Entry No. 56 — the Bozeman file — filed under: roadside-oddity

Nevada City Music Hall

Inside a hall that began as a 1910 recreation building at Yellowstone's Canyon Lodge sits the largest public collection of automated music machines in North America. Charles and Sue Bovey started gathering them in the 1940s: Paris-made Gavioli band organs, Wurlitzer organs, player pianos, and coin-op arcade machines, many still cranking out tunes. The headliner is a 27-foot-wide, intricately carved 90-key Gavioli military band organ built in Paris around 1880. Feeding it coins fills the room with surreal mechanical music from a vanished era.

The move: Bring a pocketful of change and let the antique organs serenade you through the whole hall.

📍 Before you go Seasonal (roughly Memorial Day through Labor Day); small admission fee, and it's a 5-minute drive from Virginia City.

• 📍 Nevada City
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 1578 MT-287, Nevada City, MT 59755

Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.

⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-24