George Waddell House
The 1890s brought growth and prosperity to Anaconda and Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Copper Mining Company. The town’s population doubled as well, growing from 4,000 in 1890 to nearly 8,000 in 1895. With the influx of new residents, construction boomed and Anaconda’s elite began to build their homes west of Main Street. Among the early prominent west side residents were Marcus Daly’s key company officials and corporate managers.
George Waddell, however, was an interesting exception. While Waddell was employed by the company, he was neither a manger nor an executive, but rather a talented and creative draftsman. These skills allowed the ambitious young draftsman to build one of Anaconda’s most elegant homes. Beautifully preserved, the home is Anaconda’s premier example of high style Victorian era architecture. Patterned shingles combined with clapboard siding, irregular roof lines, a grand turret, and cut-away bay define the Queen Anne style while curvilinear brackets and decorative elements provide elegant detailing characteristic of the eclectic 1890s.
The home was built for $2,500 in 1896. Waddell brought his bride Amelia here, where a son was born in 1897 and a daughter in 1899. By 1905, Waddell and his family had moved to Wisconsin and by 1910, the Manus Kane family owned the home. Kane, a longtime railroad station engineer for the B A & P, died in 1938; his widow remained at the family home until the late 1940s.
From the NRHP Plaque