Anaconda in Deer Lodge County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Imperial Meat Market
Anaconda Commercial Historic District
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 11, 2021
1. Imperial Meat Market Marker
Inscription.
Imperial Meat Market. Anaconda Commercial Historic District. The Imperial Meat Market specialized in fresh meat, sausage, game, fish, and oysters when D. D. Walker and Israel Gibbs opened it in a wood-frame building on this lot in 1889. Shop foreman Albert Bourbonniere, in partnership with Big Hole Valley rancher John Wenger, bought the business by 1905. Wenger left the partnership in 1910 and Bourbonniere died in 1912, bequeathing the building to Croatian butcher Rudolph Sokolich. In 1916, Sokolich and his partner Barney McTigue had the original building demolished and hired contractors to build this brick commercial building. The Imperial reopened in December 1916 with architect James Calloway Teague renting the rooms on the second floor. After 1918, Thomas Robinson operated the upstairs as a boardinghouse. Boarders paid three dollars a week for rent. When Sokolich closed the meat market in the 1930s, he moved into the building and rented out rooms until his death in 1952. Later owners remodeled the building to house a saloon on the first floor, but the meat market’s name plate, original side entry, and prismatic glass panels remain.
The Imperial Meat Market specialized in fresh meat, sausage, game, fish, and oysters when D. D. Walker and Israel Gibbs opened it in a wood-frame building on this lot in 1889. Shop foreman Albert Bourbonniere, in partnership with Big Hole Valley rancher John Wenger, bought the business by 1905. Wenger left the partnership in 1910 and Bourbonniere died in 1912, bequeathing the building to Croatian butcher Rudolph Sokolich. In 1916, Sokolich and his partner Barney McTigue had the original building demolished and hired contractors to build this brick commercial building. The Imperial reopened in December 1916 with architect James Calloway Teague renting the rooms on the second floor. After 1918, Thomas Robinson operated the upstairs as a boardinghouse. Boarders paid three dollars a week for rent. When Sokolich closed the meat market in the 1930s, he moved into the building and rented out rooms until his death in 1952. Later owners remodeled the building to house a saloon on the first floor, but the meat market’s name plate, original side entry, and prismatic glass panels remain.
Location. 46° 7.702′ N, 112° 56.871′ W. Marker is in Anaconda, Montana, in Deer Lodge County. Marker is on East Park Avenue (State Highway 1) near Chestnut Street, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 413 East Park Avenue, Anaconda MT 59711, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 10, 2021. It was originally submitted on October 10, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 97 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on October 10, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
