Manufacturer: Syracuse China
User: Bitter Root Inn
Date of pitcher: circa 1912

Courtesy of: Harmon's Histories: Bitter Root, the Orchard-Laden Town That Never Came to Fruition

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Notes: From the website of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: In 1909, "the Bitter Root Valley Irrigation Company asked Wright to plan a town along the Great Northern railway in Stevensville, Montana. The comprehensive plan included civic buildings such as a church, hotel, railroad station, opera house, and library, as well as private residential structures. However, only the Bitter Root Inn was ultimately realized. The two-story hotel had an office, dining room, reception area, and eighteen modest bedrooms with a communal bathroom. A broad veranda; low, hipped roofs; bands of ribbon windows; and board-and-batten siding gave the structure a patently horizontal appearance. Situated among acres of apple orchards, the community was intended to be a picturesque retreat for vacationers from the East. The Bitter Root Valley Irrigation Company went bankrupt in 1916, however, and the town was never fully developed."

An article in the August 13, 1911, Daily Missoulian describes the Bitter Root Inn: "It is a delightful place. Its hospitality is charming, and its service is exquisite in its neatness. The building itself is picturesque and homey. It invites you as you approach, and it charms you as you linger. Warren Chilcote is an ideal landlord; he is ever alert for the comfort of his guests and he anticipates their needs … There are great fireplaces in the lounging room and in the dining room and the welcome which they bespeak is the welcome which you receive. The music of the wind in the pines soothes to slumber and the balsam of these evergreens works while you sleep so that you wake in the morning with an appetite which could be satisfied only by just such a breakfast as the Inn serves. Every minute you're here, you're glad you came."

The Inn was destroyed by fire in 1924.

White body pitcher with two black curlicue pinstripes surrounding a red stripe around the rim. These three stripes are broken in one spot by a drawing of a red apple with a green leaf attached to its stem. Under the apple is a black and white ribbon with the words "Bitter Root Inn" in black block letters.

Sources:
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust website – history of the Inn
Daily Missoulian – August 13, 1911 – article about the Inn
Missoula Current – Harmon's Histories: Bitter Root, the Orchard-Laden Town That Never Came to Fruition

Contributors:
Rodric Coslet: china photos
Ed Phillips – author