HELENA — The former Silver City Saloon at the intersection of Birdseye Road and Lincoln Road has been empty for years, but recently, there have been some changes to the building.
Several people have asked MTN News what is going on at the former bar building, and we found out.
Marian Davidson reports - watch the video here:
Although the building has been vacant, there were plans in the works to transform the old bar into something new.
Old Salt Co-Op, a producer partnership made up of five ranches, purchased the former Silver City Saloon in 2024 with the intention of turning it into a meat processing facility. They cleaned out the old bar building to prepare for construction.
“We spent about a year creating the planning and construction documents,” Old Salt Co-Op president Cole Mannix said. “In February of ’25, we were a couple months away from beginning to build.”
Then, Mannix said he got a call from an existing meat processing business with a proposal for Old Salt Co-Op to purchase their existing facility and team.
“Ultimately, we chose to take that route,” Mannix said.
Since then, Mannix said they have been trying to come up with an idea for the property, and recently they decided to put it on the market.
The about 5.6-acre property at 6042 Lincoln Road West is listed for $599,000.
“It’s a great property and a great building, and the community is growing out here,” Mannix said. “I don’t know exactly what the right home is, but somebody will figure that out.”
While the Silver City Saloon closed in 2018, people in the Helena area still have fond memories of it, and Mannix said he hopes it won’t stay empty for much longer.
“We intend to sell it, but if it doesn’t sell by the time I come up with the next idea, then perhaps we will still do something here,” he said.
