{"id":791,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-08-08 18:19:19","latitude":46.57799733268283404186149709858000278472900390625,"longitude":-112.05188292399606098115327768027782440185546875,"title":"Henry Hay Homestead","subtitle":"Helena West Main Street Historic District","fullsize":"https://historicmt.org/files/fullsize/782594fdfc831a39803ab7e32481b08b.jpg","address":"684 West Main Street, Helena, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"English immigrants Frances and Henry Hay came to Helena in the mid-1860s and were among the first to settle on West Main where Hay mined a claim. Their log cabin became the center of the present residence, built circa 1870. A switchback path leads to a small mother-in-law house. Hay and neighbors Joseph Poad and Benjamin Benson operated the New Water Company from 1883 until circa 1888 when the City of Helena bought their water rights extending to Reeder’s Alley. Hay ran a fuel business, employing five of his six sons as teamsters. The Hays kept a watering trough out front for teams passing by. The family kept horses and dairy cows in the board-and-batten barn and used the shed as a creamery. Like many of their neighbors, the Hays built the shed into the hillside to keep their dairy products cool. The Hay homestead well represents the self-sufficiency and industry of early Helena pioneers. In 2004, property owner and Hay descendant Margie Broderick, local preservationists, and the Montana Conservation Corps worked together to stabilize the historic barn.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/7ba281e0-f6b6-4570-885c-ec6f944c7183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the Helena West Main Street Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/e3df6c9d-9fb8-40fc-96a0-5fa4c968e8fb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the Helena West Main Street Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://historicmt.org/files/fullsize/782594fdfc831a39803ab7e32481b08b.jpg":{"id":3214,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Henry Hay Homestead","description":"Henry Hay Homestead. Front view of the house, facing west at the south end of West Main Street. Digital photograph. | Montana Historical Society | Jan. 2020 | Michael Connolly","thumbnail":"https://historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/782594fdfc831a39803ab7e32481b08b.jpg"},"https://historicmt.org/files/original/031a2f994a0dfe0f60aecfb1e01edf81.pdf":{"id":6747,"mime-type":"application/pdf","title":"Helena West Main Street Historic District","description":"Nomination Documentation. This document is an accessible remediation of the original 1996 scanned nomination form. | <a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/7ba281e0-f6b6-4570-885c-ec6f944c7183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Original NPS Helena West Main Street Historic District nomination</a> | 2026 | Montana Historical Society","thumbnail":"https://historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/031a2f994a0dfe0f60aecfb1e01edf81.jpg"}}}