Courtesy of Matt Liverani
Welcome to another installment of White Pine: Then & Now!
In this week’s edition, we are still in McGill, though a few years earlier than our last look. There isn’t much to go by when trying to date this photo, but a few clues pin it down to a short span of years, 1908-1919. When it was first established, the community was known as McGill Ranch, named after the ranch the townsite was built on. After the smelter was constructed, the town was briefly renamed to Smelter, but was renamed back to McGill in 1908. It was in 1908 that the tents that once populated the town started to be replaced by more permanent structures. Based on the vehicles, I’m guessing that this photo was taken around 1912. Another clue is the post office. It was still located on the east side of the street (left side of the photo) next to the McGill Drug Store with the Copper Club still open across the street. The Copper Club was forced to close in 1919 when Prohibition went into effect, and the post office moved into the building shortly after. I don’t know what all of the businesses were at that time as I can’t make out any of the names beyond the Copper Club and Post Office, but I do know what a couple of them were and those will be mentioned.
Working from the left, we can see the Drug Store, the post office, an unidentified store, then the Golden Rule/J. C. Penney store. Beyond that, I don’t know what any of the businesses were. Moving across the street, there are again a few unidentified businesses, then what I think was still at the time the American Trading storefront. Lastly is the Copper Club.
In the current photo, taken February 9, 2025, we see a much different view. The town has grown substantially from the 1900’s photo, but due to the devastating loss of the concentrator and smelter, many of the stores are vacant. Again beginning on the left, the drug store is still there, although now it is a museum showcasing the store as it appeared in 1979 when it closed its doors. As mentioned earlier, the post office moved across the street and the building was replaced with what became the McGill Cafe, long since closed. The tiny building next to that is the old White Pine County Sheriff substation, followed by an empty lot (last used by a now closed pop-up type coffee stand) and then the Odd Fellows lodge, also vacant last I knew. Next is the former J. C. Penney, then several homes and the old Victory Club, which is a bar-turned-residence. Coming across the street, the large brick building in front of the trees (behind which are all homes) is the old Nash Storage which later became Standard Market, now closed. Next door to Standard Market was Cononelo’s Furniture store, which is now being used as a private residence. Although not visible in this photo, the next business was Marie’s Cafe, which closed during the Covid pandemic. Next is the old McGill Theater, which although it initially closed some 50 plus years ago, was recently under renovation and was slated to reopen, but that project has since died. It is hoped that it can be picked up again in the not so distant future.
Continuing on, the Cyprus Hall building, which has the McGill Club, is still an active bar. This is the same building as the old American Trading building that was originally here, but the second floor was added sometime after 1920. Finally there is the post office which, as mentioned previously, was the old Copper Club.
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