John Howard Empson Jr.
(1849-1926)

A Colorado Industrialist Who Made
Lasting Contributions to Helena


Photos Courtesy of the Longmont Museum
Longmont, Colorado

 

Ohio native John Howard Empson Jr. made a fortune in northern Colorado by building and operating vegetable canneries. Empson's peas were famous. His interests also included real estate ventures in Helena. Between 1917 and 1922, Empson's company built three business blocks on what was then the north side of downtown (see maps below). One of the two largest buildings, sometimes called the west Empson building, was devoted primarily to the burgeoning automobile trade. That Mission Revival style building was on the southeast corner of Placer and Fuller, and was the home of several auto dealships and garages until it was demolished in 1978. Much of the Mission-style details of the structure had been lost to the 1935 earthquakes. The Colorado Building, 435 N. Last Chnace Gulch, was built by Empson's company in 1922 for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Co.

 

 

 

West Empson Building, Fuller at Placer, c. 1919

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSON FAMILY

 

 

The Empson Properties
Shaded in Green

 

Click on the image below to open an
entertaining article about John Empson's
Helena endeavors, by historian Paul Putz

The West Empson Building, Looking Northeast, 1970s

Demolition

Existing Empson Buildings in Helena

N. Last Chnace Gulch at Placer

 

Storefronts in the 400 Block of N. Last Chnace Gulch

 

The Colorado Building, 435 N. Last Chance Gulch

 

John H. Empson Jr. Donated Land
for Helena's Y.W.C.A.

COURTESY OF THE DAVID POOR COLLECTION

John H. Empson Jr. Obituary