History of the Somers Mansion

The Somers Mansion’s story starts with a man named named John O’Brien. Mr. O’Brien was a lumberman who came to Montana from Stillwater, MN at the suggestion of railroad baron James Hill. After narrowing down the search to two likely sites, O’Brien settled on the hill on the north end of Flathead Lake, overlooking the lake but with direct access toward Kalispell. The rest, as they say, is history.

O’Brien began building a massive lumber mill with financing help from James Hill in exchange for the promise of future rail ties. After establishing the lumber mill operations, O’Brien used some of that money (allegedly to the dismay of Mr. Hill) to build the Mansion in 1903.

According to the plaque designed for the front door, the Mansion was designed by architect AJ Gibson (though the architect has been difficult to confirm). Based on the updates published in the local paper, the Kalispell Bee, the Somers Mansion originally took just 9 months to build. During the latest renovation, the workmanship of different crews became evident in different styles of framing.

The O’Brien family moved in and named the Mansion “Alta Vista,” translating to high view (an accurate representation of it’s perch on the hill. Even though the Mansion was the primary residence of the O’Brien family, they primarily lived on the second floor- the first was used for entertaining and company business, and the third floor housed guests and company men.

This era was short lived and the O’Brien’s only stayed 3 years before moving to Vancouver to begin a new lumber operation in 1906. After the O’Brien family moved out, the Mansion continued to be used by the Somers Lumber Company both as offices and continuing to house company visitors. The Company Manager was expected to live on site with their family and, in 1913, the then-Manager opened the Mansion as the “Mountain Inn,” which officially remained open until 1916.

It wasn’t until 1946 that the Mansion became truly private property. With the end of the Lumber Company, the Mansion became owned by the McDevitt family who were then serving as mill manager. The McDevitt family owned the Mansion for the following sixty years. The McDevitt’s were a rather private bunch and few people were invited in during their ownership, which ultimately built curiosity in the community.

In 2005, the Mansion was bought by Christin Didier, who lived there with roommates and owned it during a very unfortunate storm in 2008 that damaged the roof and wrought substantial damage. Ms. Didier began work to address the roof, but ultimately was only able to remove the remaining cedar shakes from the roof before she lost possession of the Mansion. She was not able to rebuild the roof and when she lost possession the Mansion did not have a roof. At this time the Mansion’s contents collected by the McDevitt family- all it’s furniture and fixtures- were auctioned off.

Eventually, the Mansion was purchased by a flight attended, Christine Manson, who wanted to renovate but never did. At that time, there sere several vandals and a few squatters who moved in despite her efforts. She held it for several years before selling the property to the current owner.

Jasmine purchased the property at the end of 2020. She grew up in Somers and had both dreamed about the Mansion her whole life and watched it slowly begin to disintegrate. When she purchased the Mansion, there were literal snowdrifts on the third floor and most of the windows had been broken out.

Check out the realtor postings here and here.

Her renovation began in 2021 with updating the infrastructure to property: new water and sewer lines, electric lines, a new road, etc. In 2022, the Carriage House was fully renovated and began hosting weddings. In 2023, work began on the Mansion in earnest and they finished in the spring of 2024 although it’s an old home that will always have a to do list!