Goosetown Historic District

Drawn by jobs at Marcus Daly's copper smelter, thousands of immigrants came to Anaconda, many from Ireland and many others from a wide range of foreign places, and most settled in Goosetown, a working-class neighborhood beside the Anaconda foundry and the original Washoe works site under the shadow of the Great Stack. Its small inexpensive lots, simple frame workers' cottages, boarding houses, and small businesses dating mostly from 1883 to 1918 show the neighborhood's economic solidarity and working-class character. Modest homes on narrow lots often had bachelor cabins at the rear that were rented for extra income, while saloons and the 1905 Washoe Brewery reflected private commerce and industry alongside the dominant smelter-related enterprises. Widows often supported their families by running small businesses from their homes. Among the most significant commercial buildings were the Beaudette Block, the Anaconda Meat and Grocery Company, and the Depression-era Club Moderne. Historic churches such as the Austrian Roman Catholic, Free Swedish Mission, Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran, and Serbian Orthodox reflected the many ethnically oriented organizations that offered camaraderie and comfort far from home. Goosetown's name is most often linked either to east side bars that kept turkeys and geese for Thanksgiving raffles or to an early freshwater system with a water tap at the end of a gooseneck pipe in each yard.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, Montana · United States