News you can use
News you can use
Rose and Jim Shawlee in front of their cafe.
The Grand Hotel dominates Hot Tamale Jim's, bottom right, in downtown Havre.
By Keith J. Doll
Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission
Jim Shawlee was born in Afghanistan on July 8, 1877. He came to America from Afghanistan in 1905, then to Havre in 1907. He rented a place to stay on the south side of First Street between First and Second Avenues and started selling his tamales. At first he carried them in a basket, then he sold them out of a tamale wagon. Jim put his business east of the Grand Hotel, it would seat up to 10 people.
In 1913, Charles S. Hanson put a café in the Edward Burke Building at 311 First Street and called it the Grill Café. Today it is the first building east of Master Sports where Second Chance use to be. Ed Burke was the mayor of Havre in 1908. The Shawlee's then rented at 600 First Street to live in, it is where the Siesta parking lot is now. In 1913 Jim Shawlee's wife, Helen passed away after giving birth to t sons. Jim then married Rosemary "Rose" and together they had three more sons. Rose was previously married and had one son, so now all together they had six sons.
When the Fair Hotel was built in 1928, Jim sold tamales there and called the business Jim's Chili Parlor. On July 24, 1929 the Shawlees purchased the Grand Café in the Grand Hotel and a year later moved Jim's Chili Parlor there. The final place for Jim's Chili Parlor was made on Monday, May 27, 1933. It was in the former Grill Café location at 311 First Street, in the Burke Building. As stated in the Havre Daily News: Mr. Shawlee plans on making some extensive improvements before he reopens. The interior was done in a silver motif and the name was changed to The Silver Grill Café. Jim Shawlee said he would still make his tamales and chili which he was known for.
When WWII started, four of Jim and Rose's sons went, one in the Army and three in the Marines. They all made it through OK, came back to the states and got married. In 1947 Jim Shawlee got his citizenship papers with help from his good friend Gov. Sam Ford. November of 1949 Jim and Rose Shawlee sold their Silver Grill Café and moved to Polson with their youngest son, Noel. On Sept. 14, 1952, Hot Tamale Jim passed away at a Havre hospital, he was 75.
The home the Shawlee's lived in before they moved to Polson still stands. It is located at 525 Fourth Avenue and has been very well-maintained.
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