Izaak Walton Inn

Adjacent to the railroad yard Essex, Montana, is the Izaak Walton Inn. Named after English writer Izaak Walton, for whom the Walton Ranger Station in Glacier National Park is also named, the Izaak Walton Inn was built on railroad property in 1939 in three months at a cost of $40,000 by the Addison Miller Company, which also operated it under contract for the Great Northern Railway as lodging for railway workers. Measuring 36 feet by 114 feet, the Tudor Revival inn featured 29 guest rooms, 10 bathrooms, a lobby, dining room, kitchen with a two-ton stove, drying room, store room and general store. 

Located at the south end of Glacier National Park 27 miles from West Glacier and 30 miles from East Glacier, it was anticipated that Essex would become a southern gateway to Glacier National Park, however World War II prevented that development. With the inn never living up to its tourism potential, the Addison Miller Company sold it to Harry Stowell in 1965 for $5,000. George A. Walker purchased it in 1968. Sid and Millie Goodrich bought it in 1973. Larry and Linda Vielleux acquired it in 1982. The inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 18, 1985, and was renovated in 1995 with bathrooms added to every guestroom.