McGovern's Store

Updated: August 24, 2020

The store occupies a unique place in historic restoration. It is not only an original building, but its interior furnishings and stock also are exactly as they were left by the last owners, Hanna and Mary McGovern, when they hung up the "Out to Lunch" sign never to take it down.

James Sheehan sold this building in June, 1864, to William Kastor, B. Berry, S. H. Bowman, and G. Goldberg. Kastor operated it until early 1865 under the name "Pioneer Store," selling clothing. By April of 1865, he had moved across the street, and G. Goldberg was running the store. If you study the front of the building very closely, you can still make out the lettering "G. Goldberg" above the French doors.

It was converted into a residence about 1866. The single door to the west of the storefront (now a dentist's office) was, at the time, called the "Weston Hotel." The "Hotel" consisted of four tiny rooms about 6 x 12 feet each, and one had to pass through one room to get to the next. There was also a large living room with a skylight in the center of the store and a kitchen in the rear.

Thomas Deyarmon, founder of the Madisonian bought the building in 1876, apparently for a residence for rental.

Hanna and Mary McGovern, whose parents lived in the Star Bakery building in Nevada City, took over Mrs. O. D. French's Dry Goods and Millinary Store, then located in the corner of Creighton's Stone Block, upon Mrs. French's death. About 1910 they moved the shop to its present location, where they continued into the 1930's. Their shop, when its friendly bell on the door, was a favorite gathering place for the ladies of the town for many years.

Special acknowledgements to: John D. Ellingsen, John N. DeHass, Tony Dalich, and Ken Sievert, Tom Cook and Ellen Baumler of the Montana Historical Society.

Updated: August 24, 2020