Built, starting in 1946, by John R. Quigley (1915-1979) and his wife Sue (1926-1998), Frontier Town was not only a noted summer tourist attraction, it was a grand example of American folk art.

It was located west of Helena, just east of the summit of McDonald Pass, with a beautifully expansive view toward the Helena Valley. It is now a private residence and is closed to the public. The location may be seen on Google Maps and Google Earth by entering: 46°34'9.06"N 112°18'24.30"W

Quigley built the attraction almost single-handedly from boulders and logs. He also added fine artistic touches, such as his expressive wood carvings and intricate animated models.

Along with his building and artistic talents, Quigley was a master of promotion. He emphasized his "frontier" Montana upbringing (on a ranch near Avon), and crafted an image of himself as a wild mountain man, which was mostly true. John worked hard and played hard.

Frontier Town was advertised and promoted widely. Some may recall the log billboards which Quigley erected along Montana highways. Frontier Town was a virtual museum of old west artifacts, collected by Quigley over the decades.

From 1951-54, Walter and Doris Marshall operated a summer theatre at Frontier Town, utilizing a large rotating stage which John Quigley fashioned out of logs. The Marshalls went on to open the Old Brewery Theatre in Helena in 1954.

Numerous celebrities visited Frontier Town, and it was the go-to place for a unique and memorable Montana experience.

John and Sue Quigley

Why is Frontier Town Closed?

Many people ask why Frontier Town is no longer open to the public. The reality is that its days as an attraction have likely passed forever. Making Frontier Town pay required a special dedication that could only come from John Quigley and his family.

Following John's death from cancer in 1979, his daughter, Kitty Ann Quigley Taaler and her husband Aavo, moved to Frontier Town from their home in British Columbia and partnered with John's widow Sue (Kitty Anns' Stepmother) in operating the attraction.

Despite offers from the Taalers, in 1992 Sue Quigley chose to sell Frontier Town to one Richard Pegg, who in 1994 auctioned off John Quigley's extensive western antique, art and heirloom collection, destroying much of Frontier Town's unique culture and character.

In the mid-1990s, Pegg sold Frontier Town to one Erik Little, who operated it for several years. Pegg repossessed Frontier Town in 1999, and had continuing financial troubles. The resulting protracted legal problems culminated in a neglected Frontier Town being sold at a sheriff's auction in 2001 for $190,000. The buyer was Tom Battershell, who has made Frontier Town a private residence, working hard to protect and preserve the structures.

Quoting Kitty Ann Quigley Taaler in the 12/14/2005 Independent Record:

"The Tom Battershell family bought a shell of a maintenance nightmare, Frontier Town. Aavo and I could have bought Frontier Town, but there was no way we could afford to work for years without income, bringing Frontier Town back to it's old glory and it's Quigley reputation....Nobody but the Quigleys, Taalers, and our generation of friends know what the real old glory of Frontier Town was."

The page is turned, but many warm memories of tha extraordinary place, and the man who built it, still remain.

Lost Cabin Ranch closed for the duration of World War II. Even though he was an avid outdoorsman, John Quigley suffered from flat feet, which prevented him from enlisting in the armed forces. That didn't stop him from contributing to the war effort; in 1942 John, Marquerite and sons Jack & Peter moved to south-central Washington, where John worked on construction of the Hanford Nuclear Facility. He was superintendent for the R. D. Merrill and W. A. Carson construction companies, and also had a riding academy in the Hanford area during that time.

The Quigleys returned to Montana in 1945, with John and Marguerite divorcing in 1947.

Realizing that Lost Cabin Ranch was too far from a large population center and good transportation to be a successful dude ranch, in 1946 Quigley purchased 40 acres of land on the eastern side of MacDonald Pass from the McIntosh family of Avon, Montana. This marked the beginning of Frontier Town, the project which would occupy the remaining 32 years of John's life.

Shown is Quigley's animated roadside attention-getter. Carved from pine logs and powered by electric motors, it depicted a grizzly bear about to attack a lumberjack and his dog. The figures jerked mechanically -- the man raising his axe, the dog jumping, and the bear lunging -- while a loud tape-recorded loop of growling bear and barking dog sounds echoed across the mountains. How could you not stop for that? Many thousands did.

These tokens were purchased upon entering and used for trade. Of course, many were never used and were carried away as souvenirs. The copper tokens, about the size of a half-dollar, were $1.00 each.

The main attraction at Frontier Town was undoubtedly the 50-foot-long split log bar, made in 1951-52 from a single Douglas Fir.

No matter which way you were traveling from Frontier Town, you had to descend a 6,000-foot mountain pass on a winding two-lane road, so naturally you had a drink or two. The altitude helped to boost the effects of the alcohol, which added to the fun of your descent.

The bar had highly detailed animated Old West dioramas across the back, which could be activated by inserting coins into metal boxes on the wall.

At the far end of the bar was a cozy nook with comfortable rustic chairs in front of a warming stone fireplace. The stone steps leading up to the restaurant were adjacent to the sitting area.

Mounted on that end of the bar was a small bronze sculpture of a cowboy cooking with a
skillet over a tiny natural gas flame. If the bartender noticed someone admiring the cowboy, he'd tell them to look very closely at what he was cooking. When the subject peered into the little pan, the bartender would trigger the cowboy to spit a jet of ice-cold water onto the rocks in front of him, splattering the face of the unsuspecting tourist.

From left to right are: Walter H. Marshall, John Quigley. The third man from the right is early cowboy motion picture star Edward "Hoot" Gibson. Sue Quigley is the barmaid.

Numerous celebrities visited Frontier Town over the years, including Billy Graham (although he probably didn't saddle up at the bar).

The upstairs restaurant was also noted for its construction and decor. John Quigley could be found tending this fireside, chatting with diners and giving kitchen tours. The dining room suffered a major fire in 1975, but was rebuilt.

Pictured is Scott Weaver, a longtime employee of Frontier Town. John Quigley had a large collection of historical items and memorabilia. Among them was this safe, said to be the first in Montana Territory.

At the time of John Quigley's death, his daughter Kitty Ann and her husband Aavo Taaler were living in British Columbia ,where Aavo was in the business of hydroelectric power generation. In 1980, Kitty Ann and Aavo returned to Montana and began operatng the Frontier Town dining room for Sue...

Although the narration and background music leave something to be desired, this video gives us a glimpse of John Quigley's remarkable accomplishment as it appeared in later years.

As explained in the 2001 Independent Record article below, Pegg had a lot of financial problems with Frontier Town, and in 1994 auctioned off much of John Quigley's collection of artifacts, and parts of frontier Town itself. The matter became legally and financially complicated...