It's official: The Butte Labor History Center, a hub to highlight the city's most important union episodes, will open next year.
Ted Ackerman, Cheryl Ackerman and historian Dick Gibson closed on a sale Monday on a property at 49 W. Park St. in the Miner Bank Building.
The Ackermans own the Butte Stuff shop adjacent to the west. They bought the building from Peter and Stephanie Sorini, who owned the building for 13 years.
“Now that we have a place for sure, it will basically be a space for the Butte labor history story that has unfolded here,” said Gibson, spokesman for the buyers.
“In my mind, it’s probably the single most underrepresented part of Butte history,” Gibson added. “We have mines and ethnic groups, but there’s not really something that focuses only on Butte labor history.”
Until now.
The new center will be tourist attraction, as well. But first the center must become incorporated.
Built in 1913, the building will house the center on the main floor, a spacious room that perfectly fits the trio’s vision of what a labor history center should be.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Cheryl Ackerman, who works at the Butte Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce front desk. “It’s going to be a great addition to Park Street and Butte in general.”