In 1888, one- and two-story, wood-frame commercial buildings filled almost the entire block. Constructed circa 1890 on the block’s last vacant lot, this store was home to McKinnon and MacKay’s grocery. An expanse of brick with three recessed panels tops the building, making it look taller and more imposing than it is. Cast iron posts provide the structural support needed to incorporate large windows, which offered display space and allowed natural light to flood the shop’s interior. McKinnon and MacKay’s specialized in “the finest butter on earth” and in 1894 was the only store in Anaconda to offer produce from the Bitterroot valley. A soda water factory occupied the site in 1906. In 1908, it had become Mallory and Anderson’s, which sold everything from fresh Timothy hay and sawed wood to “Plymouth Rock pullets” and “choice geese.” In 1913, F. M. Osborne opened a machine shop, where he repaired cars, bikes, cash registers, and guns. Osborne also sold Wahl and Regal automobiles. Wahl and Regal were two of hundreds of short-lived car manufacturers that operated in the 1910s.
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