Every Sunday at the Golden Age Center in Fort Benton, you can catch the Gilded Gals working on a new masterpiece to bring a pop of color back into their community.
Madison Collier reports - watch the video here:
Every Sunday, inside the Golden Age Center in Fort Benton, a group of seniors gathers around a table covered with paint, brushes, and a wooden panel.
Their goal is simple: bring color back to their community... while telling the story of one of Montana’s oldest towns.
The panels they’re painting will cover boarded-up windows at the historic Choteau House, a building that dates back to Fort Benton’s early days as a bustling steamboat hub along the Missouri River.
Instead of leaving the building’s windows blank, organizers saw an opportunity to turn them into artwork that reflects the town’s past.
“We really wanted to show what it would have been like back in that time period,” said Juli Robertson, the president and founder of the Chouteau County Fine Arts Council. “So we took these old black-and-white photographs and reimagined what the colors might have looked like.”
Some of the paintings recreate scenes from inside the historic hotel itself.
Using photographs, she carefully drew out details such as tables, chairs, and architectural features so the spaces appear almost lifelike.
“We wanted it to feel like you could grab one of the chairs and sit down,” Robertson explained.
Other panels feature silhouettes representing the kinds of people who lived and worked in Fort Benton during its early days, including cowboys, missionaries, Native Americans, and merchants who helped shape the frontier town.
Fort Benton was once known as the “Chicago of the Plains,” a thriving hub where steamboats brought goods and travelers into Montana Territory.
Today, Robertson says the murals help reconnect residents and visitors with that history.
“You can’t really understand this beautiful state without knowing where it began,” she expressed. “Fort Benton is the birthplace of Montana.”
Community fuels the project
For the 'Gilded Gals' themselves, the community reaction has been one of the most rewarding parts of the project.
Shirley Embleton, one of the Gilded Gals, said residents have been enthusiastic about seeing the artwork come together.
“The comments from the community have been my favorite part,” Embleton said. “People are excited to see them. They can’t wait for summer so visitors can come and take a look.”
The group has been working on the panels since July of last year, meeting weekly to bring the designs to life.
One of the pieces Embleton is currently working on will be an interactive panel featuring a steamboat captain, allowing visitors to stand behind the artwork and take photos along the riverfront near the museum and boat docks.
A larger effort to add art across town
The mural panels are just one part of a broader effort to bring public art to Fort Benton.
Through the Chouteau County Fine Arts Council, local middle and high school students have also been painting large-scale murals across downtown in what is now called “Mural Alley.”
Each year, students volunteer their time while the arts council provides materials, allowing young artists to contribute to the community while gaining experience creating large public artwork.
Robertson says projects like these do more than beautify buildings.
Murals have been shown to attract visitors and encourage people to spend more time exploring downtown areas, something that can benefit small communities like Fort Benton.
