One of the most familiar and grand landmarks of Missoula’s downtown, the Higgins bank and commercial block building, serves as monument to Missoula’s historic influence and commercial prowess. The completion of what was then the Western Montana National Bank in 1889, capped a lifetime of achievement for Christopher Power Higgins, one of Missoula’s founders and primary developers, who had died just a few months before its opening.

Born in 1830, Higgins, referred to as C. P. Higgins, or “Cap” Higgins, was an Irish immigrant turned U.S. Army Captain. In 1860, after serving in Washington Territory, Cap Higgins, along with Francis Worden, established a trading post along the Mullan Road at a settlement known as Hell Gate. In 1865, Higgins partnered with Worden and fellow pioneer David Pattee in establishing a mill four miles west of Hell Gate. As the milling operation grew in size, a community sprouted around it and most settlers and businesses previously located at Hell Gate relocated to the place they called Missoula Mills. Eventually, the “Mills” was dropped from the town’s name, but Higgins continued to play an important role in the development of a prosperous Missoula; helping to organize the first water plant, selling land, and becoming Missoula’s first bank president before building the Higgins Block. Higgins Avenue, the main artery of Missoula’s downtown and University districts is named after him.

In the 1880s, Higgins commissioned the Helena architectural firm Paulsen and McConnell to design a building to compete with rival A. B. Hammond’s First National Bank. The result appears as two buildings: one to house the Western Montana Bank and the second for the D. J. Hennessey Mercantile Company. The red brick, Hennessey section incorporates Queene Anne features and Italianate balconies, while the bank portion showcases etched gray granite, Romanesque arched windows, and a formerly copper clad domed turret. After World War II, the arched windows were replaced to look more modern, but the windows and facades were restored in the 1980s to their original style. The building now houses American Federal Savings Bank and a host of businesses and art galleries.

Credits and Sources:

Cohen, Stan. Missoula County Images, volume II. Missoula: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1993.

Koelbel, Lenora. Missoula, The Way It Was: A Portrait of an Early Western Town. Missoula: Gateway Publishing and Printing, 1972.

Mathews, Allan James. A Guide to Historic Missoula. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2002.

National Register of Historic Places, “Missoula Downtown Historic District,” Missoula, Missoula County, Montana.

Historic photos courtesy of Archives & Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.