Episode 7 - Norma Gronfein
B’nai Israel Temple in Butte, Montana
Welcome to Mining City Reflections, where we illuminate the history of Butte, Montana through the stories and observations of 20 century women who lived there. I’m your host, Marian Jensen. The oral history collection in the Butte Archives has preserved the personal recollections of these women in vivid detail. They bring to life the challenges and achievements of the boom to bust town. In this episode of Mining City Reflections we draw on an oral history of Norma Pilling Gronfein, who came to Butte in 1947. Montana historian Mary Murphy interviewed Norma in 1987.
In 1885, nearly a quarter of Butte’s stores were selling food, clothing, jewelry, hats, cigars, and hardware, to the bustling mining community. Most were Jewish-owned.
“When we first came back to Butte, the population was larger for one thing, and there were a lot of things going on, it seemed like.”
By the early 20th century, Jewish mercantile interests grew to include several large furniture and department stores. Members of the Jewish community became prominent civic leaders, including Henry Jacobs, the first mayor of Butte. The Gronfein family owned the Stratford Men’s Store in the heart of Butte on North Main Street. Their son Stan had gone to work in Seattle after graduating in industrial relations from Stanford. Once World War II was over, he returned to run the family business. With him he brought his wife Norma, who early on was attracted by the city’s entertainment.
“I can remember one holiday season seeing Ethel Barrymore in The Corn is Green, and seeing Melvin Douglas in No Time For Ginger, and Sylvia Sydney and Luther Adler in Jane Eyre all within two weeks! And I thought, oh this isn’t going to be so bad!”
A graduate of the University of Washington in Far Eastern Studies, Norma was an educated woman who sought ways to feed her intellectual interest while still fulfilling her role as a homemaker. She raised three children while finding time to use her organizational skills in voluntary activity and charitable efforts in many of Butte’s women’s groups. Though she was new to town, she found Butte an affable place.
“Well in the first place, when you first came to Butte, somebody from The Newcomer’s Club called on you and asked you to come to lunch. I don’t think Newcomer’s Club is in existence anymore, but it was a women’s group. And they invited you to come to lunch at the Finlen Hotel and you certainly met a lot of people just like yourself, who were brand new. And you only belonged to Newcomers, I think, for a year (I can’t really remember) because then you weren’t a newcomer anymore. But it was a way to meet people, you know, and it was easy to meet people. Not hard at all.”
During the 1960s, Butte’s mining industry had begun its inevitable decline. The city’s several Jewish congregations had begun to decrease in size as well, and decided to merge. To assist her congregation, Norma Gronfein took on the volunteer role as secretary of the B’Nai Israel Temple. She served in that capacity for 19 years.
“There was a Reform temple, which is the temple you were in. And there was an Orthodox shul on West Park near the Y[MCA]. And of course, we belonged to the temple. After the congregations kept getting smaller and smaller, they decided, as you probably know, to join forces, and they were Conservative at first; that was the middle ground. Now, of course, they’re Reform again.”
A challenging and emotional time, Norma helped to guide the membership so that in 1969 the Jewish community united under the B’nai Israel Temple. The oldest operating synagogue in Montana remains a symbol across the state.
“Working things out was kind of difficult sometimes because customs were different and the service was different. And it was hard for some people to let go of the way that things had always been, you know, what they were used to. My Catholic friends tell me the same thing, that change in the church is difficult for some of them to adjust to. It was the same sort of thing exactly I’m sure. But we did work it all out and we didn’t lose anybody. Nobody just said I quit, which was really just kind of amazing. And we felt it’s a symbol in the community and really important. You know, the first mayor of Butte was a Jewish man and that there was a large community and just a lot of people involved in the founding of the town. And so it is sort of a historical point and a point of interest to a lot of people in the state.”
Norma Gronfein represented a new generation of women in Butte whose husbands did not work at the mine, but who formed a small, vital middle class in the city. Many of the friends she made were also transplants who developed strong connections through social gatherings that were popular at the time – namely bridge clubs.
“When we were all young marrieds with young children, everybody belonged to a bridge club [laughs]. As strange as it seems, really, that’s where the close friendships came from, and we have all branched out from there. Some of them are involved with one thing that I am and some in another, but not all of us in everything. I’d say that’s where the closest friendships came from really. Most of us were not Butte people and we did not have family here, our own families, so we sort of became each other’s family. And it has kind of stayed that way through birth and death because a lot of these gals are widows now. And we’ve stayed close, but we have been each other’s support just because we were from somewhere else I think.”
By the time her youngest child was in elementary school, she decided to put voluntary work aside and became a substitute teacher.
“After our youngest boy was in the second grade, I started subbing, and I just loved it. I used to go to schools out in this area. At that time, children came home for lunch. There was a real shortage of subs, and Mr. Davis, who was the Superintendent of Schools, asked me if I’d like to sub. I stayed out on the Flat and he said that was fine, so I could be home for his [my son’s] lunch. We would come and go then, at the same time. It was great.”
Like many teachers of that era, Norma joined AAUW, The American Association of University Women. They were instrumental in lobbying the state legislature for public kindergartens as well as promoting local improvements.
“When I was active in AAUW, first active, one of the things we lobbied hard for were kindergartens in Montana; there were none. And that was one thing they worked very hard on. I can remember a few years ago when they were lobbying for public television in Montana. They were instrumental in starting projects in Butte. I do believe that AAUW started the first Friends of the Library in Butte. I know they did in fact. We had a member who was the librarian at Warm Springs and she was very interested in getting it started and she did spearhead it here, through AAUW.”
The AAUW also lobbied the Montana legislature to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. The seventies were a period of rapid change for American women and Norma identified as a feminist, though she saw herself as a minority in Butte.
“They go to the legislature every year for something, and yes they were strong supporters of those things.”
In retirement, she returned to her volunteer work and was also active on the city’s Art Chateau Board and the Library Board. She also became a member of Homer Club, the longest continuously meeting women’s club in Montana. Originally begun by the wives of mine owners hoping to elevate the vision of local social activities for women, the group had a reputation for elegance.
“There has never been a pair of slacks at Homer Club - with the exception - one of the spring meetings that was at Joanna Kendrick’s summer home out at Divide. Not that we don’t all wear pants all the time, but nobody goes to Homer Club in them, and nobody says you can’t! They just don’t. Everybody dresses.”
Garden clubs were also prevalent across the city in the mid 20th century with plantings of baby’s breath and petunias a regular occurrence. Norma’s garden club, Hill and Dale, had been around for 40 years.
“Our garden club does do programs on gardening. One of the big concerns of everyone has been the knapweed situation and things like that.”
Norma’s recollections provide an insider’s view of women’s organizations in Butte. Her story reflects the choices made by middle class women navigating the transition from stay at home moms to working outside the home. Norma Gronfein passed away at the age of 86. In the Homer Club’s 100 year old memory book, she is remembered as follows:
“Described by fellow members as a caring, loyal, true friend, Norma was widely read though modest about her accomplishments. Her contributions to our community were as varied as her interests.”
Mining City Reflections is a production of KBMF-LP and has been funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Permission for these recordings has been granted by the Butte Silver Bow Archives, the Montana Historical Society and the University of Montana.