The Coal Yard in Helena

History:
The Coal Yard Restaurant is located in three buildings located in what’s called “Old Town” in Helena. This district was the central area of the town from the 1870’s to around the 1940’s or 50’s when the town began to expand out to the surrounding areas. The buildings were constructed in the late 1800’s and have separately served early on as a general store, furniture store, feed store, coffin supplier, offices for the local coal company and machine shop. As a group of buildings they have been central to the town of Helena for over one hundred years. Three years ago all the buildings went through a complete renovation that took almost two years and the doors between each building that had been shut for many years were reopened and stairways constructed back to allow access from the inside to all three buildings. Great care was taken to try and bring the buildings back to life while keeping the look and feel of the interiors as they might have been. Many items from Helena’s old coal industry were found in the area and used in the buildings décor as well as antique elements such as the bar from the 1900’s that was used in a St Louis establishment on the river that was saved from the great flood of 1992.