Archives West Finding Aid

Harry W. Weston was born in Missoula, Montana, in 1895. His parents, Mary and John Weston, had come to Missoula from Sweden in 1893 and 1890 to join relatives. John Weston was a mechanic for the Northern Pacific Railway.

Harry graduated from Whittier Grade School in 1910, then worked at the Missoula Laundry. In 1912, he graduated from the Garden City Commercial College. In 1918, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served at Fort Missoula.

In December 1912, Weston started his first business, a wholesale jobbing business at 520 North Higgins Avenue in Missoula. He sold barrels of beef, salt, flour, pork and similar commodities. In 1913, he started a retail hardware business at 236 Madison; the business closed later that year. Harry then worked for C.H. Kiesling in his store, founded in 1908 in the Park Hotel building on Railroad Street. The store moved to 505 North Higgins Avenue in about 1914, and Weston became a partner in 1915, changing the name of the store to Kiesling & Weston Clothing Store. Later that year, Kiesling sold his share to Alfred Sterner, and the store's name became Weston & Sterner.

Weston & Sterner expanded the business and bought a building at 451 North Higgins, built for Henry L. Shapard in 1917. In 1919, the business name changed to Westerner's Inc.

Westerner's was a mainstay of Missoula's downtown from the 1930s through the 1960s and a prominent Montana business. The store sold clothing and outdoor products. Sales mirrored the occupations and interests of Missoula and surrounding communities, and customers included railroad, lumber, and forestry workers; ranchers; and business and professiona people. Customers sometimes put paychecks at the store for safekeeping until they could cash them, and they sometimes got loans from the store as well.

Weston built the business first by traveling to area lumber camps to sell and deliver merchandise and to take orders. During the 1920s through the 1940s, Weston established store outlets at Thompson Falls, Montana; Sandpoint, Idaho; and Anaconda, Montana. All of the stores eventually closed. Weston also operated many other stores in Missoula, including The Hub, Grant's Army Store, Bargain Store, Quinn's, and Nu-Way. He also operated Thrift Furniture in Ronan, Montana. Westerner's also operated as a wholesaler for many small stores in and around Montana.

He married Ella Maria Hemgren in Spokane, Washington, in 1919; she was born in 1894. Their first home was at 330 Main Street in Missoula. Later they built and lived in the Von Don Apartmets on West Spruce Street. Their son, Donald H., was born in 1927; another son died in infancy.

Harry Weston died in 1970. Ella Weston died in 1974.