Wholesale liquor dealer John V. Collins commissioned this handsome Renaissance Revival style commercial and boardinghouse building in 1897. The store was home to several saloons during its first twenty years. Workers at Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company Smelter cashed their paychecks next door at Daly’s bank and some quenched their thirst in this building or the one next door. Upstairs, various female landlords managed an ever-changing array of bachelor tenants. In 1919, the Anaconda Company bought the building and hired Bozeman architect Fred Willson to redesign the storefront and former saloon into a more refined business office and community meeting space. Pay Office Hall served smelter employees payroll needs during the day, and hosted social, civic, and labor union meetings at night. The second floor lodging rooms soon filled with labor union offices representing a wide array of blue-collar workers including butchers, railroad workers, iron workers, bricklayers, and plumbers. In 1948, the Anaconda Standard newspaper offices in the Petritz Block next door moved their advertising staff here. Since 1970, the Anaconda Leader has produced the town’s weekly newspaper from this location.
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