611 North Main Street

Copper king William A. Clark and other prominent businessmen platted the Warren and Kingsbury Addition in 1878 just above Clark’s Original Mine. In 1888, a small wooden dwelling occupied this lot. This one-story duplex, with a rubble stone foundation, brick veneer, and corbelled cornice, replaced that home before 1900.

That year, two families of mining engineers lived here: Charles and Nora McKenzie in the south half and Norwegian immigrants John and Magna Rude in the north half. Open space now surrounds the duplex, but by 1916 it shared the block with four boarding houses, several other duplexes, and small single family homes.

The next year, longtime resident Margaret Wysong moved here with her husband James, a cable repairman at the Original Mine. James was working across the street at the Stewart Mine in 1923 when a jolt from a 2,400 volt wire electrocuted him, leaving Margaret a widow at age forty-eight. After James’s death, Margaret found a job as a “janitress” at the Hennessy Department store.

A frequent hostess for card parties held by the St. Mary’s Parish, she remained in residence into the 1940s. MT NATIONAL REGISTER SIGN TEXT 1990 TO APRIL 2019