A sort of "brief" biography on George Myllymaki - learned a lot about Butte MT - crazy town in 1920's and 1930's!
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George Myllymaki
1890 – 1933
Butte, Montana

George Myllymaki was born in Finland in 1890, arriving in Butte Montana about 1910 to work as a miner. Appears he left about 1915 to stay in San Francisco for a while, returning by 1917. He was then involved a variety of gambling and similar activities at saloons owned by him (302 E. Broadway) and owned by others, and perhaps eventually by him (400 E. Granite) through at least 1930. A steady stream of police calls for gambling, robbery, shootings and other similar activities occurred during this time, especially at the 400 E. Granite address

Butte was a wide-open town, and alcohol was no problem to obtain – even during Prohibition. Alcohol establishments were often known as “Soft Drink Parlors”, and there are many references to them as SDP’s in the literature and reference material. There were many boarding houses, literally hundreds throughout the town, most concentrated east of downtown, many having 40 or more rooms in a building. Evidence indicates a thriving alcohol manufacturing community, both large and small scale existed in Butte, often with the wife of the operator of the boarding house making some for internal consumption as a benefit of renting there!

Important to keep in mind – US Prohibition was 1920 – 1933 as you read the following.

While is it is all interesting – one of the most interesting items was in 1922 where he loaned a friend $1400 (Over $20,000 today) to restock his shoe store, the friend was arrested for bootlegging, and George was in court trying to get his money back by having the car sold (A high end Winton!). Really – shoes? I don’t think so – think Prohibition – and - having that much cash lying around is a statement as well!

Another 1930 story describes what happens inside a “Soft Drink Parlor” at 3AM. An upset patron shoots his way out of the building after a disagreement with another patron.

He was married twice, first 1917 to 1924, and second 1930 until his death in 1933. The second Mrs. Myllymaki was involved in Butte Social Circles, stayed in the general area, and never remarried.

He was active with the Eagles Aerie #11 recruiting, and spent time with friends fishing.

He moved to San Francisco in 1933. I do not know why. Perhaps the exposure to law enforcement was becoming too great, or the imminent end to Prohibition was seen as bad for business or maybe a downturn in the mining economy. In any case – he ended up as a manager of an apartment building, and died in a natural gas explosion there in April 1933. Mrs. Myllymaki returned to Butte, and later moved to Helena where she died in 1972. They are buried beside each other in the Butte Cemetery.

As for the chips – rational thought is that they were bought by him for the Eagles. Not an unusual set-up where a person slightly removed from the organization buys them - but - with the crazy history of George Myllymaki – I want to believe that these were used at his poker games, perhaps at 302 E. Broadway or 400 E. Granite.

RIP George

ps – about the only thing original left standing in East Butte is the building at 302 E. Broadway, now a trendy café. I look the picture and see George at his Saloon and these chips. It is on my list of places to go.

pps - Insight, and info on errors and omissions sought