Optometrist John L. Hannifin and his wife Mary purchased this turn-of-the-century duplex in 1915. John arrived in Butte around 1895 and formed the Butte Optical Company. In 1909, he married Mary Moran, principal of the Monroe School. As a charter member of the Montana State Optometrists’ Association, the Knights of Columbus, and president of the State Board of Optometry, John donated his time and resources to civic development. He partnered with jewelers Herman Towle and Leopold Winterhalter around 1907 to establish Towle-Winterhalter & Hannifin. After John’s death in 1935, the Hannifins’ daughter Dorothy gave up her career as an attorney to rescue her father’s failing jewelry store. Dorothy had earned a law degree from the University of Montana in 1932, and her sister Lucile had entered a convent in Oregon, but returned to Butte after Mary’s death in 1942. The sisters successfully operated Hannifin’s Jewelry until 1977. The Hannifins made their fortune in Butte and contributed to the community for over a century.
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