![]() ![]() Anaconda history tours in a vintage red bus. The volunteer-run tour will bring you past historic sites and buildings where you’ll learn more about the city’s early smelting days. On weekdays throughout the summer at 10 a.m., you can learn more about the town’s history by boarding a vintage 1936 tour bus that used to carry tourists in Glacier National Park at the Discover Anaconda Visitor Center. The world’s tallest freestanding masonry structure (Photo: Discover Anaconda) On this day, the public can take a tour with a ranger to the stack and see it up-close. 8, 2022, the town celebrates its heritage with live music, a brew fest, a parade and fun run, an art walk and more. ![]() The stack can only be viewed from a distance, except for one day a year on Smelterman’s Day. The stack, which is taller than the Washington Monument, sits in Montana’s smallest state park, Stack State Park. While the smelter was shut down in 1980 and cleanup efforts began, the original 585-foot smokestack remains standing and is the tallest freestanding masonry structure in the world. In 1883 mining magnet Marcus Daly founded the town to process copper ore from the mines in nearby Butte, Mont. ![]() The town was founded on smelting, the process of extracting metal from ore, and still holds its mining roots close today. Located at the corner of Park and Main Streets, there is currently a group in Anaconda that is exploring the possibility of returning the historic hotel to its former glory.Ĭopyright © 2023 Legends of America.Serving as a stopover city for Continental Divide Trail hikers and 20 minutes from practically any outdoor recreation you could wish for, Anaconda, Mont., is a good spot for those looking to connect with the West’s boom-and-bust history. The remaining space was then used for retail and office space. Then, an aggressive program of structural renovation was begun, including the removal of the hotel’s two upper stories. The following year, the building was sold to a local developer, and more than 2,000 hotel items were sold at auction. In 1975, heavy financial burdens and potential bankruptcy faced the Montana Hotel Corporation. A restoration project was undertaken in 1964, and a modern motel unit was built to the rear of the original structure. To combat this action, citizens of Anaconda formed the Montana Hotel Corporation and purchased the structure, renaming it the Marcus Daly Hotel. The firm operated the hotel until 1959, at which time plans for demolition were considered. In 1954, the building was purchased by Edison and Bell, Inc. After Marcus Daly died in 1900, the Montana Hotel underwent extensive remodeling, costing $96,000 under the ownership of the Anaconda Company. The first and second floors finished in red oak and eastern pine, contained the main dining room, a ladies’ ordinary, a saloon, chandeliered ballroom, drug store, and barbershop. The full basement was equipped with a servant’s dining room, a laundry, boilers, and a dynamo for electric light generation. Many rooms had canopied beds, a marble fireplace, and Persian rugs. The hotel interior included 185 rooms with modern amenities, like telephones, steam heat, and an electric elevator. ![]() The four-story structure was built of local red brick with terra cotta ornamentation and a 34 foot wide central arched entrance. Boyington, using a composite style of French Renaissance and Romanesque architecture. Modeled after New York City’s Hoffman House, the hotel was designed by Chicago Architect W.W. In 1888, Marcus Daly and his associates established the Montana Hotel Association and began construction on the new hotel, which was completed in the spring of 1889 at an estimated cost of $125,000. By the fall of 1884, Anaconda’s 80 buildings included seven hotels and boarding houses, and twelve saloons. Along with the smelters, Daly envisioned a substantial city and filed the original townsite plat on June 25, 1883. Backed by the powerful San Francisco, California syndicate of Hearst, Haggin, and Tevis, Marcus Daly built the world’s largest smelter on Warm Springs Creek between 18. ![]()
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