Lee and Penny Anderson Donate $1 Million to the Boone and Crockett Club’s Depot Restoration Project

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Boone and Crockett Club announced today that Regular Member Lee Anderson and his wife Penny have donated $1 million to support the restoration of the Club’s Old Milwaukee Depot headquarters building in Missoula. In 2022, the Club began an ambitious project to restore the Depot that was built in 1910. Last year, the project focused on cleaning and repairing the brick and masonry, restoring the windows and doors, and replacing crumbling concrete stairways. This year the project will include replacing the asphalt shingle roof with clay tile to match the original roof finish. The Anderson’s generous donation will help make this phase of the restoration possible.

“The Boone and Crockett Club was founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and our organization has played a critical role in conservation ever since. With such a long history, it is fitting that our headquarters building is such a beautiful historic landmark in downtown Missoula,” commented Tony A. Schoonen, chief executive officer of the Boone and Crockett Club. “However, the building is more than a century old and ensuring that it endures for another century under our care is important to the Club and its members. Restoring the Depot to its former glory is an exciting project—Lee and Penny’s gift will go a long way in helping us to accomplish our goal.”

Lee Anderson joined the Boone and Crockett Club as a Regular Member in 2000 and has been a generous donor over the years. In 2002, he and Penny donated $2 million to fund B&C’s Lee and Penny Anderson Conservation Education Program that has reached more than 50,000 students, teachers, and adult learners from across the globe. Anderson was the owner and chairman of APi Group, Inc., a multi-billion-dollar parent company for over 40 independently managed construction companies located in more than 200 locations worldwide, until it was sold in 2019. APi Group builds leaders that combine the personal attention of small-to-medium sized construction companies with the strength of an industry leader to bring innovation to the construction industry.

“Penny and I have been blessed to be able to support the organizations that are so important to us,” Anderson noted. “As a lifelong hunter and conservationist, the Boone and Crockett Club is one of those organizations and we are proud to help restore our historic headquarters building to continue to be such an iconic landmark in downtown Missoula.”

Located on the southern banks of the Clark Fork River near the Higgins Street bridge, the Milwaukee Depot stands as Missoula’s leading historical landmark. Designed by Architect J. A. Lindstrand and built in 1910 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad, the Mission Style building is one of the finest examples of early 1900s railroad station architecture in Montana. The Depot features a castle-like structure with two observation towers, mission-style parapet walls (using brick imported from China), Romanesque windows, and a Spanish-style roof. The Depot is individually listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places as it represents the era of railroad supremacy in contemporary development of Missoula. 

The Boone and Crockett Club purchased the Depot in 1992. As the Club’s headquarters building, the Depot provides office space for staff along with a Visitor’s Gallery that educates the public on B&C’s history and the history of wildlife conservation, big game records keeping, and an in-depth look at our hunting heritage. Since the original purchase, the Club has completed three phases of restoration, mostly to the interior of the building, and the original ticketing and waiting area of the old train station retains much of its former character with coffered ceilings and wood beams. Replacing the asphalt shingle roof that was installed decades ago with the clay tiles that were used on the original roof will have the building looking much as it did over 100 years ago.