Some History of Silver Bow Kiwanis

Founding the Club

Silver Bow Kiwanis, or, officially, Kiwanis Club of Silver Bow, Butte was founded in 1960, sponsored by the Butte Kiwanis Club. At that time, the other listed service organizations in Butte, Montana included Kiwanis (Butte Kiwanis) with 150 listed members, South Side Kiwanis with 50 members, the Lions club with 30 members, Exchange club with 100 members, and Rotary club with 180 members.

Meetings were initially held at Green's Cafe at 41 North Main Street in Uptown Butte, but the meeting place has changed several times over our history.

Our sponsoring club, the Butte Kiwanis Club, recommended that Silver Bow Kiwanis get up and running with several service projects, including development of municipal parks, sponsoring a Boy Scout troop, developing and posting "Go to Church" billboards, and helping to get off-street parking developed in the Uptown area.our projects have also changed over the years. Silver Bow Kiwanis was well known for many years for running a fireworks stand as our primary fund raiser, but we now have an annual holiday raffle to generate funds.

At the organizational meeting on May 24, 1960, Dave Orlady was named president of the new Kiwanis Club of Silver Bow, Butte, with Rossy Morey as the secretary. Twenty-seven people signed up at the organizational meeting, only one of which, Mr. Orlady, was a former Kiwanian or transfer from another club. The club's charter night banquet and program was help July 23, 1960 in the upstairs room at the Butte Country Club.

Changes in the Community of Butte, Montana

Since it's inception, Silver Bow Kiwanis has seen a lot of changes in Butte, Montana. The Montana School of Mines became Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology which, in turn, became Montana Tech of The University of Montana. Of course, enrollment at the Butte campus increased 7 fold in the same time. Montana Tech is the home of the Montana Tech Circle K, which is sponsored by Silver Bow Kiwanis.

More profound an impact on the business people who are Silver Bow Kiwanis are the changes in mining in Butte in the same time. When Silver Bow Kiwanis was chartered in 1960, mining was the industry in Butte, Montana. Mining in Butte shifted from traditional underground mining to open pit mining, then in 1982, the mine was closed. This economic setback made service organizations like Silver Bow Kiwanis even more important for the community, but also make it hard on these organizations to maintain membership and raise funds. Mining has continued off and on to varying degrees in the Butte, Montana area since the closing of the Berkley Pit, and Silver Bow Kiwanis has persevered here helping our community through all of it.

We're Still Here

Silver Bow Kiwanis now does annual cleanups to improve the appearance of our community, holds an annual Bike Rodeo to teach children bicycle safety, and perform a number of other services to our community as the need is found. It's all part of how we are changing the world one child and one community at a time.