Not many people have done more to preserve history in the Mining City than Jim Michelotti.

Before Jim and his wife Margie raised four sons who were all successful athletes, Jim grew up in the McQueen neighborhood. 

He knows all about experiencing life in McQueen and Meaderville before the Berkeley Pit swallowed those neighborhoods.

Jim has been interviewed countless times for news stories, books and movies. He played a prominent role in the documentary “Resurrecting Holy Savior,” which came out in 2023. Jim volunteers a ton of time to the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, and he even joined the group of former Dublin Gulch residents recently to try to save that old neighborhood from British Petroleum and Butte-Silver Bow’s plans to cover it with toxic waste.

Jim is pushing for an interpretive museum in the old Dublin Gulch to honor the men and women from the old neighborhoods of yesterday — McQueen, East Butte and Meaderville. It should really be something.

Jim was also a key contributor to the sporting scene in Butte. He was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 for his work as a contributor, including the countless hours he spent helping Bernie Boyle turn the Knights of Columbus into a sports museum. 

After Pat Kearney passed away suddenly in 2014, Jim was one of a handful of individuals who make sure the Butte Sports Hall of Fame survived.

Listen in to this podcast to hear Jim reminisce about growing up in McQueen and the work he has done to preserve the memories of the neighborhood. Listen in as he talks about raising four boys and to hear what it was like when he had one boy on each side of the Montana Tech-Carroll College rivalry.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warrantee.

This is the photo on of McQueen and Meaderville on Jim Michelotti’s wall. It was referenced many times during the podcast.