Former Macy's Department Store
102 East Front Street  / 114 North Higgins Avenue

The Missoula Mercantile was established in 1866 through a partnership of E. L. Bonner, D. J. Welch, and Richard Eddy. Andrew B. Hammond joined the firm in 1876 and quickly became the driving force behind the company, which became one of the largest mercantile and financial enterprises between the Twin Cities and Seattle. Many of Missoula's most prominent business and civic leaders began their careers at "The Merc."

 Most of the Mercantile building was constructed in stages between 1877 and 1891. Excavation for the first "Merc" basement began in March 1877.  Stonemasons Murphy and Myers from Helena directed the backbreaking work of erecting the stone walls in May of that year. Despite the 1877 Nez Perce War, during which residents sought shelter behind the Merc's unfinished stone walls, the store opened for business in October. A one-story addition was constructed east of the original building in 1882. A second-story addition in 1890 brought the building to its present configuration.

It utilizes the vernacular commercial style and boasts some elaborate ornamentation, including cast iron entryways and posts dividing the windows, a splendid copper and glass commercial bay entrance on the Higgins Avenue side, terra-cotta hoods on the remaining second-floor windows, and iron-plated covered arched doorways and windows.

The Missoula County Courthouse constructed in 1910 is one of the city's most prominent architectural features. It is considered the crowning achievement of A. J. Gibson, Missoula's most prominent turn-of-the-century architect. This large, Neoclassical, National Register building has terra cotta walls on 3-foot thick granite bases and an Italianate tower with an interior 2-ton bell on top of a large centered dome. Eight murals painted by the famed western artist and Missoula resident, Edgar S. Paxson, are located inside the south entryway.  The handrails were restored in 2008.