C. E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery

Selish (1881) and Ashley (1884) were the first white settlements in the Flathead Valley area of Montana. Selish was first known as Dooley’s Landing, near the Therriault Ferry on the west side of the Flathead River. Ashley, named for pioneer Joe Ashley, was situated on Ashley Creek, west of what is now Kalispell. Demersville, established in 1887, was the primary settlement from 1887 to 1891. French Canadian T. J. Demers, a cattleman and freighter, founded the town on the Flathead River at the head of navigation twenty miles upriver at the north end of Flathead Lake. Its strategic location gave Demersville preeminence among the other local towns. With a population of one-thousand-five hundred in 1891, it was a place where ranchers, freighters, gamblers, and miners congregated to spend their money at saloons, brothels, dance houses, and theatres.  

Local legend has it that James J. Hill, through Charles E. Conrad as his representative, tried to buy lots in Columbia Falls, but landowners wanted too high of a price. Hill met with Conrad who expressed his desire to move to Flathead Valley. Conrad was anxious to work with Hill to establish a suitable townsite. So, Hill told Conrad to buy a site for a town and he could build the railroad to it. Conrad purchased several homesteads, including that of Reverend George McVey Fisher, making the reverend a wealthy man. The articles of incorporation were signed at St. Paul on January 20, 1891. Conrad was among six incorporators Hill chose. It fell to Conrad, as treasurer of the Kalispell Townsite Company, to organize the survey and platting of the townsite. The new town of Kalispell was platted in “T-town” form with Main Street perpendicular to one side of the proposed tracks. Construction boomed on Main Street with typical first-generation wooden frame buildings, while many businesses were moved on log rollers four miles across the prairie from once-thriving Demersville. On New Year’s Day of 1892, the tracks of the Great Northern Railway officially reached Kalispell. Later bolstered by the homesteading era, the lumber industry, and tourism, Kalispell became an important trade, financial, and service center. 

Charles Edward Conrad was born in 1850, on the family plantation in the Shenandoah Valley of Warren County, Virginia. He was the third of thirteen children. His father served as a colonel in the Virginia State Militia during the Civil War, and despite their young ages, Charles and his brother, William followed their father into service. In 1868, at the age of eighteen, Charles and William, then twenty, headed west to Fort Benton to seek their fortunes. William went on to Helena, while Charles stayed in Fort Benton and was hired onto the I. G. Baker Company. In 1873, Charles and William secured an interest in the Baker firm and changed its name to I. G. Baker, Brothers and Company. During this period, the firm had fourteen trading posts and annually purchased thirty thousand buffalo robes and $100,000 worth of pelts and furs. Its freighters carried more than five hundred tons of goods.  

Halifax, Novia Scotia was the birthplace of Alice “Lettie” Conrad. Her family was wealthy, and Lettie was very highly educated for a woman during her period. Lettie was eighteen when she, her mother, and a younger brother traveled by steamboat to Fort Benton in Montana Territory. One of Lettie’s brothers joined the military and was stationed at Fort Macleod in Alberta, Canada. During his time at Fort Macleod, Lettie’s brother became good friends with Charles Conrad, who was often at the fort. As very few young, single women lived in Fort Benton, and few as lovely as Lettie, young men often came calling – but it was Charles who won her heart. Lettie ran a perfect household, cared for her mother and mother-in-law who both lived with her and Charles, and took an active part in public welfare issues. After Charles’s death in 1902, Lettie became the administer of his estate. She kept the household running as before and always opened her doors to anyone in need of a place to stay. The Salvation Army and Red Cross were Lettie’s pet projects. During the Spanish Flu epidemic, Lettie directed nursing efforts and relentlessly recruited volunteers. Lettie died quietly surrounded by her family on June 24, 1923.  

Charles and Lettie Conrad watched as Kalispell quickly grew, and both had great faith in its economic success and future. Both agreed that the town’s last great necessity was a cemetery, one that would be grand and beautiful and affordable, and most important, open to all residents, regardless of religion, social status, or ethnic origin. During the 1890s, Kalispell was still using the old cemetery at Demersville, and it became obvious the town needed its own burial ground. Charles battled diabetes for over ten years, and doctors predicted his life would soon end. On a fine sunny afternoon in 1902, he and Lettie rode their horses out to the promontory. For the first time, in this spot, Charles told Lettie he wanted to be buried at this spot, saying that there could be no more peaceful and lovely spot for a final place of rest. Just a few days before he died of complications due to his battle with diabetes, Charles drew a sketch of the family mausoleum as he wished it built with the dimensions required and the materials to be used. Charles Conrad was the first burial received by the newly forming cemetery, but other burials occurred very soon after.  

After her husband’s death, Lettie Conrad purchased the entire one-hundred-four-acre promontory on which Charles was buried. She had a great vision that the land could serve as a resting place for all people of Kalispell, regardless of income or race. The Conrad’s attorney, Mr. G. H. Grubb set to work in helping Lettie obtain all one-hundred-four acres from their varying owners. On April 22, 1904, ten men formed a temporary organization at Lettie’s request. Under the name of the C. E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery Association (CMCA), the group was to manage the property given to them as a gift from Lettie Conrad. Finally, on April 27, 1904, Lettie acquired the last piece of the one-hundred-four-acre promontory. 

While Mr. Grubb worked in purchasing in the parcels of land, Lettie often visited Charles’s gravesite, quietly meditating on the steps on the Conrad family mausoleum which became known as the Fairy Steps. In 1908, the Conrad family mausoleum was completed, and Lettie invited guests to attend the interment of her husband as he was consigned to his chosen final resting place. Finishing the mausoleum was the final piece of Lettie’s great undertaking, completing her vision of a serene and peaceful eternal repose for her beloved Charles. 

C. E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 13th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71975970.

C. E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, Historic Montana. Accessed January 13th 2021. https://historicmt.org/items/show/506.