Innkeeper's Story

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The Sleepy Senator Story

from The Sleepy Senator Inn

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I acquired the building in 1972 along with the rental townhouse,
that is now The Sleepy Senator. There was an antique
consignment store renting the front, and a small space, that
once was the back room for the market, for me to open a media
photography studio. Toward the end of the 20th Century the
Townhouse became vacant and we discovered it had been
trashed by the tenant, who was operating a Day Care for
Disturbed Youth there.
The hospice care provider for my father looked at it and told me
it would make a nice B&B. That started the application process
for city approval.

Not thinking I could be granted a permit, I selected the name
Sleepy Senator, inspired by a newspaper photo of a state
senator sleeping in the Senate during one of the bi-annual
sessions nearby. An extensive search indicated that this unique
name had never been used for an Inn or B&B which allowed us to
trademark and register it for exclusive trademarking. The
hearings process took 3 months, followed by mandated updating
of the building to fully conform with modern uniform building
and fire codes for hotel and motel businesses. We were granted
the occupancy permits and licensed to operate in February 2002.

During the remodel we discovered that the building originally
was 2 separate structures, moved to this location
in 1904. A local historical society architectural archeologist
looked at the building while the walls were being stripped and
parts of the frame was exposed and speculated that the house
may have been a way station for the stage running through
Canton Montana, now flooded by Canyon Ferry Reservoir, as the
dining room and parlor were elegantly decorated with red, and
grey wall papers, embossed with gold fleur de leis while the
kitchen had wainscoting. the upper bedrooms originally were
plain with kalsomine paint, suggesting a stage station with a
small public dining facility from the floor plan. In 1904 it was
moved to this location and became the residence for a
shopkeeper and his family who opened a grocery store in the
front of the building. It was later sold to another merchant family
who operated the Grocery until 1961 when chain stores forced
the neighborhood groceries out of business. I purchased the
building from that family in 1972.

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