Hearst Free Library’s Women’s Club

2022-06-10T08:32:01+00:00

The Hearst Free Library is an important cultural and education site to residents of Anaconda, Montana. During the early nineteenth century, the Women’s Club used this space to expand both their knowledge and social circle.

Phoebe Appersom Hearst, mother of successful newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, established the Phoebe Hearst Foundation in 1901. Her foundation built and ran some of the first public libraries in western mining towns, including the Hearst Free Library in Anaconda, Montana. Phoebe’s husband, George Hearst, cofounded Anaconda and invested in the nearby copper mines. After he died, Phoebe decided to build and finance libraries in Anaconda and other mining towns George had invested in to show her affection and gratitude to local communities. Construction of the Anaconda Free Library began in 1894 with San Francisco architect F. S. Van Trees as the designer. Local builder J. C. Twohy completed it four years later, and the library opened on June 1, 1898. The building resembles grand classical architecture and features a red brick exterior, granite columns, arched windows, copper molding, chandeliers, craftsmen woodwork, and a brick fireplace. Among the library’s best features are pieces of valuable and original artwork Phoebe selected for display. Phoebe Hearst hoped the library would provide a public space where locals could achieve self-improvement through reading and self-fulfillment through culture and community. That dream found fulfillment in 1903 when wives of Anaconda miners founded the Women’s Club, a community of women who shared similar anxieties about their partners working in dangerous mining conditions and hardships integrating into a new town. The club met in the women’s reading room just off the second-floor hall of the library. Records of early library board minutes show that the Women’s Book Club was infamous for brewing coffee, talking loudly, playing piano music, and dancing, but they also discussed books and research subjects like mining, politics, economics, American and European history, art, and culture. In this room, members cultivated and empowered themselves. They finetuned their public speaking, critical thinking, and writing, and they created a strong sense of belonging, culture, and identity. Hearst Free Library and the Women’s Club continue to actively operate. Phoebe Hearst managed the library until 1903 when she transferred ownership to the town of Anaconda, which has maintained its original physical and symbolic character for over 100 years. This landmark is now a focal point of Anaconda’s historic district, and in 1973, librarians procured funding for restoration efforts and a spot for the building on the National Register of Historic Places. The Women’s Club made a plaque in honor of that listing.

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The Rich History of the Anaconda Copper Mine

2019-02-09T05:30:47+00:00

The Anaconda Copper Mine was the true epitome of an Irish immigrant’s American dream coming to life. Its creator, Marcus Daly, not only built a copper industry that was incomparable to others at the time, but he also provided the opportunity for thousands of Irish immigrants to come to the West with the promise of a stable job and a strong community. His success created the potential for many American dreams to follow.

Within months of its creation, the Anaconda Copper Mine, located near Butte, Montana, was a leading producer of copper across the entire North American continent. And it all began with one Irishman, Marcus Daly. Having advanced in the mining business for over two decades, Daly bought the Anaconda Silver Mine in 1881, with the help of the Haggin-Hearst-Tevin organization. When his workers discovered a rich vein of copper several months later, the other owners weren’t thrilled—there weren’t the resources to easily treat the copper, and no one knew if this discovery could grow to compete with the copper plants in the Midwest. Even so, Daly kept hope. He bought the properties from his partners and switched the mine to focus only on copper; the company quickly became very prosperous. Daly continued to buy mines in the surrounding area of Butte and to incorporate them into the Anaconda Copper Mining Company throughout the 1890s. By 1895, the prosperity had spread; in a report to British investors, mining expert Hamilton Smith stated that the mine could produce more copper than any other company, at a fraction of the cost.
Much of the surrounding landscape and population of Butte, Montana was shaped by the incredible success of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Timber proved critical to the success of the mining business, and Daly bought and utilized the Montana forests in order to run his mine. Furthermore, Daly’s Irish heritage and promise of a stable mining company drew thousands of Irishmen to Butte to work in his mines. Historian David M. Emmons has said, “By 1900, there were approximately 12,000 immigrant and second-generation Irish in a total Silver Bow County (Butte) population of 47,365. Thus, 25 percent of the residents . . . were either Irish-born or the children of Irish-born.” Irishmen came to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company because of the relationships Daly built with his workers there. These relationships started the moment applicants applied directly to him, and they continued as he met workers’ families and would even personally train young men in the work. The mines were incredibly prosperous for both owner and workers, and with the promise of employers who respected their people, the Irish had clear incentives to flood to Butte.
Although not much remains of the Anaconda Copper Mine beyond abandoned mine shafts and railroad tracks, it is worth the trip through Butte to see the residue of a true American dream that played such a heavy role in shaping Montana economy, environment, and population in the late 1800s.
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Intermountain Histories

Hearst Free Library’s Women’s Club

The Rich History of the Anaconda Copper Mine