West Side Historic District
Marcus Daly watched with pride as Anaconda steadily gained momentum after its founding in 1883. While Daly’s social and political ambition was reflected in the elegant downtown Montana Hotel, Anaconda Company managers, city officials, and other affluent residents built homes adjacent to and west of Main Street. The West Side encompasses a majority of the city’s original townsite and includes some of Anaconda’s most elaborate residences as well as impressive public buildings and modest dwellings.
The buildings of the West Side’s eclectic streetscapes, diverse in both style and function, feature Victorian-era spindling, scrollwork, and leaded glass as well as early twentieth-century Craftsman-style detailing. Cast-iron street lamps, locally produced by the Tuttle Manufacturing and Supply Company, visually unified the district by 1920. Judge George B. Winston was the first to build a fine home on the West Side in 1888. By 1890, expensive architect-designed homes were scattered throughout the neighborhood. Designs of local and regional architects include those of Joseph Smith, Martin Kern, Fred Willson, and Herman Kemna. Prominent early residents included Anaconda Standard editor John Durston, county attorney John Boarman, Superintendent of Schools W. K. Dwyer, metallurgist Frederick Laist, and Marcus Daly’s two sisters.
The City Common (Kennedy Common), with its distinctive bandstand and winter skating rink, anchors the northeast corner of the district. The Deer Lodge County Courthouse, Hearst Free Library, Washoe Theatre, Brentwood Apartments, and three historic churches are integral to the civic, educational, and social tapestry of a planned community that took root in the dreams of its founder, Marcus Daly.
From the NRHP Plaque