Voters in statue poll strongly prefer to have Marcus Daly at The Montana

The Anaconda Leader's Marcus Daly statue poll has run its course, and out of the 172 people who voted, 127 said that it should be placed outside of The Montana (formerly the Montana Hotel). 

The Leader conducted the poll at the request of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission after the commissioners voted at their meeting on Aug. 20 to table the decision on where to place a statue of Anaconda's founder.

The poll, which opened Aug. 23 and closed today, presented three options: "Outside of the Montana Hotel" (127 votes or 74%); "Outside of the Courthouse" (25 votes or 15%); and "Inside of Durston Park" (19 votes, 11%). 

A fourth option, "Other," which appeared along with an Anaconda Leader email address, was included to allow the public to offer other suggestions as a site for the statue. That option received one vote, and the Leader received two emails, both of which recommended Kennedy Common. 

The common was one of several sites initially presented by the ADLC Historic Resources Board, which is spearheading the statue project and has received a $50,000 pledge from the Economic Development Board to help fund its creation, to the Commission's assent. However, the Historic Resources Board ultimately narrowed its site recommendation down to Durston Park. 

The courthouse had been another of the sites identified by the board before they went with the Durston Park recommendation, though Commission Chair Kevin Hart has stated that his recommendation is that it be placed outside the courthouse.

The Montana Hotel option was brought to the Commission at the Aug. 20 meeting by Bob Mehrens representing the Ancient Order of Hibernians, stating that he had been in contact with the Anaconda Restoration Association board that owns The Montana regarding a concept for a statue of Daly to be placed outside the former hotel – and that the Consul-General of Ireland had pledged $5,000 for its creation. 

The poll's results are viewable online at https://www.anacondaleader.com/content/where-should-statue-marcus-daly-b....

So where will Daly finally have a place to stand in the town he founded? That decision will be up to the Commission. Their next meeting is set for Tuesday, Sept. 10.