West Glacier ยท West Glacier
Belton Chalet
The Great Northern Railway's first Glacier hotel, just outside the park at West Glacier, across from the Amtrak station; reopened in 1998.
- Built
- c. 1910Sources conflict: the official page says it opened in summer 1910, Wikipedia says the chalets were built 1910-11, and the 1978 nomination says ca. 1907 with remodeling in 1911. Two cottages and a 24-room hotel building followed in 1913.
- Style
- Swiss Chalet
- Architect
- Cutter & Malmgren (per NRHP nomination)
- Type
- Inn
- Area
- West Glacier
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; National Historic Landmark
The story
The Belton Chalet was the first of the Great Northern Railway’s Glacier hotels, built across from the railroad’s Belton station as the main gateway to the new park. Two cottages and a 24-room lodge were added by 1913 in the Swiss style that set the pattern for the railway’s later hotels. Business faded by the 1930s, the railway sold the buildings in 1946, and the hotel stood mostly empty for five decades. New owners bought it in 1997 and restored the complex for about $1 million, reopening for the 1998 summer season.
The ghost story
Staff blame a mischievous ghost they nicknamed Bob for missing keys and unexplained footsteps, and Rooms 30 and 37 are said to be the most active, according to a 2013 Daily Inter Lake report on Karen Stevens's Glacier Ghost Stories. Lodge manager Noreen Hanson recalled a morning in August 2009 when a guest reported seeing a small girl in white in his shower, and the couple checked out with his hair still wet.
Source: dailyinterlake.com
Good to know
- Breakfast: available
- Address: 12575 US-2, West Glacier, MT 59936
Things to do
Tours in Glacier National Park
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Sources (4)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.