Mercantile Residence Inn
Mercantile Residence Inn
You’re on the site of the historic Missoula Mercantile – long Missoula’s premier general store.
Constructed in early 1877, the Missoula Mercantile (or, the “Merc”) opened its doors for business in October of that year and became the commercial heart of Missoula and the region for decades. Located on the northeast corner of Higgins Avenue and Front Street, the Missoula Mercantile Company evolved from an early trading post in the Missoula Valley founded by Edward Bonner, Richard Eddy, and David Welch, and rapidly became a powerful western Montana entity. The company served an area hundreds of miles wide and had satellite stores ranging from the Bitterroot Valley to the south to Flathead Lake to the north. The Merc was one of the richest businesses in western Montana from about the 1880s to the 1920s, with the headquarters building holding more money in its safe than all the banks in Missoula combined. Underground tunnels connected the Missoula Mercantile building to other businesses and banks for the safe transport of immense sums of gold and cash.
While under construction during the summer of 1877, the Merc was briefly utilized as a quasi-fortress against the threat of American Indian attack. During the Nez Perce War of 1877, Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Perce came as far as present-day Lolo, Montana, about 10 miles south of Missoula. Missoulians, seeking refuge from the perceived threat, took shelter in the half-constructed works of the Mercantile. The Nez Perce bypassed Missoula without incident on their way to the Bitterroot Valley.
In 1890, the second story was added, and in 1934, the company completed the acquisition of the adjacent Garden City Drug building to the north along Higgins Avenue. Allied Stores Corp. of New York bought the Merc in 1960, but retained its name until the Bon Marche bought it in 1978. It became Bon-Macy’s in 1999, and Macy’s in 2005. Macy’s closed its doors in Missoula in 2010.
HomeBase, LLC purchased the site and building in 2016 and broke ground on the new Mercantile Residence Inn in 2017 and opened in February 2019. Although the Missoula Mercantile is no longer, elements of the historic structure can be seen throughout the new hotel. Take a stroll along the Mews and view fragments of Missoula’s past.
