Eagle's Store
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Eagle's Store
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Eagle's Store, August 24, 1939
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| Location | 3 Canyon St., West Yellowstone, Montana |
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| Coordinates | 44°39′34″N 111°5′53″W / 44.65944°N 111.09806°WCoordinates: 44°39′34″N 111°5′53″W / 44.65944°N 111.09806°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1927 |
| Built by | Sam Eagle |
| Architect | Fred F. Willson |
| Architectural style | National Park Service rustic |
| MPS | West Yellowstone MRA |
| NRHP Reference # | 86002957 |
| Added to NRHP | November 6, 1986 |
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.
Eyeing 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.
In 1908 Stuart left the partnership to open his own business; he bought the lease to Arnet's store in 1910. Eagle's Store continued to be operated by Eagle and his descendants.
When it first opened, Eagle's Store stocked "candies, tobaccos, Kodaks, postals, cigars, fishing rods and rented dusters". A white marble soda fountain manufactured by the Liquid Carbonic Company of Minnesota was added in 1910 at a cost of $1391.80., The local post office was located in Eagle's Store from 1909 to 1935, with Sam Eagle as the postmaster. Following the construction of its new building in 1930, the store began to offer a wider selection of merchandise and services. As of 2012, it sells sportswear, western wear, hiking and backpacking gear, fishing tackle, Native American arts and crafts, and souvenirs. The newer building retained the mahogany bar and soda fountain installed in 1910 and added a front bar and stools.
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