American Legion Post (Western Federation of Miners Union Hall)

American Legion Post (Western Federation of Miners Union Hall)

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1901. 1069 Greene St. (corner of 11th St.)

Members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) donated labor to build this brick edifice with an open second-story hall, only to be evicted during the 1903–1904 strikes. Subsequently their hall housed a store, a funeral home, and various saloons and lodges. Brick pilasters and cast iron columns front the recessed entry and storefronts. Elongated second-story windows with round tops have stone trim beneath a bracketed metal cornice. In 1948 the AFL-CIO sold the hall to the American Legion, but in 1989 the upstairs hall came back to life as the Miners Union Theater. A small, square tower atop the corner entry and a flagpole make this hall easy to find.

The WFM also built the Miners' Hospital (1907), 1325 Snowden Street, on the site of the pioneer cabin of Francis M. Snowden, a founder of Silverton. The hospital, a dreary red brick building on a rough stone foundation, later became headquarters for Standard Metals, Sunnyside Gold, Echo Bay Mines, and other operators of the Sunnyside Mine.

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