POPULAR WOMEN TAKE OVER MILLINERY SHOP

Summary

Mrs. Nellie Gannon (well-known milliner of Missoula) and Mrs. Catherine Ward (one of Butte's best-known salesladies) have purchased the millinery department of the Murphy-Softley store on West Park street the previous week, and announced a new stock of mid-season hats as a feature of their taking charge. Mrs. Gannon has been proprietress of an exclusive women's shop in Missoula for years and is well and favorably known to many Butte people. Mrs. Ward is exceptionally well known to Butte shoppers, having been an employee of Green's, Weinberg's, and of late, Murphy-Softley's. Their millinery shop is located on the balcony of the Murphy-Softley store and the grand opening will be held during the coming week. ARCHIVE SIGNIFICANCE. (a) **Within nine months of opening, Murphy-Softley is restructuring** — spinning off its millinery department to two outside women operators (Gannon and Ward), who continue to operate on the M-S balcony. Could be read as prudent specialization (let domain experts run the hats) or as an early sign of the store narrowing focus. The shop will fully close in August 1924 (cf. 1924-08-01 going-out-of- business sale clipping). (b) Mrs. Catherine Ward's career arc — **Green's → Weinberg's → Murphy-Softley's** — independently confirms that Murphy-Softley inherited (and the Butte trade understood it as the successor to) the establishment "formerly known as Green's" per the founding articles. The continuity of Catherine Ward through the ownership change is a small but useful detail.

People

• James Joseph "James J." Murphy (b. 1883 Ardgroom; d. 1938 LA)(as printed: Murphy-Softley)
  role: store proprietor sold millinery department · family confidence: 10 flag

Also mentioned

• Mrs. Nellie Gannon · incoming_millinery_partner

  Well-known Missoula milliner; brings an established Missoula women's-shop reputation to Butte.

• Mrs. Catherine Ward · incoming_millinery_partner_butte_salesladie

  Career arc through three Butte women's shops (Green's, Weinberg's, Murphy-Softley's), independently confirming the Green's → Brown's → Murphy-Softley succession at 22 West Park.

Places

• Butte, Montana (primary)
• Missoula, Montana (context)

Themes

• butte_economic_life

Story threads

• Berehaven Murphys
• Murphy-Softley and Money Back Store — JJM's Butte retail era 1920-1924

Tags

• candidate_family
• color
• evidence_supporting

Source type

news_item, business_notice

Related sources

• 1920-03-01 — The Anaconda Standard, p.6 — CHANGES ARE MADE IN BROWN COMPANY
• 1924-08-01 — The Butte Miner, p.7 — MURPHY[-SOFTLEY] CLOSING SALE