Tour guide embraces Butte history

By Erin Nicholes of The Montana Standard - 04/17/2006

Denny Dutton

In his pinstriped brown suit and charcoal newsboy cap, Denny Dutton looked like he walked straight out of a photograph from Butte’s heyday.

“I would’ve been a middle class storekeeper or an accountant,” said Dutton, 53, explaining his early 1900s outfit as sweet-smelling smoke swirled from his chestnut pipe.

Dutton wasn’t playing dress up; the ensemble is his official uniform.

He is a tour guide for Old Butte Historical Adventures, which leads visitors through re-enacted businesses in historic buildings. His period attire helps paint an accurate portrait of Butte’s past.

“It’s just fun to bring this whole city back to life,” said Dutton, who moved to Butte in 1999.

A tall man with a handlebar mustache, Dutton can be spotted leading groups of tourists through the Uptown.

His commanding voice lends an educator’s aura, but Dutton’s background is actually in the U.S. military.

An Army brat who attended 13 schools in 12 years, he eventually followed in his dad’s footsteps and enlisted. His Army career was a steady, 18-year climb from drill sergeant to battery commander, with little time spent at one post, or in one place.

“The Army doesn’t leave you in a position much more than a year at a time,” Dutton said.

In his travels, he developed a penchant for history. He spent his days off in ghost towns. He also was interested in teaching, and earned a degree in Oklahoma.

When the Berlin Wall came down, he left the Army.

“The military got rid of about 50 to 60,000 people,” he said. “I was one of them.” He worked briefly as a school bus driver and car salesman before becoming a postal worker in Oregon.

“That’s how I ended up here,” Dutton said, sitting at the tour headquarters on Main Street.

Dutton and his wife, Barbara, vacationed in Montana and spent three days in Butte. A month later, they lived here.

“I fell in love with the people and the history,” said Dutton, who took a job at the local post office. “I’ve lived here seven years; that’s the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere in my life.” Immediately, he dove into Butte’s history, poring over books, spending hours at the Butte Archives and “listening to a million old-timers.” He left the post office and became a tour guide on a Butte trolley bus. There, he met Mike Byrnes, who came up with Old Butte Historical Adventures.

Now in its second year and growing, the business wouldn’t have been possible without Dutton, Byrnes said.

“He’s first in the door and last to leave,” Byrnes said. “He’s got a lot of good ideas and we complement each other very well.” Dutton has a valuable ability to pass his enthusiasm for Butte history to others, said George Everett, executive director of Mainstreet Uptown Butte.

“To listen to someone who actually moved here because of their fascination with Butte history is interesting,” Everett said. “Denny is so much into it, and he loves sharing it with other people.” For Dutton, being a tour guide is a good fit, a culmination of his love for history, his interest in teaching and even his military experience.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of the drill sergeant in me to keep the tours moving along,” he said, laughing.

Someday, he may pass his pinstriped suit and newsboy cap to the next generation. But never again, he said, will he move.

“I’m in Butte for good,” Dutton said. “You couldn’t get me out of this city with all the dynamite in the world. This is the first place where I feel like my soul belongs.” Reporter Erin Nicholes may be reached at erin.nicholes@mtstandard.com.