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 and tents. After Beck died in 1901, the building housed an ever-changing array of tenants and businesses. Irish widow Margaret Crews operated a dressmaking shop in 1905 and 1906. Patrick C. Reagan ran a barber shop from 1908 to 1909 when he left Anaconda to pursue gold mining at Pike’s Peak, Colorado. Greek cook Gus Olanes opened the Plaza Café in 1917 with the slogan, “Good Food Makes Good Health.” In 1921, Olanes paid waitresses $17.50 a week (Union waitresses made $22.50). A large T-bone steak with potatoes, bread and butter, and coffee or milk cost sixty cents. Croatian Paul Kriskov operated a café here from 1923 to 1930. Kriskov’s enormous menu offered steaks and chops, fish, Truzzolino’s tamales, chile con carne, and upscale entrées. Breaded veal cutlets with new potatoes in cream cost fifty cents.
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