306-308 East Granite

By Richard I. Gibson

Built: 1891-1900
Map

This one-story duplex, like its neighbor down the block at 324-326, was built between 1891 and 1900. An early owner was John Gleason, a blacksmith who emigrated from Ireland in 1871 and was in Butte living in this house in 1900. His wife Mary (from Iowa of Irish parentage), four children, and roomer John Case (a miner from Maine) also lived at 306, the west part of the duplex, in 1900.

In the other part of the duplex, 308, Mrs. Bridget Brennen (or Brennan) lived with her son (Michael, a miner at the Neversweat), daughter, and six roomers – four from Ireland as Bridget was, and two of Irish parentage. She had moved to this home about 1899, shortly after her husband Patrick died. They had been in Butte since at least 1896. Even though today we think of much of this section of East Granite and Broadway as Finntown, many Irish were evidently living here as well.

Sources: Architectural inventories, Sanborn maps, city directories. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.