. An estimated 90 residents died under the avalanche, most of them buried deep in the rubble; their bodies never to be recovered.
Shown above, it was the deadliest landslide in Canadian history. The railroad line was cleared within three weeks and the mine quickly reopened. The town itself was relocated as mining activities resumed doubling the population of Frank by 1906. The owner is said to have visited the site not long after the disaster and listened to the stories of survivors, many of whom had lost loved ones that fateful Spring morning. Afterward Frank reassured the press: “Confidence in the town of Frank has been restored and there is absolutely no further fear of another slide.” Nonetheless, events later seem to confirm how deeply troubled Henry Frank was by the disaster, one ever afterward bearing his name.
The Millionaire Goes Insane? Not long after what became called “The Frank Slide,” perhaps seeking respite from the catastrophe, Henry, accompanied by two of his sisters, began a “grand tour” of Europe, visiting France and five other countries. The trip was interrupted from the outset as bone sister, Mrs. Moses Silverman, badly cut her arm on the outward journey after being trapped in a Pullman berth. Eventually she was able to rejoin the party. Frank’s party returned in late July 1903 aboard the S. S. Cedric, out of London, shown here.
As time elapsed his friends noticed distinct changes in Henry Frank. The culmination came in June 1908 in Chicago as the Daily Tribune headlined “Western Visitor Stricken in Mind.” noting that Frank was “several times a millionaire.” Other newspapers across America picked up the story. The Morning Oregonian headlined “Rich Man Insane” and an Alberta Canada paper announced: “H. L. Frank Insane.”
The story being broadcast widely involved an incident that involved Frank while he was staying in Chicago’s elite Palmer House, shown here. Two policemen noticed him acting erratically in the hotel lobby and took him to police headquarters. There he was interviewed by a Lieutenant Sullivan who reported: “He talked rationally at times, and again he was incoherent.” Rescued from police custody by friends, arrangements were made for him to be taken by train to his mother and family in Cincinnati, accompanied by a doctor. There he was put under the care of his brother-in-law, an attorney, with the prospect of being sent to a mental hospital if his condition did not improve.
Frank never made it to an institution, dying on August 17, 1908, in Cincinnati. He was only 57. His passing was said to have occurred under uncertain circumstances, “suggesting that depression or mental illness contributed to his death.” At the time he was owner of the Southern Cross gold mine and large properties in Butte and elsewhere in Montana. Having never married, his estate was shared among his mother and siblings. Frank was buried in the family plot in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills United Jewish Cemetery. His memorial stone is shown below, adjacent to his parents’ monument.
Largely forgotten in the annals of the West, Henry Frank during his abbreviated lifetime was more than a self-made liquor and mining millionaire. Despite his unfortunate ending, he deserves wider recognition for his contributions to developing the city of Butte and state of Montana.
Notes: Several accounts of Henry Frank’s life and premature death may be found on the Internet. Unfortunately they do not always agree on details. I have done my best to sort out the most likely life story of this tragic pioneer “whiskey man.”
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