The Murray Hotel, originally named the Elite Hotel, is a historic hotel in

Livingston, Montana Livingston is a city and county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040. History T ...

, United States. The original two story hotel was built at the corner of Park and Second St. in 1904 by Josephine Kline to accommodate passengers from the Northern Pacific Railway. The Elite was one of thirteen hotels built in downtown Livingston between 1884 and 1914 to service railroad travelers. Its construction was financed by the family of a future U.S. Senator from Montana, James E. Murray. The hotel's location opposite the Northern Pacific Railway's Livingston Depot made it a prime destination for railroad travelers. The hotel is located within the Livingston Commercial District, a registered National Historic District.

Expansion, foreclosure and renaming

In the 1920s, the hotel expanded to four floors and 66 rooms. In the mid-1920s, the Murray family foreclosed on Josephine Kline, took over the operation of the hotel and renamed it ''The Murray''. Although Kline contested the foreclosure all the way to Washington D.C. as late as 1934, she failed to recover ownership from the Murrays. One of the unique aspects of the Murray was the installation of a 1905 hand-cranked

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, at the time the only elevator in Livingston.

Watering hole

The Murray has always hosted a café or restaurant and a bar. The Murray Bar is well known for its celebrity visitors during filming of movies in the Paradise Valley. The 2nd Street Bistro, opened in 2004 and preceded in years prior by the Peterson and the Winchester Cafe, is the current hotel restaurant. The Bistro was featured in '' Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations'' 2009 episode on Montana where he dined with author

Jim Harrison James Harrison (December 11, 1937 – March 26, 2016) was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s ...

and artist

Russell Chatham Russell Chatham (October 27, 1939 – November 10, 2019) was a contemporary American landscape artist and author who spent most of his career living in Livingston, Montana. The artist was the grandson of landscape painter Gottardo Piazzoni, tho ...

Ownership

The Murray experienced a serious reduction in business during the 1960s, mostly due to the decline in rail travel and growth of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

. In 1978, local Montana ranchers Cliff and Pat Miller purchased the hotel from the Murray family and made modest renovations. The hotel was purchased by Dan and Kathleen Kaul, formerly from Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1991. They undertook major renovations and reduced the number of hotel suites to 29. In 2001 the Kauls changed the business model of the hotel allowing individual investors to own individual suites, much like a condominium. Today, most of the hotel is available to the public, with 30 rooms and suites available.The Murray Hotel: Rooms
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Notable visitors and events

The following notable individuals have lived or stayed at the Murray Hotel: *

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

, comedian, actress *Walter Jerome Hill, youngest son of

James Jerome Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwe ...

, builder of the Great Northern Railway *

Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy A ...

, actress, activist *

Queen of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was a ...

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

, actor *

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...

, director, lived in a three-room suite at the Murray from 1979 to 1984 * Robert Redford, actor, director * Will Rogers, humorist * Rip Torn, actor *

Robert Wadlow Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He was born and raise ...

, the tallest man in the world, stayed in 1937

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray Hotel Hotels in Montana Hotels established in 1904 Hotel buildings completed in 1904 Buildings and structures in Park County, Montana Historic district contributing properties in Montana 1904 establishments in Montana