Tracy-Power Residence

This three-story Queen Anne style home in Helena was constructed for George and Eva Tracy and was praised for lending “an air of distinction” to “one of the handsomest residence streets in Helena.” Completed just before the Panic of 1893, the prominent residence is distinguished by a large front porch, bay windows, a three-story tower, and Palladian windows in the gable ends, reflecting the Tracys’ financial success in the wholesale food distribution business. After George Tracy’s death, Eva Tracy, widowed in 1907, continued to occupy the home until 1912, when she sold it to Sarah E. Power, sister of U.S. Senator T. C. Power and a major donor to Helena charities. In 1920, Jos. E. Bower of the Bower Brothers Sheep Company purchased the property, and his wife, Leonora, another leading Helena philanthropist, remained there until her death in 1954. A year later, Thomas C. Power, grand-nephew of Senator T. C. Power and Sarah Power, purchased the home and occupied it until 2004. Its former residents reflect Montana’s rich Gilded Age history, and the house remains a handsome reminder of Helena’s nineteenth-century wealth and promise.

Helena, Montana · United States