Daly Mansion

The Daly Mansion was the summer home of Marcus Daly, the Butte copper magnate who founded Hamilton, and of his wife Margaret and their four children. The family called the estate Riverside. Today the house is owned by the State of Montana and run by the Daly Mansion Preservation Trust in partnership with the University of Montana, and it is the best-known sight in the Bitterroot Valley.

Daly bought the property, a former homestead, in 1886 and enlarged the farmhouse over the years. After his death, Margaret Daly hired the Missoula architect A. J. Gibson, and in 1910 the house was rebuilt as the mansion that stands today, about 24,000 square feet with around two dozen bedrooms, 15 bathrooms and seven fireplaces. Counts of rooms vary between sources. Margaret Daly died in 1941, and the house stood closed for more than four decades. In 1986 it was deeded to the state in exchange for forgiveness of $400,000 in inheritance taxes, and restored rooms opened to the public in 1987. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same year.

Guided tours cover the main rooms of the house. Outside are about 26 acres of lawns with more than 400 trees, several outbuildings and the Margaret Daly Memorial Arboretum. In the main season, which runs roughly from Mother's Day to mid-October, guided tours start on the hour from 10 a.m., with the last at 3 p.m.

Autumn 2026 is different: the mansion and grounds are temporarily closed from October 14 to 23. From October to December the grounds are open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but there are no walk-in mansion tours; private tours need a reservation 48 to 72 hours ahead at 406-363-6004. Admission is $15 for adults, $14 for seniors 60 and over, $13 for veterans and military, $8 for ages 6 to 17, and free for children 5 and under. The house is ADA-compliant.

Allow about an hour for the tour and longer if you want to walk the arboretum. The estate is on the Eastside Highway just northeast of Hamilton, so it pairs well with lunch in town.