P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y Two strong-willed ladies stayed on in Rochester even after everyone else had fled the scene. Sisters, Lucy Miller and Etta Fisher were widows who chose to live in the old town as long as they could. For twenty years, the sisters, living just a quarter of a mile apart, endured the many hardships that daily life in Rochester brought them. Since neither of them drove, they were isolated for weeks at a time facing the challenges of dry wells, lack of firewood and dwindling food supplies. Lucy and Etta finally gave in and moved to town. Their cabins and a few other structures gave in to the elements shortly afterward. The Highland Mountains hold just a few remains today to mark the former town. A couple of stone structures along a dust road now tell the story... The Reese Creek School, built in 1904 at a cost of $452.50, is one of 77 one-room schoolhouses built throughout Gallatin County mainly from the 1890's into the early 1920's, to serve the families of one of Montana's first agricultural regions. In the earliest days, classes met in private homes or in log-cabin structures. After statehood in 1889, four residents of any community could petition state government for financial assistance to pay a teacher's salary and room and board. Horsedrawn transport dictated that schools be no more than five miles apart; and custom shaped the familiar planed wood, elongated-rectangular building, with a cupola-adorned hipped roof which boasted an entrance that protected pupils from weather. In Gallatin County, this style gradually evolved over the years, with the 1910's seeing influences such as Craftsman style porches, and a few unusual designs such as the octagonal Malmborg School. But by 1919, The Montana Department of Health and Public Instruction had published a bulletin on school design, which provided blueprints and thus helped standardize schoolhouse design throughout the state. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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