When the City of Kalispell was contemplating accepting Alicia Conrad's proposed gift of the Conrad Mansion, there were quite a few long-time residents who objected and sometimes rather vehemently while others were staunch supporters of the idea. Why the disparity?
I think the following incident, as related fourteen years ago by my late wife, Johanna, will clearly explain the problem. She was Flathead County's Records Manager at the time, and folks would drop by from time to time to search county records for genealogical purposes. The following conversation was with one such couple. I've redacted personal names, as they aren't germane to the point.
I had just had another family of Conrad haters walk out of my office with a bit less dragon breath than when they came in!
Mr. & Mrs. P. are third/fourth generation Flathead residents who came to my office this afternoon to do some genealogy work when, inevitably, the name 'Conrad Cemetery' came up, I immediately got the usual reaction from the old timers. Mr. P. is a tall bright fellow in his eighties and at the name Conrad his head came up, his nostrils flared, he turned red in the face and he literally snarled, "Those @#$%!!& Kalispell Conrads! My mother knew that @#$#%^&!! Indian cheating, rum running, wh***mongering Charles Conrad and his uppity $%$^&*@@$#!! wife! He stole my grandfather's land, the #$$%^@! they ought to tear that #&^$@ Conrad Mansion down. It's a $%&^%$# insult that this town honors that son-of-a-#$#%&^!!"
Now, the first time a few years ago when I got this kind of reaction from the Z_____ clan, I was, as you might expect, a bit taken aback, but this time I was more-or-less expecting it! So, while his wife was bawling him out for his language, I asked him what year this had happened.
The reply was predictable: "It was 1927 and that #$%^*& Charles Conrad gave my grandfather a loan at a rate he couldn't possible pay back and then forced him into default and stole his land! The #$#%^@!!"
Needless to say, I pointed out that Charlie died in 1902, so it was not the Charles Conrad who built the Mansion and with whom Mr. P's grandfather had dealt. We then discussed who Charles Davenport Conrad was and his relation to the Conrad National Bank in 1927. We discussed the fact that Charlie had died too soon and the memory this town has of the Conrads is of his widow and second son and not C. E. Conrad, the founder of Kalispell. We discussed that Mr. P. sadly had the correct impression of C. D. Conrad and Lettie, but not Charlie.
by the time they had completed their business, his wife was willing to admit that maybe they needed to learn a bit more about Charlie 'the elder' as she put it. On his way out, Mr. P. said, "I'm sorry for soundin' off like that, but those #$@%&! Conrads get under my hide. I'm sure glad I found someone who understands my disliking the Conrads."
His wife looked at me, smiled and said, 'but not Charlie 'the elder', dear."
His parting shot as the door closed was priceless: "Alright, woman, I'm willin' to give the old man the benefit of the doubt, but that kid of his was a rotten [SOB]!! You have a nice day, young lady!"
And there you have it. Now you know why many Kalispell old-timers were against preserving the Mansion and would have preferred to see it demolished.
Richard L. Hardesty, ©2025, All Rights Reserved
Posted 4/14/25