Information on the history of the Ladies Aid Building: alma_walking_tour/index.html#tour15

Now known as the Alma Ladies Aid Hall, this building began as the office building and scale house for the Fanny Barrett Mining Association. The manufacturing facility of the Fanny Barrett Smelting Works, located to the north of the office, began operations in 1880 but closed shortly afterward. Oral histories claim the building later served as offices for the Moose Mining Co. and the Dolly Varden Mine, with the scale house continuing to weigh the burros and wagons employed to transport ore for many years.

The Alma Ladies Aid Society acquired the building in the late 1910s or 1920s. Created in 1894, the Ladies’ Aid Society of the Christian Church “…visited the sick, pieced quilts, made bonnets and aprons to sell, sewed carpet rags, hemmed tea towels, tacked comforters, and aided specific church members who needed help.” Locals recall the ladies hosting dances and box suppers in the building. Christmas plays, Halloween parties, birthdays, and funeral receptions were all housed under the roof of the former smelting office. While many fraternal organizations for men existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were few outlets for women. The Ladies Aid Society provided a vehicle for community-minded ladies to serve the greater good of their communities through fundraising, outreach, and direct relief. The cultural spirit of the Alma Ladies Aid Society lives on in the community activities and events that take place in Alma today. The Alma Ladies Aid Hall is a Park County Local Historic Landmark.