Summer 2026 · Uptown Butte, MT · Tours open July 9
The women this city needed, taxed, and erased.
Vice, Scandal & Survival
A grounded daytime walk through the red-light district that built Butte, plus an after-dark series that steps inside the buildings themselves. Told with names, dates, and the records that survived.
Archival hero photo
Portrait or recordWhat this is
Real people, real records, the same dignity you'd give anyone.
For nearly a century, Butte ran on copper, and the district below the hill ran on the women who were never meant to be remembered. The same city that pretended they didn't exist licensed them, fined them, and counted their money. They paid for streetlights and sidewalks. Then their names were scrubbed from the official story.
This walk puts them back into it. No costumes, no séances, no winking. Just the people, the places, and the paper trail they left behind. You'll stand where they worked, hear what the census and the tax rolls actually recorded, and leave knowing a Butte the postcards never sold.
Two ways to walk it: one in daylight, one after dark.
Choose your tour
One route, two ways to walk it.
The same district by day or after dark: a ninety-minute history walk, or a three-hour evening that takes you inside the buildings. Each books on its own Eventbrite listing.
Daytime street photoThe daytime walk
Walk the Line
A 1.5-hour walking tour through Butte's historic Mercury Street and Venus Alley, led by art historian and museum educator Chelsea Hogan. Walking only: no buildings entered, no food or drink, no ghosts. Real women, real stories, no apologies.
Get Tickets ↗ Read about Walk the Line →
Evening interiorThe evening series
After Dark
Three hours inside two buildings that rarely open their doors (the Myra and the Dumas), with light bites and a cocktail. History with Chelsea Hogan, plus an optional paranormal investigation. One building, or the full night that does both.
Get Tickets ↗ See the three formats →What you'll see
Stops on the line.
Every walk moves through the places where the district lived, worked, and was written down.
What people say
I've taken a lot of history tours. This is the first one that treated the women like people instead of a punchline. I didn't expect to be moved. I was.Visitor · TripAdvisor
No gimmicks, no fake ghosts. Just an hour and a half of real Butte that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Bring a friend who likes to argue about history.Visitor · Google Reviews
Before you book
Questions, answered.
- What's the difference between the tours?
Walk the Line is the daytime history walk: ninety minutes on foot, no buildings entered, no food or drink. After Dark is a three-hour evening series that goes inside the houses, with a cocktail and light bites: Full Night visits both buildings, while Myra Only visits the Myra and Dumas Only the Dumas.
- When do tours run?
Summer 2026: July and August, opening July 9. The daytime walk runs thirteen dates across the season; the After Dark nights are limited. All booking is on Eventbrite.
- Is there an age limit?
The After Dark evenings serve a cocktail and are 21 and up. The daytime Walk the Line has no food or drink and welcomes all ages. Guests 16 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
- Where do we meet?
After Dark start points are set: every night starts at Headframes Spirits. The daytime walk meets in Uptown Butte; we'll confirm the exact corner soon.
- How do I book a private or group tour?
We run private walks for groups, schools, and events. Send your date and group size from the Contact page and we'll build it with you.
Chelsea HoganMontana Wonder Tours
Researched, walked, and told from the records up.
Bad Girls of Butte is led by Chelsea Hogan, an art historian and museum educator with some fifteen years in museums and historic sites, from the Getty to the Museum of the Rockies. She built every route from census pages, tax ledgers, and the archives most tours skip. No scripts borrowed from other cities, no legends dressed up as facts. Just Butte, told straight.
Stay in the loop
New walks, open dates, and the occasional thing we dug out of the archive.
A few emails a season, tops. No spam, ever.