Anaconda Company Manager's House

The Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company, later acquired by the Anaconda Company, chose a treeless bluff overlooking the river to locate its smelter and refinery in 1892. Among the seventeen managers’ houses built at Black Eagle in the mid-1890s, this Queen Anne style home was the largest.

Although built circa 1893, its first resident manager was Charles W. Goodale (1902 to 1913). A later manager, Al Wiggin (1918 to 1941), had many trees planted on barren Smelter Hill, transforming it into a pleasant, shaded neighborhood. Managers continued to use the residence until the refinery closed in 1980, jeopardizing the future of the company houses.

Most were saved and moved to new locations. This home, weighing 120 tons, was moved to its present site by Richard and Carol Ecke in 1983. The lovely vintage residence features oak floors, carved ceiling beams, and rain gutters of copper, a material readily available at the refinery. Mahogany trim and original pewter and crystal fixtures hint at the refined lifestyle of a high-ranking company official.