Eagle's Store

Story

Eagle's Store is a family business in West Yellowstone, Montana, whose three-story log building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original store was established in 1908 on the same site and was razed in 1927 to make room for the present building, constructed in National Park Service rustic architectural style. Two blocks from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Eagle's Store is the oldest operating business in West Yellowstone, and is still run by the same family who founded it.HistoryEyeing the growing popularity of tourism to Yellowstone National Park, the Union Pacific Railroad constructed its Oregon Short Line segment to the West Gate of Yellowstone Park between 1905 and 1907. In 1907 Samuel Peter Eagle, a Yellowstone Park employee, requested a permit from the United States Forest Service to lease commercial space next to the railroad’s right of way. In June 1908 the Forest Service surveyed a six-block townsite on the western boundary of Yellowstone Park and issued business permits on one-acre (0.4 ha) plots. The first three business operators were Eagle and his partner, Alex Stuart, who built a general store; L. A. Murray, who opened the Yellowstone Hotel in 1909; and Charles Arnet, who opened the Yellowstone Store. While these and other ventures primarily serviced railway passengers in the early 20th century, the introduction of the automobile in 1916 brought many more visitors to Yellowstone Park and business flourished, turning West Yellowstone into a permanent town.