Sec. A Page 16 Missoulian Centennial R. A. Eddy Was Associate of Bonner, Hammond, Others When City Young
R. A. Eddy Was Associate of Bonner, Hammond, Others When City Young
R. A. Eddy, pioneer and partner of the Eddy, Hammond Co., was born in Oswego County, N.Y., in 1837.
He traveled to Oregon at the age of 19 in 1856 and participated in the Indian war on Puget Sound and near Walla Walla. In 1857, with E. L. Bonner, he began trading with the Indians.
Eddy lived in Walla Walla until 1865 when he came to Montana. He continued in various trading enterprises until 1872 when E. L. Bonner took charge of their business at Deer Lodge, leaving the Missoula business under the supervision of Eddy.
In 1876 A. B. Hammond became a partner in the business and in 1877 the firm opened a branch house at Stevensville. In 1882 they opened another branch store on the Flathead Reservation.
Eddy was a large stock owner in the Missoula National Bank and the Montana Improvement Co. He served as a Missoula alderman at one time.
In 1883 he became a representative of Missoula County in the constitutional convention, and served in that convention during the session of 1884.
A business block just to the north of the Hotel Florence structure constructed in 1888 was called the Eddy Block. This was on the property now occupied by the north end of the present Hotel Florence.