Old Missoula

D. J. Donohue, Prominent In Business Here, Passes

D. J. Donohue, for many years a prominent merchant of Missoula and to the end of his life a strong factor in business here, died at 1 o’clock Sunday morning at his home, 1400 Gerald avenue. His death came after a long and brave fight against disease. He had been a resident of this city since 1900 and before then was manager of the Marcus Daly mercantile interests in Hamilton. He would have been 70 years of age on the third day of next November.

He came to Montana in 1890, when he became a department manager for the M. J. Connell company of Butte. Previously he had had experience in Chicago with one of the large merchandising firms of the city, Carson, Pirie, Scott and company. After seven years in Butte, Mr. Donohue went to Hamilton, where he remained until 1900, when he came to Missoula and established his own business, which he supervised successfully until four years ago, a part of the time from his sickbed. Then he razed the home of the Donohue company, at the corner of Higgins avenue and Main street, and had erected the large modern structure now standing there. This Mr. Donohue leased to the Montgomery Ward company. It is one of the best commercial buildings in Western Montana and stands as a memorial to his business ability.

Born in Ireland.

Mr. Donohue was born at Castle Island, County Kerry, Ireland, on November 3, 1869, and came to the United States with his parents at the age of 11. They settled in Chicago, where Mr. Donohue received his education and entered into the pursuit to which he devoted his life.

He was a devout communicant of the Catholic church, a member of the Missoula council of the Knights of Columbus and the Elks’ lodge. Mr. Donohue was prominent in the organization of the Missoula Country club and served a term as its president when the organization was young.

He is survived by his widow and by three daughters. Mrs. Robert E. Mulroney and Mrs. James M. Brown of Missoula and Mrs. Clyde F. Murphy of Los Angeles.

The body will be taken from the Lucy chapel to the family home at 3 o’clock this afternoon to lie in state until the funeral hour Tuesday. Rosary services will be held at the home at 8 o’clock this evening. Requiem high mass will be conducted at St. Anthony’s church at 10 o’clock Tuesday morning by Rev. Father D. P. Meade. Burial will be in St. Mary’s cemetery.

The above obituary appeared in The Missoulian on July 17, 1939.

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Donohue Building One Of The First Commercial Enterprises In Missoula

Higgins & Worden Founded Business on Site of Present Structure. It Served as Protection for Women and Children During Threatened Indian Trouble.

The building of the D. J. Donohue company at the corner of Main street and Higgins avenue is on the site of the first permanent commercial enterprise in Montana, according to James A. Brown, manager of the company.

Mr. Brown said that the first mercantile firm was that of Higgins & Worden at Hellgate, west of the city, in 1860. “In 1862[1] they founded the business on the present site of the Donohue Company at Higgins and Main. The entrance was on Main street and the present show windows on Higgins avenue were only a stone wall then. The business was continued until Mr. Worden’s death in 1887, when the name was changed to the Montana Commercial company. The business, however, had also been known as the Murphy & Worden company.”

Mr. Brown related that the old store building was of historical interest in Western Montana and said that when Chief Joseph and his band of Indians were coming through this country in 1877 the heavy stone walls of the basement of the building of that day which today supports the present structure, were depended upon for protection for the women and children of Missoula.

“A flag was to be hoisted over the old store in June of that year if Chief Joseph and his Nez Perces should go through Missoula,” Mr. Brown said. “The flag was to be a signal for the women and children to seek refuge in the basement of the store and the men were to surround it to protect them. However, the Indians came down the Lolo and turned south through the Bitter Root. The white settlers of the Bitter Root valley, numbering about 500 persons, sought refuge in old Fort Owen at Stevensville until the warring Nez Perces passed on through the valley into the Big Hole country.”

The Murphy & Worden store operated until 1897, Mr. Brown relates.

D. J. Donohue came here in 1900 from Hamilton, where he was manager of the Valley Mercantile company, bought the business and later purchased the business block, which is now the Donohue company’s store. At that time the business was limited to the street floor. The second floor of the building was devoted to offices while the third floor was occupied by apartments. As the business grew, it extended to the second and third floors.

Mr. Donohue was always a believer in advertising and it is said he often declared that the success of his business endeavors in Missoula was largely due to the judicious advertising his firm has carried out. When Mr. Donohue entered the Missoula business world the character of advertising was principally “staple and fancy dry goods.” However, he branched out into a new form of advertising which carried particular appeal to the buyers. Mr. Brown says that Donohue was the first Missoula advertiser to use a two-page ad in The Missoulian.

“He often has said that the cost of the big display of advertising kept him awake at night but he said that he soon saw the judgement of his endeavor from the business which followed,” said Mr. Brown.

Soon after Mr. Donohue went into business in Missoula he replaced the old stone wall with display windows on the Higgins avenue side, which still serve the store. The display windows, Manager Brown said, were the first ever put in by a Montana merchant.

Mr. Brown said the Donohue company offers its congratulations to The Missoulian on its sixtieth anniversary and that it is his aim that the company shall in the future have the same pleasant relations with The Missoulian that it has had in the past.

Mr. Brown, prominent in the Society of Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers, is a son of the late “Sandbar” Brown, prominent Montana pioneer and for many years the society’s secretary and historian.

The above article appeared in The Missoulian on April 30, 1933.

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