Hennessy's was an American

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

, founded by Daniel Hennessy of

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

in 1898. Stores opened throughout Montana. In the 1970s, the company was acquired by

Mercantile Stores Mercantile Stores Company Inc. until 1998, was a traditional department store retailer operating 102 fashion apparel stores and 16 home fashion stores in 17 states. The stores were operated under 13 different nameplates and varied in size, with t ...

and the headquarters moved to

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

. When Mercantile Stores was acquired by

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

in 1998, the 100-year-old name was retired in favor for Dillard's.

History

Hennessy's history began when " Copper King"

Marcus Daly Marcus Daly (December 5, – November 12, 1900) was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the four Copper Kings of Butte, Montana, United States. Early life Daly emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, to the United States as a youn ...

, a powerful businessman from

, had a falling out with his business associate in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

, lumberman A.B. Hammond. Daly decided that Butte needed a store that would compete with Hammond's Missoula Mercantile to sell goods to miners in Butte and lumbermen in Missoula. He found fellow businessman, Daniel Hennessy. Hennessy owned and operated a successful store in Butte. With financial backing from Daly, Hennessy hired Frederick Kees, an architect from Minneapolis, to design one of Butte's most elegant buildings. Hennessy's department store opened for business in 1898. Inside, shoppers encountered marble staircases, oak counters, and solid bronze balustrades. Customers found every type of merchandise in 17 different departments from the basement level, up through the first three floors. At its opening, the Butte Hennessy's store employed 200 people. The upper floors of the original Hennessy Building in Butte became the headquarters for the

Anaconda Company The Anaconda Company, also known historically as the Anaconda Gold and Silver Mining Company (1881–1891), Anaconda Mining Company (1891–1895), Anaconda Copper Mining Company (1895–1899), Amalgamated Copper Company (1899–1915), and Anacon ...

. Hennessy's stores expanded from Butte into locations in Missoula,

Billings Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billin ...

, and

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

. The chain was acquired by

in the 1970s and headquarters moved to Billings in 1980. The Hennessy's chain closed the Butte store in February 1980 after years of difficult business. In 1998

acquired

and the Hennessy's brand was dropped in favor of Dillard's. At this time Hennessy's operated three stores in Helena, Billings, and Missoula. The Hennessy building in Butte later was owned by the

Montana Power Company The Montana Power Company (MPC) was an electric utility company based in Butte, Montana, which provided electricity to Montana consumers and industry from 1912 to 1997. History The Montana Power Company was founded in 1912 by John D. Ryan, the ...

, which dissolved and became Touch America, a telecommunications entity. When Touch America went out of business, the building was purchased in 2003 by Lawrence C. and Cynthia K. Farrar of Butte, Montana. It now is office space for multiple businesses and where Paramount placed offices during the filming of 1923, the sequel to the popular series, Yellowstone.

References

* "Capital Hill Shopping Center Will Open Its Doors Thursday." The Independent Record (Helena) vol. XXII No. 83 February 28, 1964 26 - 46. 8 Aug 2007 * "Hennessy's native Montana store." The Billings Gazette vol 90 No. 131 10 Sep 1975 5. {{Dillard's history Defunct companies based in Montana 1898 establishments in Montana Retail companies established in 1898 Retail companies disestablished in 1998 1998 disestablishments in Montana Butte, Montana