John D. Ryan Mansion

Ryan Mansion, 105 N. Excelsior John D. Ryan bought this house from T.M. Hodgens in 1906. Hodgens was the cashier at the State Savings Bank when he built this house in 1899. Prior to purchasing this house, Ryan had rented an apartment at 223 N. Excelsior, the south half of a duplex at the southwest corner of Quartz and Excelsior. Source: Fred Quivik, July 2025

After Marcus Daly, ACM founder, John D. Ryan and Cornelius F. (Con) Kelley were the two most important figures in ACM history. Ryan was born in 1864 at Hancock, MI, in the heart of Michigan’s Copper Country, where his father worked in the mining industry.

After working as a clerk for his uncle’s general merchandise store for eight years, Ryan moved at age 25 to Denver, where he found work as a salesman for an oil company. His sales territory included Montana, and on a trip to Butte, he met Daly. In 1900, he moved to Butte and used his savings and an inheritance to purchase a share in Daly Bank & Trust. Ryan quickly impressed the Daly family, so when Daly died later in 1900, his estate named Ryan vice president and then president of the Daly Bank. Because Amalgamated ran its finances through the Daly Bank, Amalgamated president H.H. Rogers got to know Ryan and was impressed with him enough that he brought Ryan into the Anaconda and Amalgamated organizations. Ryan succeeded William Scallon as president of ACM, and he succeeded Rogers as president of Amalgamated in 1909. When Ryan became Amalgamated president, B.B. Thayer succeeded him as ACM president. And when Amalgamated was dissolved in 1915, and all its assets were transferred to ACM, Ryan returned to the presidency of ACM, and Thayer became vice president.

Meanwhile, soon after Ryan took charge of the Daly Bank, he started helping Daly’s widow to make investments on behalf of the Daly estate. Early investments began in 1903 when, using Daly money, he acquired the Boston and Great Falls Electric Light and Power Company, which owned a waterpower site at Black Eagle Falls in Great Falls, and the Great Falls Street Railway Company, which had gone into receivership the previous year. In the ensuing years, Ryan continued to acquire interests in hydroelectric properties in Montana, culminating with his formation of the Montana Power Company (MPC) in 1912. Several Montana electrical companies were merged into MPC, including Butte Electric and Power Company. Members of the initial MPC board of directors included Ryan, numerous financiers from New York City, and two of the men who had helped Ryan consolidate the Heinze properties into Amalgamated and ACM, W.D. Thornton and Thomas Cole. ACM and MPC continued to be closely affiliated corporations for several decades, as MPC supplied much-needed electricity to ACM’s expanding Montana operations.

After renting an apartment for five years, Ryan purchased the Hodgens residence at 105 N. Excelsior in 1906. Although Ryan moved his family to New York City shortly after the formation of MPC, he continued to use the house on Excelsior as his residence when he was in Butte.