4B’s old fashioned Cream of Tomato Soup could be considered the stuff of legend.
Every morning at 5:30 AM back in the day, I would stop in at the 4B’s restaurant on the corner of Brooks and Reserve street in Missoula for coffee.
Nearly every Friday afternoon I would stop in at that location for a bite to eat before heading home after work. In the winter I would settle in for a bowl of 4B’s old fashioned Cream of Tomato Soup.
The soup was so good and at the time I never thought to ask for the recipe — I just ordered it up along with a burger or a sandwich and that was that.
Along about the year 2007 4B’s had decided to go out of business and were looking to sell their locations. Town Pump stepped in and bought the 4B’s brand along with all of the property they owned outright.
Some 4B’s restaurant locations were closed permanently so it’s footprint in the state was greatly reduced.
4B’s old fashioned Tomato Soup however still lives on, as legends often do, with the remaining 4B’s restaurants and other places across the internet by way of the simple recipes for it.
The recipe for 4B’s old fashioned Tomato Soup is public information (as 4B’s originally wanted) so I’ve taken the time to write the recipe down below.
Mix tomatoes, chicken broth, butter, sugar, onions and soda.
Simmer over low heat for 1 hour.
Heat cream in a double boiler.
Add cream to hot tomato mixture and serve.
Substitutes:
You can use coffee creamer or half and half in place of the cream for the most authentic flavor.
After 2007 many of our 4B’s restaurants closed down. One of the hallmarks of our 4B’s experience was the 4B’s Old Fashioned Cream of Tomato Soup shown above.
Our 4B’s restaurant here in Great Falls, Montana still serves the original 4B’s tomato soup recipe.
nutritional data points:
145 calories, 12 grams fat, 7 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams protein per serving. This recipe is low in carbs.
4B’s was somewhat of a mainstay here in Montana for quite literally years, and depending on where you lived in the state it seemed that there was one on every corner.
I think Missoula had the highest concentration of 4B’s restaurants scattered about town.
Recently after attending the Independence Day parade, we all piled into the car and headed for 4B’s on the east end of town for a snack.
When I lived in Missoula, 4B’s was the go-to every morning for coffee. 4B’s had the best coffee.
The 4B’s here in town still serves up the original menu.
4B’s bacon cheeseburger with fries (tap or click image to enlarge)
When we stopped in at our 4B’s, we all ordered the bacon cheeseburger w/fries — Wife and Son order Pepsi and Dr Pepper with 4B’s free refills and I settled for the great coffee that 4B’s is so known for.
4B’s had been owned and operated by the Hainline family from 1947 until 2007 — Bill Hainline opened the first 4B’s in Missoula in 1947. The four Bs were Bill, Barbara (his wife), Bill Junior (son) and Barbara (daughter).
Various interests like Star Buffet Inc. out of Scottsdale Arizona and Town Pump out of Montana have picked up continuing operations of the restaurant chain since about 2007. The Great Falls location is owned by Town Pump and still serves up the original 4B’s menu, including their much sought after tomato soup.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past that 4B’s garnered pretty much the same kind of name recognition in the state that Town Pump enjoys today.
In the world of national franchises like McDonald’s and Burger King, Montana sort of liked to hold it’s own with regard to places like 4B’s and Town Pump.
Places like 4B’s and Town Pump were or are so well recognized that upon returning from an out-of-state road trip you know you’re home the minute you see the sign.
Town Pump owned 4B’s locations (tap or click to enlarge image)
4B’s was such a prominent Montana fixture that I used to know where all of the restaurants were whenever I traveled about the state. These days however, I’m not so sure where they all are. When the big shuffle started around 2007 many restaurants were closed or sold off to others. I know that Helena used to have two 4B’s restaurants and I think that the Libby location was shut as well but reopened at some point.
4B’s still has a presence in the state as the map shows. Since this photo of the map was taken at our Town Pump owned 4B’s location, I’m guessing that the locations presented on the map are just the locations that Town Pump owns. There may be other locations owned by others that aren’t shown on the map.
Our visit to our local 4B’s was a pleasant one — Crowded as usual with a big friendly gnarly biker dude waiting on us. The food came out fairly quickly and was hot off the grill just like always.
If you’re in our area and would be so inclined, you can visit our local 4B’s at 4610 10th Ave S — (406) 727-3366
As is most always the case, you may have to wait your turn to be seated — No worries though, as the wait is often times well worth it.
Hey Montana folks — Do you still have a 4B’s in your town? If you do, tell us about it in the comments below.
Town Pump, headquartered in Butte, Montana was founded in 1953, and stepped up to help keep the 4B’s brand (headquartered in Missoula, Montana founded in 1947) alive into the future.
The restaurant at the Prime Time casino in Great Falls, which was operated by 4Bs, closed on May 5 2007. The stand-alone 4B’s location at 4610 10th Ave S here in town remained open and has continued to operate to this day
We go to the Independence Day celebrations every year here in Great Falls.
The parade is usually a pretty big hit and everyone attends it seems.
I’ll take tons of pictures and videos of the event every year and this year I noticed that the parade was missing some things.
KRTV who once was pretty much a given for the parade was absent again this year, as they have been for a number of years now.
KFBB with their Bee mascot has been absent from the parade since 2005-06? KFBB doesn’t live in Great Falls any more so I can understand their not showing for a parade.
The frontiersmen with their 50 caliber long guns were missing this year, along with the clown car.
The GFPS Patriot Marching Band was the only marching band this year.
I’ve noticed that the military contingent seems to be getting larger every year, and we also have our assorted fire departments and law enforcement representations.
Though there were a lot of military, we didn’t have our C130 MANG flyover like usual. We also didn’t have the USAF helicopter or Benefis flyovers either.
The political representation during the parade was somewhat toned down as well — I guess that might be because no one is looking to get elected this year.
Matt Rosendale made an appearance — It was just him and some other guy walking down the street together.
I remember back in years gone by when Denny Rehberg would show up and there were literally throngs of folks walking with him during the parade.
I’m not so sure that our Republican friends like Rosendale as much as they liked Rehberg … but that’s just me … I could be mistaken.
The parades in Great Falls are usually pretty stellar. We go to as many as we can throughout the year and though the Parade of Lights, St. Patrick’s Day, and Homecoming parades are smaller, they seemed to be much more creative than our just recent Independence Day Parade was this year.
I don’t know if it’s the economy, politics, or that folks are just tired — it could even be a combination of all of these things that caused this years Independence Day Parade to fall sort of flat. I hope that our other parades can keep up with the originality and the creativity that our parades have been so known for over the years.
At the end of the day there’s always the fireworks. There are so many fireworks that it’s hard to take them all in at once it seems.
Having been a part of the original Great Falls town site, I’m pretty sure that this old house has seen some days.
(tap or click image to enlarge)
The house was built back in 1890 and I guess that makes it 133 years old this year. This house was pretty small according to 1890 standards, so it’s history may not be as exciting as the original rectory that was the first house built on the same block back in 1889. Even still, it’s a great little house.
According to some of the neighborhood old-timers, this house nearly fell into the alley because it’s original foundation was failing. Somewhere back in the mid 00’s or late 90’s someone came along and put a brand new basement foundation under it and it saved the house from tipping over.
As far as houses go, this thing is a structural rock. Rough cut 2×4’s and 6×8’s, along with lath and plaster, were the order of the day back then that defined the quality and workmanship that we’ve somehow managed to lose over the years. I’ve worked on houses in Fox Farm that were built in the 70’s and none of them could even remotely come close to how well this house was built.
We put the roof on and painted the exterior per the owners direction, and now it’s back to the interior.
Old living area with original wall/door entries (tap or click image to enlarge)
This thing has a staircase complete with the original banister/railing that is fully in tact with the exception of just one spindle and I’m hoping that for the sake of antiquity, we can save it by getting it grandfathered in.
I guess that back in the day they had a doorway for every room in the house. A doorway for the kitchen, a doorway for the living room, a doorway to the family room and so on and so forth.
We were able to eliminate some doorways in the house in order to open up the living space by way of installing Glulam beams.
Glulam installation for interior living area (tap or click image to enlarge)
A Glulam is a stress-rated engineered wood beam composed of wood laminations, or “lams”, that are bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant adhesives.
Even though the house was built like a brick, at the end of the day, the Glulam installation will add even more strength to the existing build.
When I first saw this place last year, it was a mess. Someone had gone in and tried to fix it up by doing interior demo while at the same time trying to install new drywall. Some rooms had drywall over the top of plaster and some rooms didn’t.
This might have been fine on it’s own of course, but the way it was done would have greatly hampered interior door installation. As an added bonus, all of the drywall that had been installed had 4 corner joints. Installing drywall properly means that the joints need to be staggered.
Old living room windows with plaster and drywall removal (tap or click image to enlarge)
Long story short, we removed all of the installed drywall and then removed what was left of the plaster, and then reinstalled a small portion of the previous drywall correctly and added our own new undamaged drywall.
As a result, the walls and ceilings are straight and interior door installation will be a breeze. We also installed new gas filled double-paned windows to go along with the existing 10 in thick walls.
New living room windows with new drywall install (tap or click image to enlarge)
Opening up the main living spaces allows the light to come in and gives it the appearance of having more square footage than it all actually has. It will all probably save a ton of money on the light bill too — who knows?
As far as windows go, trying to stay with the original window sizes can be a bit of a challenge. Though most were able to be replaced along some original specs, there were a few that we found ourselves getting somewhat creative with. I think we came up with some of the best solutions involving some of the windows that didn’t directly interfere with the original lines of the house itself. If anything at all, what we came up with probably did more to add to the original character of the house than anything.
Staircase windows (tap or click image to enlarge)
I love working on these old houses. Keeping things the same is a part of what makes this whole thing so much fun. You can streamline a structure without having to compromise any of the intended core build.
Being since this place has sat empty for years, aside from the occasional hobo and flocks of pigeons, nothing has really been done to it and the neighbors are just thrilled that something is finally being done to bring this place back to life.
I can’t count how many people have stopped by wondering if this place is for sale. Unfortunately for some, the house isn’t for sale and I’m not real sure just what plans the owner has for it. All I can say is that the chances are very good that it won’t be a rental, and if the owner decides at some point in the future to sell, well, then whoever does buy it will be getting a brand new house that was built clear back in 1890.
Over all of the years of my doing this kind of work I’ve somehow managed to come up with some fairly creative names for some of the projects I’ve been on. If a house is extraordinary enough in some fashion so as to leave an impression, I’ll give it a name so that my peers in the industry will know just which house I’m talking about.
For instance — There’s a house out at Big Bend that I might ‘infectionately’ refer to as the Missoula house (the back story on that one is hilarious but I don’t have time to get in to all of that in this post). Then of course, we’ve got the Optimus Prime house over in Belt.
This house is my Halloween house. In the future, a few years from now, whenever I mention the Halloween house, all of my peers in the industry will know exactly just which house I’m talking about.
It’s really a beautiful house and I’m pretty stoked about being involved with it. Houses like this don’t come along every day so I’m pretty grateful to be in on this one.
” … these bear being so hard to die reather intimedates us all; I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen and had reather fight two Indians than one bear.”
Captain Lewis May 11th 1805 (Corps of Discovery)
Seems that there have been quite a few bear sightings around Cascade County of late. People have been collecting video and trail cams are taking pictures of Grizzly bears roaming about in places as close as Ulm and as far away as the west side of Cascade , and reports of the Grizzly roaming the fields between Simms and Fort Shaw.
I’m not sure if folks know this or not, but we happen to be living right in the middle of bear country. The northern plains have been the natural habitat for the Grizzly bear for hundreds of years.
These bears just didn’t suddenly appear — they’ve always been here — traversing the river bottoms and coulees for years.
Grizzly Bear encounters by the Corps of Discovery (tap or click image to enlarge)
The Lewis and Clark expedition first encountered the (white bear) Grizzly as far east as eastern South Dakota back in the day.
On 7 October 1804, at the Moreau River, about 15 river-miles below present Mobridge, South Dakota, the men noticed the first evidence of the presence of a grizzly. Clark wrote: “at the mouth of this river we saw the tracks of white bear which was verry large.”
Meriwether Lewis had his own close call with a grizzly right here in Great Falls back in the day — “In the first moment I drew up my gun to shoot, but at the same instant recolected that she was not loaded and that he was too near for me to hope to perform this opperation before he reached me, as he was then briskly advancing on me.”
Lewis went on to write: “In this situation I thought of retreating in a brisk walk as fast as he was advancing untill I could reach a tree about 300 yards below me, but I had no sooner terned myself about but he pitched at me, open mouthed and full speed. I ran about 80 yards and found he gained on me fast. . . . The idea struk me to get into the water to such debth that I could stand and he would be obliged to swim, and that I could in that situation defend myself with my espontoon. Accordingly I ran haistily into the water about waist deep, and faced about and presented the point of my espontoon. At this instant he arrived at the edge of the water within about 20 feet of me. The moment I put myself in this attitude of defence he sudonly wheeled about as if frightened, ? retreated with quite as great precipitation as he had just before pursued me.”
Grizzly Bears – Trail Cam Pic west of Cascade 5-20-23 (tap or click image to enlarge)
According to Lewis, the bear had done what we might now refer to as a bluff charge.
Grizzly bears are the masters of the river bottoms — River bottoms are the main transportation corridors for bears and many other animals around the area. It’s seldom that they would intentionally venture off of their path unless they are disturbed in some fashion. Most often times it’s another bear or some other form of wildlife that causes them to change their course.
As far as bears go, just because we don’t see them, doesn’t mean that they aren’t there.
We might also note that the mating period extends from May to July for the Grizzly and other bears, so it’s likely that we’ll see more bear activity during these months.
According to FWP, avoiding a conflict with a bear is easier than dealing with one.
Since we are living in bear country, the FWP gives some pretty good tips on how to stay safe when you are out and about.
