Contractors built this well-preserved cottage in 1897, long before the imposing 152-foot-tall Anselmo Mine headframe rose on the hillside to the north in 1936. Piano store owner William “Will” C. Orton and his wife Mildred (a pianist) purchased the home when it was new in 1897. The home’s cutaway front bay, decorative gable ends, and spindlework porch posts are hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. Will and his five brothers, all musicians, opened the Orton Bros. Music Company in 1886. Will expanded their company statewide, becoming a fixture Montana family business until 1960. Music was also important to the home’s second owner, Finis Matson, who purchased the home in 1911. Finis, an automobile electrician, played drums and led the local Jazz Babies Orchestra. He was a member of Summit Valley Lodge 123, White Shrine, the Butte Pioneers Club, and a charter member of the Butte Kiwanis Club. He married schoolteacher Lulu Atkins in 1914 and they raised three daughters here. Lulu died in 1971, and Finis remained in residence until he died in 1975.
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