Anaconda in Deer Lodge County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Thorsen Brothers Grocery
Anaconda Commercial Historic District
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 11, 2021
1. Thorsen Brothers Grocery Marker
Inscription.
Thorsen Brothers Grocery. Anaconda Commercial Historic District. The well-preserved Thorsen Brothers Grocery building is a classic example of an early-twentieth-century commercial building. The decorative brick parapet made the building look larger and offered ample room for signage, while tall display windows brought in daylight and provided a spacious platform for displaying merchandise. Norwegian immigrants Knute and Tandrup Thorsen opened a grocery nearby in 1904 and had this building constructed in 1914. After Knute went into ranching in 1916, Tandrup and his son Ralph continued to run the store. Tandrup retired in 1955, a forty-year veteran of Anaconda’s competitive grocery field. When he started out, the town boasted twenty-two groceries. By 1925, twelve grocery stores operated on East Park Avenue alone, with forty stores operating city wide. Forty-nine stores offered groceries in 1930, including the “self-service” Piggly Wiggly and the “cash and carry” Skaggs Safeway. Small family-run grocery stores like Thorsen’s all but disappeared in the twenty years after World War II. They were victims of increasingly popular corporate chains, which leveraged their buying power to provide goods at lower prices.
The well-preserved Thorsen Brothers Grocery building is a classic example of an early-twentieth-century commercial building. The decorative brick parapet made the building look larger and offered ample room for signage, while tall display windows brought in daylight and provided a spacious platform for displaying merchandise. Norwegian immigrants Knute and Tandrup Thorsen opened a grocery nearby in 1904 and had this building constructed in 1914. After Knute went into ranching in 1916, Tandrup and his son Ralph continued to run the store. Tandrup retired in 1955, a forty-year veteran of Anaconda’s competitive grocery field. When he started out, the town boasted twenty-two groceries. By 1925, twelve grocery stores operated on East Park Avenue alone, with forty stores operating city wide. Forty-nine stores offered groceries in 1930, including the “self-service” Piggly Wiggly and the “cash and carry” Skaggs Safeway. Small family-run grocery stores like Thorsen’s all but disappeared in the twenty years after World War II. They were victims of increasingly popular corporate chains, which leveraged their buying power to provide goods at lower prices.
Erected by Montana Historical Society.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture
Location. 46° 7.694′ N, 112° 56.824′ 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: 505 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 91 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 10, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
