The block between Oak and Cherry streets was jam-packed with single-family dwellings and boarding houses during Anaconda’s early years. Between 1884 and 1888, Mike and Annie Leonard built their one-story, wood-frame house facing the street, and then…

Jacob T. Gove, a miner and assayer, developed the Bonanza Chief gold mine near Montana City in 1883, netting over $9,000 from three carloads of ore. With his small fortune, he opened an assay office, built the house next door at 229 for his family,…

Anaconda Copper Mining Company carpenter Daniel R. Beck built this small brick building in 1896. He lived in one half and rented out the other half. Beck was an early resident of Anaconda, arriving in 1883 when it was still a hodgepodge of shacks…

W. H. Dunnigan and partners opened the Purity Dairy and the Purity Apartments (upstairs) in this brick commercial building in 1916. Purity was the first dairy processing plant in Anaconda to pasteurize raw milk brought in from area farmers. French…

Benjamin Mahan, pioneer businessman and respected Deer Lodge County Commissioner, opened his first paint and wallpaper store on Main Street in 1885. He later moved to this one-story brick building in April 1916. The store’s distinctive buff-colored…

The well-preserved Thorsen Brothers Grocery building is a classic example of an early-twentieth-century commercial building. The decorative brick parapet made the building look larger and offered ample room for signage, while tall display windows…

French immigrant and wealthy Deer Lodge Valley dairyman John Furst built this brick store and boardinghouse for $5,000 in 1895. Just steps away from Marcus Daly’s new bank and the fine Montana Hotel, the Furst Block fit in well amongst its…

William H. and Eliza Norton’s elegant center-gabled brick home remains a symbol of the Norton’s substantial contributions in developing Columbus and Stillwater County. Built of local brick in 1899, the home, embellished by an ornate front porch, is…

Wealthy banker Nesbit Rochester bought this bay-fronted brick building as an investment property during the summer of 1906. The building was listed among other “large homes” for sale that summer for $4,500. Nesbit and family lived just a few doors…

St. Joseph’s Hospital Nurses’ Training School originally opened in 1919, but this building, completed in 1936, put the hospital on a level playing field with eight other Montana Catholic hospital training schools. Until the mid-twentieth century,…