COLUMBIA GARDENS

The Butte Miner, Butte, 1924-06-06, p.7

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articleThe article as printed
name as printed"in the Murphy-"
James Joseph "James J." Murphy

Summary

Society column on the Friday page-7 entertainment-and-society jump. The "Columbia Gardens" subsection reports considerable interest in a June bride wedding to be given at Columbia Gardens the following Saturday evening; the bride and her party are busy selecting the bridal trousseau. Key passage on Murphy-Softley: "In the window of Murphy-Softley may be seen a beautiful bride and bridesmaid dress. Silk underskirt, silk lingerie and silk hose, together with all of the other little novelties that thrill the feminine heart, especially that of the bride as well as the bridesmaid. Theg arments [sic] displayed for the bride and bridesmaid in the Murphy-Softley window were selected Thursday and will be worn at the ceremony on the evening of the wedding." "For years the Murphy-Softley company has specialized in fitting out June brides and the institution has come ot [sic] be known as the **June brides' store**." The garments shown in the Murphy-Softley window will be on exhibition until Saturday. Surrounding column material (peripheral but page-context- relevant): theatre items — Strongheart's "The Love Master" with Lady Julie (in private life Mrs. Strongheart) closing at the Rialto; "Painted People" coming to the Rialto; American theatre running "The Wolf Man" with "a real, red-blooded moral"; Ansonia theatre running "The Dancer of the Nile" interpretation of King Tut-ankh-amen's ascension; Winter Garden school days costume ball. **Personal Notes** column with weekly out-of-town visitor list (28 named individuals/parties from across Montana — useful peripheral social-fabric for the page metadata back-pass but not transcribed in detail here). ARCHIVE SIGNIFICANCE. The "June brides' store" framing — Murphy-Softley as the wedding-trousseau destination for Butte by June 1924 — is a strong specific market position for the store. Useful for the women's-fashion and social-class chapters.

In its time

Prohibition1920–1933

Narrative

Ahead of a June bride wedding and dance at Columbia Gardens on Saturday evening, the bride and bridesmaid's gowns — with silk underskirt, lingerie and hose — are displayed in the window of the Murphy-Softley store, where the selections were made on Thursday. The garments will remain on exhibition until Saturday, and Murphy-Softley is described as having specialised for years in fitting out June brides. [transcription partial — surrounding page-7 columns not transcribed]

“all of the other little novelties that thrill the feminine heart”
“the institution has come ot be known as the June brides' store”

AI-generated (claude-opus-5). Verify against the transcription before quoting.

People

James Joseph "James J." Murphy (b. 1883 Ardgroom; d. 1938 LA)(as printed: Murphy-Softley)
role: store proprietor implied · family confidence: 75 strong
The article does not name JJM individually — references "Murphy-Softley company" by trade name only. JJM is the "directing head" per the March 1924 anniversary clipping.

Places

Butte, Montana (primary)
Columbia Gardens, Butte (primary)

Themes

Story threads

Source type

news_item, business_notice, society_column

Related sources

Transcription

transcription: complete · confidence high

# COLUMBIA GARDENS *The Butte Miner, Friday, June 6, 1924, p. 7. (Society / entertainment page; the item begins at the foot of one column, below the ANSONIA theatre item, and ends at the top of the next, above WINTER GARDEN.)* Considerable interest is being manifested in the June bride wedding and dance to be given at Columbia Gardens on Saturday evening, and the interested parties are busily engaged this week selecting the bridal 'trousseau [sic]. In the window of Murphy-Softley may be seen a beautiful bride and bridesmaid dress. Silk underskirt, silk lingerie and silk hose, together with all of the other little novelties that thrill the feminine heart, especially that of the bride as well as the bridesmaid. Theg arments [sic] displayed for the bride and bridesmaid in the Murphy-Softley window were selected Thursday and will be worn at the ceremony on the evening of the wedding. A great deal of shopping had been done by the bride and bridesmaid before making their final selections in finding just what they wanted in the large and varied assortments of that popular women's store. For years the Murphy-Softley company has specialized in fitting out June brides and the institution has come ot [sic] be known as the June brides' store. The garments shown in the Murphy-Softley window will be on exhibition until Saturday. --- *[Adjacent on the clipping, not part of the item: theatre items (Strongheart at the Rialto, AMERICAN, ANSONIA), WINTER GARDEN (school-days costume ball) and Personal Notes.]* *[Text checked against the Newspapers.com clipping image (clipping.pdf, 711 x 1997 px) at 3x, 21 Oct 2026. The archive's page scan of p. 7 is a partial crop that holds only the line ends of this item; those agree with this text (Opus read of 20 Oct 2026). Printer's slips kept as printed: 'trousseau (stray apostrophe), "Theg arments", "ot".]*

Dotted underlines mark key terms on first mention — hover or tab to one for a reference note. The wording is the source’s own.

Open questions

The page-7 Personal Notes and theatre subsections are valuable peripheral material for the page metadata peripheral_items back-pass — they sketch June 1924 Butte social geography in detail (out-of-town hotel guests, what movies were playing, etc.).