Origin of Set Free Ministries Building

(Formally known as the Rocky Mountain Building and the Public Drug Building)

1914 was the construction year of all time for the young city of Great Falls. The new Park Hotel, Strain Building, Northern Hotel and Bateman-Switzer Building were all completed or under construction. 1914 also saw the completion of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Building at 601 Central Avenue.

Initially, three stories high, the Rocky Mountain Building was home to the Rocky Mountain Fire Insurance Company, of which Paris Gibson was president. It housed the insurance company, shops, some offices, some hotel rooms and the fabulous Pantages Theater.

Style:         Beaux-Arts Eclectic

Architect:  George H. Stanley

Builder:      A.W. Miller Company (Spokane)

Suppliers:         Great Falls Iron Works, Empire Lumber, and Spokane Plaster

The most notable element of this structure was the Pantages Theater. Pantages was a vaudeville act on an elite circuit that included Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, to name a few.

The theater's capability was 1,200 which included a main floor plus two balconies and three lower boxes located on each side of the theater. Loges, leather seats and indirect lighting were complemented by the French Renaissance design. This structure was truly magnificent.

One more floor was added to the Rocky Mountain Building for hotel and office use. The added floor is visible today as the bricks do not match.

Vaudeville lasted about ten more years. Upon vaudeville's demise, motioin pictures emerged in the entertainment world and the Pantages was converted to the Rainbow Theater.

The Rainbow was first closed about 1935 but was reopened at the beginning of WWII to accomodate community growth and the military. The Rainbow later closed and was allowed to deteriate, until one of the balconies collapsed to the floor. The theater portion of the building is now a covered parking lot.

Today the building is known as the Public Drug Building. Public Drug was established in 1935 at its current location and over the years, has seen both minor and extensive remodeling. The Public Drug is one of the cornerstones of downtown Great Falls.

* Much of the above facts and text have been taken from the Great Falls Tribune, August 2, 1914 and the Great Falls Cascade County Historic Preservation Advisory Commission. A special thanks to Ike Kaufman and his faithful commitment to Downtown Great Falls history.