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Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
; it is the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of
Missoula County Missoula County is located in the State of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,922, making it Montana's third-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Missoula. The county was founded in 1860. Missoula Coun ...
. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the
Bitterroot Bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva'') is a small perennial herb in the family Montiaceae. Its specific epithet ("revived, reborn") refers to its ability to regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots. The genus '' Lewisia'' was moved in 2009 fro ...
and Blackfoot Rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five mountain ranges, thus it is often described as the "hub of five valleys". The
2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
shows the city's population at 73,489 and the population of the Missoula Metropolitan Area at 117,922. After Billings, Missoula is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in Montana. Missoula is home to the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
, a public research university. The Missoula area began seeing settlement by people of European descent in 1858 including
William T. Hamilton William Thomas Hamilton (September 8, 1820October 26, 1888), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 38th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1880 to 1884. He also served in the United States Senate, representing the ...
, who set up a trading post along the Rattlesnake Creek, Captain Richard Grant, who settled near Grant Creek, and David Pattee, who settled near Pattee Canyon. Missoula was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post while still part of
Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
. By 1866, the settlement had moved east, upstream, and had been renamed Missoula Mills, later shortened to Missoula. The mills provided supplies to western settlers traveling along the
Mullan Road Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Ben ...
. The establishment of Fort Missoula in 1877 to protect settlers further stabilized the economy. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883 brought rapid growth and the maturation of the local lumber industry. In 1893, the Montana Legislature chose Missoula as the site for the state's first university. Along with the U.S. Forest Service headquarters founded in 1908, lumber and the university remained the basis of the local economy for the next 100 years. By the 1990s, Missoula's lumber industry had gradually disappeared, and , the city's largest employers were the University of Montana, Missoula County Public Schools, and Missoula's two hospitals. The city is governed by a mayor–council government with 12 city council members, two from each of the six wards. In and around Missoula are of parkland, of trails, and nearly of open-space conservation land, with adjacent Mount Jumbo being home to grazing elk and mule deer during the winter. The city is also home to both of Montana's largest and its oldest active breweries, as well as the Montana Grizzlies. Notable residents include the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin.


History

Archaeological artifacts date the earliest inhabitants of the Missoula Valley to with settlements as early as . From the 1700s until 1850s, those who used the land were primarily, the Salish, Kootenai,
Pend d'Oreille The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
,
Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...
, and Shoshone. Located at the confluence of five mountain valleys, the Missoula Valley was heavily traversed by local and distant native tribes that periodically went to the Eastern Montana plains in search of bison. This led to conflicts. The narrow valley at Missoula's eastern entrance was so strewn with human bones from repeated ambushes that French fur trappers later referred to this area as ', translated as "". would remain the name of the area until it was renamed "Missoula" in 1866. The Lewis and Clark Expedition brought the first U.S. citizens to the area. They twice stopped just south of Missoula at Traveler's Rest. They camped there the first time on their westbound trip in September 1805. When they stayed there again, on their return in June–July 1806, Clark left heading south along the Bitterroot River and Lewis traveled north, then east, through Hellgate Canyon. In 1860, Village was established west of present-day downtown by
Christopher P. Higgins Capt. Christopher Powers Higgins (March 16, 1830 – October 14, 1889) was an American Army captain and later businessman who with Frank Worden founded the Hellgate Trading Post and the nearby city of Missoula, Montana. He erected one of the f ...
and Frank Worden as a trading post to serve travelers on the recently completed
Mullan Road Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Ben ...
, the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the inland of the Pacific Northwest. The desire for a more convenient water supply to power a lumber and flour mill led to the movement of the settlement to its modern location in 1864. The Missoula Mills replaced Village as the economic power of the valley and replaced it as the county seat in 1866. The name "Missoula" came from the Salish name for the Clark Fork River, ''nmesuletkw'', which roughly translates as "place of frozen water". Fort Missoula was established in 1877 to help protect further arriving settlers. Growth accelerated with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883, and by charter, Missoula incorporated a municipal government as a town, the same year. In 1885, Missoula reincorporated its government as a city. In 1893, Missoula was chosen as the location for the first state university, the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
. The need for lumber for the railway and its bridges spurred the opening of multiple saw mills in the area, and in turn, the beginning of Missoula's lumber industry, which remained the mainstay of the area economy for the next 100 years. The
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
work in Missoula began in 1905. Missoula is also home of the
smokejumper Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters who provide an initial attack response on remote wildland fires. They are inserted at the site of the fire by parachute. In addition to performing the initial attack on wildfires, they ...
s' headquarters and will be the site of the National Museum of Forest Service History. Nationally, there are nine Forest Service regions; Region1 is headquartered in Missoula. Logging remained a mainstay of industry in Missoula with the groundbreaking of the Hoerner-Waldorf pulp mill in 1956, which resulted in protests over the resultant air pollution. An article in ''Life'' 13 years later speaks of Missoulians sometimes needing to drive with headlights on during the day to navigate through the smog. In 1979, almost 40% of the county labor income still came from the wood and paper-products sector. The lumber industry was hit hard by the recession of the early 1980s and Missoula's economy began to diversify. By the early 1990s, the disappearance of many of the region's log yards, along with legislation, had helped clean the air dramatically. , education and healthcare were Missoula's leading industries; the University of Montana, Missoula County Public Schools, and the two hospitals in the city were the largest employers. St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center, founded in 1873, is the region's only Level II trauma center and has undergone three major expansions since the 1980s. Likewise, the University of Montana grew 50% and built or renovated 20 buildings from 1990–2010. These industries, as well as expansions in business and professional services, and retail are expected to be the main engines of future growth.


Geography

Missoula is located at the western edge of Montana, approximately from the Idaho border. The city is at an elevation of above sea level, with nearby
Mount Sentinel Mount Sentinel, originally known as "Mount Woody,"Cohen is a small mountain located immediately east of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. At a height of 1,958 feet and an elevation of , Mount Sentinel also features the hillside lett ...
and Mount Jumbo steeply rising to and , respectively. According to the
Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal Statistical System of the United States, U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the Americans, Ame ...
's figures, the city had a total area of , of which were land and were covered by water. Around 13,000 years ago, the entire valley was at the bottom of
Glacial Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about and contained about of water, half the volume of Lake Mic ...
. As could be expected for a former lake bottom, the layout of Missoula is relatively flat and surrounded by steep hills. Evidence of the city of Missoula's lake-bottom past can be seen in the form of ancient horizontal wave-cut shorelines on nearby Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo. At the location of present-day University of Montana, the lake once had a depth of . The Clark Fork River enters the Missoula Valley from the east through Hellgate Canyon after joining the nearby Blackfoot River at the site of the former Milltown Dam. The Bitterroot River and multiple smaller tributaries join the Clark Fork on the western edge of Missoula. The city also sits at the convergence of five mountain ranges: the
Bitterroot Mountains The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains ( Salish: čkʷlkʷqin), is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains and Idaho Batholith, located in the panhandle of Idaho and we ...
, Sapphire Range, Garnet Range, Rattlesnake Mountains, and the Reservation Divide, thus is often described as being the "hub of five valleys".


Suburbs

* Bonner-West Riverside * Clinton * Evaro * Frenchtown * Lolo * Orchard Homes * Wye


Flora and fauna

Located in the Northern Rockies, Missoula has a typical Rocky Mountain ecology. Local wildlife includes populations of
white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
, moose, grizzly bears, black bears, osprey, and bald eagles. During the winter, rapid snowmelt on Mount Jumbo due to its steep slope leaves grass available for grazing elk and
mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...
. The rivers around Missoula provide nesting habitats for bank swallows, northern rough-winged swallows, and belted kingfishers.
Killdeer The killdeer (''Charadrius vociferus'') is a large plover found in the Americas. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Three subspecies are described. Th ...
and spotted sandpipers can be seen foraging for insects along the gravel bars. Other species include
song sparrow The song sparrow (''Melospiza melodia'') is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species. Description Adult song sparrows have brown upperp ...
s,
catbird Several unrelated groups of songbirds are called catbirds because of their wailing calls, which resemble a cat's meowing. The genus name ''Ailuroedus'' likewise is from the Greek for "cat-singer" or "cat-voiced". Australasian catbirds are the ...
s, several species of warblers, and the
pileated woodpecker The pileated woodpecker (''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the ...
. The rivers also provide cold, clean water for native fish such as
westslope cutthroat trout The westslope cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi''), also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'') and is a freshwater fish in t ...
and
bull trout The bull trout (''Salvelinus confluentus'') is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, ''S. confluentus'' has been known as the " Dolly Varden" (''S. malma''), but was reclassified as a separate speci ...
. The meandering streams also attract beaver and wood ducks. The parks also host a variety of snakes such as racers, garter snakes, and rubber boa. Native riparian plant life includes sandbar willows and cottonwoods with Montana's state tree, the
ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
, also being prevalent. Other native plants include wetland species such as
cattails ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...
and beaked sedge, as well as shrubs and berry plants such as Douglas hawthorn, chokecherry, and western snowberries. To the chagrin of local farmers, Missoula is also home to several noxious weeds, which multiple programs have set out to eliminate. Notable ones include Dalmatian toadflax,
spotted knapweed ''Centaurea stoebe'', the spotted knapweed or panicled knapweed, is a species of ''Centaurea'' native to eastern Europe, although it has spread to North America, where it is considered an invasive species. It forms a tumbleweed, helping to in ...
, leafy spurge, St. John's wort, and sulfur cinquefoil. Controversially, the Norway maples that line many of Missoula's older streets have also been declared an invasive species.


Climate

Missoula has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Dfb''), with cold and moderately snowy winters, hot and dry summers, and short, crisp springs and autumns. Winters are usually milder than much of the rest of the state due to Missoula's location west of the Rockies, allowing it to receive mild, moist Pacific air and avoid the worst of cold snaps; however, it also gets more precipitation in winter. Winter snowfall averages , typically occurring between October 30 and April 20. As with the rest of the state, summers are very sunny, and the average
diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak da ...
is more than from late June through late September, due to the relative aridity. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in December to in July. On average, annually, there are 24 days with temperatures at or above , 45 days where the temperature does not rise above freezing, and 7.8 days with temperatures reaching at or below . Record temperatures range from on January 26, 1957 up to on July 6, 2007; the record cold maximum is , last recorded on February 2, 1989, while, conversely, the record warm minimum is on July 27, 1939.


Demographics

The median income for a household in the city was $30,366, and for a family was $42,103. Males had a median income of $30,686 versus $21,559 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,166. About 11.7% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over. About 40.3% of Missoula residents age 25 and older have a bachelor's or advanced college degree.


2010 census

's census, 66,788 people, 29,081 households, and 13,990 families resided in the city. The population density was . The 30,682 housing units averaged . The
racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
of the city was 92.1% White, 0.5% African American, 2.8% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.6% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.8% from two or more races. Latinos of any race were 2.9% of the population. Of the 29,081 households, 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 51.9% were not families. About 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.82. In the city, the population was distributed as 17.9% of residents under 18, 19.7% between the ages of 18 and 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age in the city was 30.9 years. The gender makeup of the city was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.


Economy

Missoula began as a trading post in the 1860s situated along the Mullan Military Road to take advantage of the first route across the Bitterroot Mountains to the plains of Eastern Washington. Its designation as county seat in 1866 and location of the hastily built Fort Missoula in 1877 ensured Missoula's status as a regional commercial center, a status further consolidated in 1883 with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway. The railroad expanded Missoula's trade area to cover a 150-mile radius, and Missoula's location as the railway's division point and repair shops provided hundreds of jobs. When the railway began expanding again in 1898, increased freight shipments came through the city, and with the arrival of the Milwaukee Road and regional office for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as the opening of the Flathead Indian Reservation to settlement all within a couple years of each other beginning in 1908, the economy began to expand rapidly. Lumber mills were originally built to provide construction-grade materials for homes and businesses, but then expanded to entice and then meet the demands of the railroad; they profited from an increase in demand from railroad expansion and the nation at large. The Bonner mill, owned the Northern Pacific and Copper King Marcus Daly, became the largest producer of lumber in the northwest. In 1908, Missoula's location as both a major lumber producer and a regional commercial center helped land the city the regional office for the newly establish U.S. Forest Service, created to help manage the nation's timber supply. Over the next century, Missoula's various lumber industries was consolidated under various entities such as the
Anaconda Company The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the Amalgamated Copper Company between 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana. It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mi ...
in the 1970s and
Champion International Paper Champion International was a large paper and wood products producer based since 1980 in Stamford, Connecticut. It was acquired by International Paper in 2000. From 1893 it had been based in Hamilton, Ohio, expanding to plants in Texas and Western N ...
through the 1980s until most were under control of
Plum Creek Timber Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. was a timberland owner and manager, as well as a forest products, mineral extraction, and property development company, until it merged with Weyerhaeuser Company. It was headquartered in Suite 3100 at 601 Union ...
, all the while demand in timber dropped. In 2007, a downward spiral of Missoula's lumber industry began with the closure of a plywood plant in Bonner, the closure of Bonner's sawmill in 2008, and the closing of the
Smurfit-Stone Container Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation was a global paperboard and paper-based packaging company based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois, with approximately 21,000 employees. In 2007, Smurfit-Stone was ranked 13 in PricewaterhouseC ...
pulp mill in 2010. Since opening in 1895, the University of Montana has had a major impact on the development of Missoula's economy. In addition to the economic advantage from accommodating the student body, it gave the city an educated workforce not available in most of the state. The university has a close relationship with the city as Missoula's largest employer and with the millions of dollars the school brings into the city through visitors of school-sponsored sporting and cultural events. The university also houses Missoula's only business incubator, the Montana Technology Enterprise Center, and several start-up businesses. Missoula is the hub of its
Bureau of Economic Analysis The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official economy of the United States, macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic ...
(BEA) economic area, which includes the Montana counties of Flathead,
Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
,
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...
,
Mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...
,
Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
, Ravalli, and
Sanders Sanders may refer to: People Surname * Sanders (surname) * Bernie Sanders, US presidential candidate and senator * Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary and daughter of Mike Huckabee * Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC (Kentuc ...
. , the BEA listed the economic area population at 306,050. Key businesses sectors serving the area include health care, retail shopping, transportation, financial services, government and social services, education, events, arts and culture. Health care in particular is one of Missoula's fastest growing industries with
St. Patrick Hospital Providence St. Patrick Hospital, is a health care facility in Missoula, Montana. Overview Providence St. Patrick Hospital is the only level II trauma center in western Montana, northern Idaho, and Southwest Montana. The hospital employs more than ...
(western Montana's only level-II trauma center) and the Community Medical Center, already the city's second- and third-largest employers behind the university. About 55% of employment in Missoula is made up of the service and retail sectors. Export industries are concentrated in heavy and civil engineering, construction, beverage production, technical services, truck transportation, and forestry-, logging-, and wood-related industries. In addition to nearly 4million out-of-state visitors annually, which makes tourism a significant aspect of the Missoula economy, Missoula also is home to a vibrant sector of alternative healthcare. , Missoula ranked 299 nationally in
gross metropolitan product Gross metropolitan product (GMP) is a monetary measure of the value of all final goods and services produced within a metropolitan statistical area during a specified period (''e.g.'', a quarter, a year). GMP estimates are commonly used to compare ...
with an output of $5billion, the city's
total personal income Total personal income is defined by the United States' Bureau of Economic Analysis as:income received by persons from all sources. It includes income received from participation in production as well as from government and business transfer payments ...
ranked 333 at $4.18billion, an increase of more than 47% since 2003. , per capita personal income ranked 239 at $37,397 a year, 84% of the national average. The Missoula metropolitan area's unemployment rate was 3.7% , dropping nearly 0.8% in the twelve months prior.


Culture

Missoula, often considered the cultural center of Montana, is the location of the state's first university, and an eclectic mix of loggers, hippies, college students, sports fans, and retirees. Community events generally take place
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
either outdoors or in one of the several downtown buildings listed on the National Historic Registry. Since 2006, the River City Roots Festival has been an event each August with music, beer, food, and art, and generally attracts crowds of 15,000. The longest-standing event downtown has been the Missoula Farmers Market that was founded in 1972, which provides an outlet for Western Montana produce on Saturday mornings from May to October as well as Tuesday evenings from July to early September. An arts and crafts People's Market and a Clark Fork Market run concurrently. Downtown hosts "First Friday Missoula", a gallery walk on the first Friday of the month to feature local art from museums and galleries, such as that of
Monte Dolack Monte A. Dolack (born May 23, 1950)''Who's Who in America'', 2010. is an American graphic artist who lives in Missoula, Montana, in the United States. '' Frommer's'' called him "one of the best-known artists in Montana." He works primarily in wa ...
. Missoula celebrates "First Night Missoula" on New Year's Eve, which includes food and live entertainment. The "Festival of the Book" to celebrate the literature of the American West was rebranded the "
Montana Book Festival Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...
" in 2015. Missoula's two historic theatres both hold annual film festivals: the Roxy hosting the
International Wildlife Film Festival The International Wildlife Film Festival is a film festival held annually at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a ...
, established in 1977 as the first juried wildlife film festival in the world; and since 2003, the Wilma accommodating the largest film event in Montana, the
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven-day event. It is now a ten- ...
. In performance arts, the Missoula Community Theatre has held performances of musical and nonmusical plays since 1977, with its affiliated Missoula Children's Theatre also acting as an international touring program that visits nearly 1,000 communities per year around the world. Missoula is also home to a number of modern dance companies, including Bare Bait Dance and Headwaters Dance Company.
Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess ...
and Garden City Ballet are also based in Missoula. The Montana Museum of Art & Culture, which became a state museum in 2001, is one Montana's oldest cultural reserves, having begun in 1894; its permanent collection houses more than 10,000 original works. The Missoula Museum of Art is housed in a former Carnegie library; it features contemporary art and annually features 20–25 group and solo exhibits. Fort Missoula is home to the Historic Museum, dedicated to preserving the history of Western Montana, and to the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History and the Northern Rockies Heritage Center. The National Museum of Forest Service History is constructing the
National Conservation Legacy and Education Center National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
in Missoula, too. Opened in 1987, Missoula's
Bayern Brewing Bayern Brewing, Inc. is located in Missoula, Montana, United States, and is the oldest brewery in the state. It was founded in 1987 by Trudy, Reinhard Schulte and Donald Gaumer. It is named after Bayern, the state located in the southeastern half ...
is the oldest active brewery in Montana. Big Sky Brewing opened in 1995 and with a production over 38,000 barrels , it is by far Montana's largest brewery, and produces the best-selling beer brewed in Montana, Moose Drool Brown Ale. Missoula has also been home to Kettle House Brewing since 1995 and Draught Works opened in 2011. Big Sky, Bayern, and Kettlehouse represent the first-, second-, and third-largest breweries, respectively, in Montana. Also in 2011, Tamarack Brewing and Flathead Lake Brewing Company from nearby Lake County opened pub houses at downtown Missoula locations. The city also holds annual the Garden City Brewfest and Winterfest, and also periodically hosts the Montana Brewers Festival.


Sports

Missoula plays host to a variety of intercollegiate, youth, and amateur sports organizations in addition to a minor league baseball team. The Montana Grizzlies' football and basketball teams of the University of Montana have the highest attendance. The
Montana Grizzlies football The Montana Grizzlies football (commonly referred to as the "Griz") program represents the University of Montana in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football. The Grizzlies have competed in the Big Sky Conference ...
team has a successful program within the NCAA D-1 FCS level. Their home games at
Washington–Grizzly Stadium Washington–Grizzly Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Opened in 1986, it is home to the Montana Grizzlies, a member of the Big S ...
have a near 90% winning percentage and average over 25,000 spectators in attendance. All games are televised throughout Montana. The Grizzlies men's and Lady Griz basketball teams have also been successful at the
conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
level, where they both rank at or near the top in attendance, about 4,000 and 3,000, respectively, and play their home games at
Dahlberg Arena Dahlberg Arena is a 7,321-seat multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula. The arena opened in 1953 and is home to the Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz basketball teams. It has ...
. Missoula is home to the
Missoula PaddleHeads The Missoula PaddleHeads are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Missoula, Montana, and play their home games at Ogren Par ...
who play in the Rocky Mountain-based
Pioneer Baseball League The Pioneer League is an independent baseball league that operates in the Rocky Mountains, Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Its teams are not directly affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB). It is designated as an MLB Partner Lea ...
. They play their home games at
Ogren Park at Allegiance Field Ogren Park at Allegiance Field is a stadium in Missoula, Montana. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the Missoula PaddleHeads of the Pioneer Baseball League, Pioneer League. Built in 2004, it seats 3,500 people. The park ...
. Since 1977, Missoula has also held "Maggotfest", a festival-style rugby tournament hosted by the
Missoula Maggots The Missoula All Maggots RFC or the Missoula Maggots are an amateur Rugby football club based out of Missoula Montana. The Maggots were established in 1976 by former University of Montana rugby club players recently graduated from the Univers ...
Rugby Club the first weekend in May. The non-elimination tournament focuses on the fun aspect of the game, attracting 36 teams (male and female) from around the United States and Canada. In regular-season play, the Missoula Maggots compete as part of the Montana Rugby Union alongside another local rugby team, the University of Montana Jesters. The Thomas Meagher Hurling Club are also based in Missoula and play in the Northwestern division of the
USGAA The United States County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or USGAA, is one of the 3 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in North America, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the United States (except for the New Y ...
. The club are named after the late
Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
and former acting Territorial Governor of Montana,
Thomas Francis Meagher Thomas Francis Meagher (; 3 August 18231 July 1867) was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death, but received transportation for life ...
.


Parks and recreation

The city has over of parkland, of trails, and nearly of conserved open space. Located at the confluence of three rivers (the Clark Fork, Bitterroot, and Blackfoot), the area is also popular for
white water rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
and, thanks largely to the
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
and subsequent
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
''A River Runs Through It'' by Missoula native
Norman Maclean Norman Fitzroy Maclean (December 23, 1902August 2, 1990) was a Scottish-American professor at the University of Chicago who became, following his retirement, a major figure in American literature. Maclean is best known for his collection of no ...
, is well known for its
fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
. Additionally, Missoula has two aquatic parks, multiple golf courses, is home to the
Adventure Cycling Association Adventure Cycling Association is a nonprofit member organization focused on travel by bicycle (bicycle touring). Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Adventure Cycling develops cycling routes, publishes maps, provides guided trips, and advocates ...
, and hosts what ''
Runner's World ''Runner's World'' is a globally circulated monthly magazine for runners of all skills sets, published by Hearst in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Before its acquisition by Hearst, it was founded and published by Rodale, Inc. in E ...
'' called the "best overall" marathon in the U.S. There are also three ski areas within :
Montana Snowbowl Montana Snowbowl is an alpine ski area in the western United States, located in the Lolo National Forest of western Montana, northwest of Missoula. It is known for long expert runs such as West Bowl and its throwback operations; there is no signi ...
, Discovery Ski Area, and
Lost Trail Powder Mountain Lost Trail Powder Mountain is an alpine ski area in the western United States, on the Montana-Idaho border in the northern Rocky Mountains. In the Bitterroot Range, it is at the junction of US Highway 93 and Montana State Highway 43 at Lost Tra ...
. Slightly farther away are
Lookout Pass Lookout Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of the northwestern United States. In the Coeur d'Alene Mountains of the Bitterroot Range, the pass is on the border between Idaho and Montana, traversed by Interstate 90 (formerly U.S. Rout ...
,
Blacktail Mountain Blacktail may refer to a location in the United States: *Blacktail, North Dakota *Blacktail, South Dakota *Blacktail Butte, a mountain in Wyoming * ''Blacktail'' (video game), a 2022 video game. See also *Black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tai ...
, and Big Mountain. A system of public parks was developed in Missoula in 1902 with the donation by lumber baron Thomas Greenough and his wife Tessie. They gave a tract of land along Rattlesnake Creek for Greenough Park, on the condition that "the land forever be used as a park and for park purposes to which the people of Missoula may ... find a comfortable, romantic and poetic retreat". In a follow-up nine years later in a letter to the ''
Missoulian The ''Missoulian'' is a daily newspaper printed in Missoula, Montana, United States. The newspaper has been owned by Lee Enterprises since 1959. The ''Missoulian'' is the largest published newspaper in Western Montana, and is distributed througho ...
'', he stressed his interest in having the park remain in as close to a native state as possible. That request, along with the discovery that non-native Norway maples were inhibiting the growth of native trees and shrubs such as cottonwoods, ponderosa pines, and Rocky Mountain maples, led to the controversial decision to remove Norway maples from the park with the hope of returning it to its natural state. In 1924, Bonner Park was created out of John L. Bonner's estate near the university. Today's park has multiple athletic fields and courts, and band shell used by the Missoula City band through the summer. The
Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...
club set up a Kiwanis Park downtown in 1934, making it the first of a string of parks that line both sides of the Clark Fork River. One of those parks on the southern bank of the river is McCormick Park, which was created with
WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...
funds out of surplus highway land, a parcel from the American Hide and Fur Company, and land donated from the Kate McCormick estate. The park, named for
Washington J. McCormick Washington Jay Mccormick, Jr. (January 4, 1884 – March 7, 1949) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Montana. Born in Missoula, Montana, Mccormick attended the University of Montana – Missoula, University of ...
and his wife, is home to a skate park, aquatics center, a free bike check-out, and a children's fishing pond. Other popular parks include the Jacobs Island Bark Park, a designated area for dogs to play off-leash; the Montana State veterans' memorial rose garden; Waterwise Garden, a "living laboratory" garden utilizing water conservation techniques; and Splash Montana Waterpark at Playfair Park.


Caras Park

Caras Park is located just south of the historic Wilma Theatre downtown. It is located on land reclaimed when the Higgins Avenue Bridge was widened from two lanes to four in 1962. Before the reclamation, the Clark Fork River divided to create an island with the north channel's bank extending to nearby buildings such as the Wilma Theatre. The south channel was deepened for the increased water flow and the infilled land later became Caras Park. Events in the park were not common until the early 1980s and permanent fixtures such as "Out to Lunch", which began in 1986. The Missoula Downtown Association took over from Parks and Recreation to manage the park and made improvements to make Caras Park more event-friendly. Seating, event circles, brick plazas, restrooms, and storage structures were added. Large temporary tents were used for events until 1997, when a permanent pavilion was constructed. The park is a hub of city festivities including include "Out to Lunch", the
International Wildlife Film Festival The International Wildlife Film Festival is a film festival held annually at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a ...
, First Night Missoula, Garden City BrewFest and offered intimate concert settings for artists such as Jewel,
Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby D ...
,
Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...
,
Ziggy Marley David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley (born 17 October 1968) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician, actor and philanthropist. He is the son of reggae icon Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 200 ...
, and
B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
. Located next to Caras Park is
A Carousel for Missoula A Carousel for Missoula is a volunteer-built, hand-carved carousel in Missoula, Montana, located on the Clark Fork River in Missoula's downtown Caras Park within walking distance of the historic Wilma Theatre, Jeannette Rankin Peace Center and ...
, a wooden, hand-carved and volunteer-built carousel; and Dragon Hollow, a children's recreational area adjacent to the carousel.


Government and politics

Missoula's system of government has changed four times since 1883, when an
aldermanic An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members th ...
form of government was approved with the town charter. The city adopted a commission-council form of government in 1911 with the opening of new City Hall and a
council–manager government The council–manager government is a form of local government used for municipalities, counties, or other equivalent regions. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States along with the mayor–council govern ...
in 1954 before returning to an aldermanic form of government in 1959. Since January 1, 1997, Missoula has been governed in accordance with the Missoula City Charter, which calls for a mayor–council system of government. The current system comprises a mayor and city treasurer elected in a citywide vote and 12
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
members who must reside in and are elected from one of six wards, with each ward having two council members. All positions are nominally nonpartisan. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms with council-member elections being staggered to allow only one member from each ward to up for re-election. No term limits exist for either position. Missoula's state legislative delegation is the second-largest in the
Montana Legislature The Montana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Montana. It is composed of the 100-member Montana House of Representatives and the 50-member Montana Senate. The Montana Constitution dictates that the legislature me ...
and is represented by districts 91–100 in the
Montana House of Representatives The Montana House of Representatives is, with the Montana Senate, one of the two houses of the Montana Legislature. Composed of 100 members, the House elects its leadership every two years. Composition of the House :''67th Legislature – 2021 ...
and districts 46–50 in the
Montana Senate The Montana Senate is the upper house of the Montana Legislature, the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Montana. The body is composed of 50 senators elected for four years. Composition of the Senate :''67th Legislature – 2021–202 ...
. Having 13 Democrats and two Republicans in its state legislative delegation, Missoula is known as a more
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
area than the rest of the state. Though Missoula's political leanings may not be unique for a college town, its initiative to make marijuana possession the lowest priority of and symbolic resolutions calling on Congress to withdraw from and to amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that "corporations are often put it at odds with the rest of the state. In 2011, the Montana legislature, with a Republican House majority, attempted to overturn Missoula's marijuana law and revoke its ability to have an anti-discrimination ordinance that included the
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
community. The marijuana repeal was vetoed by then-Governor Brian Schweitzer and the attempt to repeal the anti-discrimination ordinance died in the State Senate. In 2020,
Missoula County Missoula County is located in the State of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,922, making it Montana's third-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Missoula. The county was founded in 1860. Missoula Coun ...
became the first county in Montana to adopt a county sales tax on gasoline (an option afforded to counties in Montana that had gone unused for several decades). The
Montana Legislature The Montana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Montana. It is composed of the 100-member Montana House of Representatives and the 50-member Montana Senate. The Montana Constitution dictates that the legislature me ...
and Governor
Greg Gianforte Gregory Richard Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, software engineer, and writer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U.S. representa ...
blocked this decision the following year, repealing the sales tax provision from state law.


Education

Missoula's first school was opened in late 1869 with 16 students from around the region and their teacher Emma C. Slack, who had come to Missoula by a two-month trip by horseback, railroad, and boat from
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
at the invitation of her brother. She resigned two years later upon marrying (the first couple married in Missoula) and was replaced by Elizabeth Countryman, who later married Missoula's first mayor, The first public high school was opened in 1904, but was converted back to a grade school after the Missoula County High School (now Hellgate High School) was opened in 1908. After several expansions, Stanford University was commissioned in 1951 to create a master building plan to manage future growth. It suggested purchasing land and building an additional campus at the Garden City Airport's Hale Field, which was gradually being replaced by the Missoula County Airport, which was then southwest of town. The new school (now
Sentinel High School Sentinel High School is located in Missoula, Montana, United States. It is in the Missoula County Public Schools District No. 1. Sentinel has approximately 1,300 students, and a faculty of approximately 100. Sentinel was ranked sixth-best high sch ...
) was opened in 1957. Initially, the two campuses were separated between upper and lower classmen with upper classmen in the new school, but in 1965, the two campuses became separate high schools. In 1974, the private
Loyola Sacred Heart Catholic High School Loyola Sacred Heart High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Missoula, Montana. It is one of two high schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, the other being Butte Central Catholic in Butte. It is affiliated with St. Jos ...
was created from a merger of the all-girls Sacred Heart Academy (.1873) and the all-boys Loyola High School (.1912). In 1980, Missoula's third public high school, Big Sky, was established. Missoula's public schools are part of the Missoula County Public School In Missoula, there are nine public elementary schools (kindergarten to 5th grade), three public middle schools (6th to 8th grades), four public high schools (9th to 12th grades), and three public schools serving kindergarten to 8th grade. Missoula also has several private schools including an international school, religious-affiliated schools, as well as Next Step Prep, a theater academy high school operated by the Missoula Children's Theatre. The University of Montana dominates higher education in Missoula. The university, established in 1893, was Montana's first, and has the state's second-largest enrollment, with 12,922 students . The campus houses six colleges and three schools including Montana's first and only law school, the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana. The university is also the location of the state's Regional Federal Depository Library, and houses the state
Arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...
. The
University of Montana College of Technology Missoula College - University of Montana is the junior college of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. The college was founded in 1956 and became part of the University of Montana in 1994. It offers 35 programs including career, transf ...
, established in 1956 and formerly known as the Missoula Vocational Technical Center, offers fast-track learning programs. Multiple vocational programs not affiliated with the university ranging from photography and massage to truck driving also have a presence in Missoula. Missoula has a
public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...
, the Missoula Public Library.


Media


Broadcast

Missoula's single–broadcast over–air television media market is the largest in Montana and ranked 165 nationally . Though Missoula itself is second in population to
Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
, Missoula's single-broadcast over-air television media market includes all of
Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
, Ravalli,
Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
,
Mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...
,
Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
, Flathead, and
Sanders Sanders may refer to: People Surname * Sanders (surname) * Bernie Sanders, US presidential candidate and senator * Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary and daughter of Mike Huckabee * Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC (Kentuc ...
Counties in the more densely populated western region of Montana and serves over 112,600 television homes . Missoula is home to three local affiliate channels:
KPAX-TV KPAX-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stati ...
(CBS/MTN, ; founded 1970; ),
KECI-TV NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Cities served include Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, and Bozeman. Most station opera ...
(NBC; founded 1954 as KGVO-TV; ), and KTMF-TV (ABC, FOX; founded 1991; ). Also based in Missoula at the University of Montana is (founded 1984; ).


Print and online

Missoula has three main sources of print and digital media: the ''
Missoulian The ''Missoulian'' is a daily newspaper printed in Missoula, Montana, United States. The newspaper has been owned by Lee Enterprises since 1959. The ''Missoulian'' is the largest published newspaper in Western Montana, and is distributed througho ...
'' (daily), The '' Missoula Current'' (daily), and '' Montana Kaimin'' (college). The ''Missoulian'' was founded as a weekly publication in 1870 as ''The Missoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer'' and remains the city's oldest news product. The ''Missoula Current'' was founded in 2015 and provides local and regional coverage and is the state's largest digital-only news product. The ''MontanaKaimin'' (founded 1891) is distributed for free throughout parts of Missoula with heavy student traffic from the University of Montana where the newspaper is printed Monday through Friday during the school year.


Infrastructure


Health care

Missoula has two primary health care facilities: St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center and Community Medical Center. St. Patrick's was founded in 1873 under the sponsorship of the Sisters of Providence. It is the only Level II trauma center in western Montana and has undergone three major expansions since the 1980s. The hospital has 195 acute-care beds and admitted over 9,700 patients in 2003. The name was changed from "St. Patrick Hospital" to "St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center" in 2000 to reflect an increasing involvement with national medical research and education. The Community Medical Center and its adjacent medical facilities are located near Fort Missoula and is part of a modern complex that includes a nursing home, the Missoula Crippled Children's Center, and private offices. It was founded in 1922 as Thornton Hospital by doctors Will Thornton and Charles Thornton and has been at its current location since 1972. Although originally a locally owned, nonprofit hospital, it is now owned by a large corporation headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a for-profit entity. It is the only hospital in Western Montana with a separate Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The center is partnered with
Seattle Children's Seattle Children's, formerly Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, formerly Children's Orthopedic Hospital, is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The hospital specializes in the care of infa ...
Hospital. The nearest Level I trauma center to Missoula is
Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disaster Control Hospital for Seattl ...
in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
.


Utilities

The earliest Missoulians drew their water directly from the
Clark Fork River The Clark Fork, or the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately long. The largest river by volume in Montana, it drains an extensive region of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and ...
or nearby Rattlesnake Creek. The first water system consisted of a Native American known as One-Eyed Riley and his friend filling buckets of water from the Rattlesnake Creek and hauling them door to door on a donkey cart. In 1871 city co-founder Frank Worden began construction of a long pipe and wooden main system that flowed from the Rattlesnake Creek north of the city. With the addition of two small covered reservoirs, the first municipal water system was begun in 1880. With an intake dam built-in 1901 with a settling basin capacity of , the Rattlesnake Creek continued to meet the demands of the city until 1935 when five wells were added to respond to increased summer and fall demand. This system is still maintained as an emergency backup but was discontinued as a primary source after
Giardia ''Giardia'' ( or ) is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing the disease giardiasis. Their life cycle alternates between ...
outbreak in 1983. Since then, Missoula has relied on the Missoula Valley
Aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
as the sole source of water. In 1889, the first electrical plant was built by to power his major downtown properties such as the Missoula Mercantile and the Florence Hotel. In 1905, the Missoula Mercantile (by then owned by Copper King
William A. Clark William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads. Biography Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Iowa in 1 ...
purchased the water system and consolidated it with its vast electrical holdings to create the Missoula Light and Water Company (ML&W) a year later. Electricity and water remained bundled after ML&W's sale to the
Montana Power Company The Montana Power Company (MPC) was an electric utility company based in Butte, Montana, which provided electricity to Montana consumers and industry from 1912 to 1997. History The Montana Power Company was founded in 1912 by John D. Ryan, the ...
(MPC) in 1929. In 1979, MPC sold its water utility holdings as Mountain Water Company to Park Water Company in
Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...
, which since 2011 has been a subsidiary of
The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...
. In 2015, the City of Missoula was legally granted its right to acquire the water system by exercising its power of eminent domain", but the decision was upheld by a district court. Following the deregulation of Montana's
electricity market In a broad sense, an electricity market is a system that facilitates the exchange of electricity-related goods and services. During more than a century of evolution of the electric power industry, the economics of the electricity markets had un ...
in 1997, Montana Power Company began to divest its energy business. MPC sold substantially all its electrical generating assets to the
PPL Corporation PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. History Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1 ...
in December 1997 and its energy transmission and distribution business to
NorthWestern Corporation NorthWestern Corporation owns NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana that is based in Sioux Falls. , the company serves approximately 718,000 customers. The company's corporate headquarters are loc ...
in February 2002. Despite filing for bankruptcy in 2002, NorthWestern Corporation's subsidiary NorthWestern Energy is the primary provider of electric and natural gas service to Missoula in addition to the
Rural Utilities Service The United States Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to rural communities. These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services. it is ...
's Missoula Electric Cooperative. Local telephone service in the area is provided by
CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice, and managed services. The company is ...
and Blackfoot Telecommunications. Major cell phone providers include
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, Sprint,
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
, and
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
. Allied Waste handles recycling through a program where customers can purchase special blue bags to designate recyclables. Recycling has also been offered by Missoula Valley Recycling since 1992, by Garden City Recycling since 2010 which offers curbside pickup, and by Pacific Steel & Recycling which offers drop-off recycling. Sewer service is handled by the City of Missoula Wastewater Division.


City layout and development

In the mid-1860s, and Frank Worden began plotting what would become the town of Missoula along the Mullan Military Road, which ran parallel to the Clark Fork River. Through downtown Missoula, the route of the road is now Front Street. It is intersected by Higgins Avenue, to which a bridge across the Clark Fork was added in 1873. The intersection of these two streets became the default center of the city, and remains the numerical center regarding city street addresses. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883 led to a housing boom along the tracks, particularly on the northern side where many of the railway workers would reside. When the Higgins Avenue Bridge was replaced in 1893, they debated whether the bridge should continue southwest toward the Bitterroot Valley as it had earlier or due south. Attorneys and had already laid out plots of land five years earlier for what they hoped would be a new town of "South Missoula". The streets there were perpendicular to the Bitterroot Wagon Road. In contrast, Judge Hiram Knowles who owned the land just south of the river preferred the north–south plan and did not want to become part of South Missoula. The result was a along the west side of Higgins Avenue commonly referred to as the "Slant Streets" centered along what is now Stephens Avenue. Stephens Avenue and Brooks Street are the only arterials to traverse the city diagonally along with the Bitterroot Branch of
Montana Rail Link Montana Rail Link is a privately held Class II railroad in the United States. It operates on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor BNSF. MRL is a unit of The Washington Companies and is he ...
. With the exception of Downtown, the rest of the city, where streets follow the angle of the river, and newer expansions into the hills, strictly follow the
grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...
. With the establishment of the University of Montana in 1893 and the announcement that the tracks of the Milwaukee Road would be located south of the river, houses began to spread quickly throughout the university and south side districts. The area near the university was promoted as high-end and luxurious homes appeared on Hammond Avenue (then nicknamed "Millionaires Row" and known today as Gerald Avenue). The arrival of Interstate90 in the mid-1960s forced the removal of 60 homes, including the Greenough Mansion. The north side of Missoula became isolated between the Interstate and the tracks while the Greenough Mansion was moved to a South Hills golf course and converted to a restaurant. This dichotomy has prevailed with the North Side feeling neglected by the city while the South Hills became an upscale neighborhood. The Missoula Downtown Master Plan of 2009 emphasized redevelopment of the North Side's former rail yard and the area just south of the tracks. The city is divided into 18 neighborhood councils, of which all Missoula residents are members. The city further contains 10 historical districts: Downtown Missoula, East Pine Street, Fort Missoula, Lower Rattlesnake, McCormick, Northside, Southside, University Area and, the campus of the University of Montana.


Trail system

Missoula has an extensive trail system for both commuting and recreation that extends over . The city is actively trying to connect its various sections within the city to each other and to recreational trails extending beyond the city. The heart of the Missoula Commuter Bike Network is the trails along either side of the Clark Fork River that link Downtown with surrounding neighborhoods, the university, city parks, and outlying open space with smooth surfaces and three bicycle/pedestrian bridges. The most southern of these is Milwaukee Trail, which follows the former
Milwaukee Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...
and continues east out of town as the Kim Williams Nature Trail beside Mount Sentinel. The Bitterroot Branch Trail connects to the Riverfront trails west of Downtown and, when completed, will provide a trail from Downtown to Southgate Mall. Near the Bitterroot Branch Trail, but not connected, is the South Avenue Trail on the west side of Reserve Street that connects the Community Medical Center with Fort Missoula, nearby athletic fields, and the Bitterroot River. The South Hills neighborhood has its own system of trails that is also approaching, but not quite meeting, the larger network.


Transportation


Highways

runs east–west along the northern edge of Missoula at the base of the North Hills, with all but a small portion of the city located south of the highway. Completed in 1965 at the expense of 60 homes, the Garden City Brewery, and the Greenough Mansion, I‑90 has four city exits and makes connections with , and Montana Highway 200. The original , approved by the
AASHO The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...
in 1939 to extend west into Montana, did not include Missoula until the highway was rerouted along State Route6 in October 1959 and was not extended west from Missoula until 1962. The road now crosses Missoula southwest–northeast. serves as a major economic corridor for western Montana connecting Missoula with the Bitterroot Valley communities to the south and
Flathead Lake Flathead Lake ( fla, člq̓etkʷ, label=Salish, kut, yawuʔnik̓ ʔa·kuq̓nuk) is a large natural lake in northwest Montana. The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. ...
,
Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, ...
, and Glacier National Park to the north. , the longest state highway in the United States enters Missoula from the east and provides access along the Blackfoot River and a direct route to
Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
.


Transit

Public transportation in Missoula began as early as 1890 with a horse-drawn streetcar system (electrified in 1910) operated by the Missoula Street Railway Company that connected Downtown Missoula with the University, Bonner, the fairgrounds, and Fort Missoula. These streetcars were then replaced by buses in 1932 due to cost. Bus service today is provided by Mountain Line, a public transit agency created by public vote in 1976 as part of the Missoula Urban Transportation District (MUTD) that began operation in December 1977. Mountain Line operates twelve bus routes within a area, serving Missoula, East Missoula, Bonner, Target Range, Rattlesnake, and the airport. Additionally the line has offered paratransit services since 1991 to assist the disabled, senior van since 2008, and has four park‑and‑ride lots throughout Missoula. Special bus service is offered to the University of Montana through three of the city's park‑and‑ride lots in addition to a late-night UDASH shuttle that offers service between the University and Downtown. a three-year pilot program of zero-fare transportation on all Mountain Line buses began, with the goal of increasing ridership by 45 percent.


Bus lines

Direct intercity ground travel needs are provided by bus carrier
Jefferson Lines Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in the United States. Their current operations expands over 14 states throughout the Midwest. Background The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minn ...
.


Railroads

Intercity rail travel was available from 1883, when the Northern Pacific Railway began service through Missoula, until 1979 when
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
discontinued its ''
North Coast Hiawatha The ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. Operating from 1971 to 1979, the train was a successor to the Northern Pacific Railway's ''North Coast Limited ...
'' route across southern Montana. In 1901, Northern Pacific built their station at the terminus of Higgins Avenue; since 1985, it has been on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...
also built their "Pacific Extension" through Missoula, and that station was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. A feasibility study was commissioned by Congress in 2008 to examine the merits of reopening the ''North Coast Hiawatha'', but , the nearest rail station to Missoula is the Whitefish station of Amtrak's ''
Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...
'', to the north.


Bicycles

In 2009, the Missoula metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked as the fifth highest in the United States for percentage of commuters who biked to work (5 percent). In 2013, the Missoula MSA ranked as the tenth lowest in the United States for percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (77.2 percent). In the same year, 8.5 percent of Missoula area commuters walked to work.


Airport

In 1927, air travel to Missoula began; today the city is served by Missoula Montana Airport, a public airport run by the Missoula County Airport Authority. It is the largest airport in western Montana, serving 848,444 passengers in 2018. The current building contains three jet bridges and three ground‑level boarding gates. There are direct flights year‑round to
Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
,
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
,
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, and seasonally to
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, and
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. operate out of Missoula (
Allegiant Air Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a major air carrier, the fourteenth-largest commercial airline in North America. Allegiant was founded in 1 ...
,
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
,
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
,
Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...
, Horizon/Alaska Airlines, and
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
) in addition to cargo carriers
FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the name ...
, and
UPS Airlines UPS Airlines is a major American cargo airline based in Louisville, Kentucky. The second-largest cargo airline worldwide ( in terms of freight volume flown), UPS Airlines flies to 815 destinations worldwide. A wholly owned subsidiary of UPS (Unit ...
. The airport is also home to Homestead Helicopters and fixed‑base operators Minuteman Jet Center (an Avfuel fuel provider), and Northstar Jet (a Phillips66 fuel provider).


Notable people

Missoula has produced and been home to a number of notable individuals in varying fields. Its natives and residents are referred to as "Missoulians". In politics, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman in Congress, was born and raised in Missoula while Senators
Mike Mansfield Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American politician and diplomat. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative (1943–1953) and a ...
, the U.S.'s longest serving
Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...
, and
Max Baucus Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the longe ...
, Montana's longest serving U.S. Senator both established careers and joined politics while living in the city. Noted athletes who were born or resided in Missoula include five Olympic medalists,
Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...
Quarterback
John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway played college f ...
, and former
Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...
coach
Larry Krystkowiak Larry Brett Krystkowiak ( ; born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, and former head coach of the Utah Utes men's basketball team. Early life He was born in Missoula, Montana, to Bernard and Helen Krystkowia ...
. Actor
Dana Carvey Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
, filmmaker
David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
, and award‑winning biologist
Leroy Hood Leroy "Lee" Edward Hood (born October 10, 1938) is an American biologist who has served on the faculties at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Washington. Hood has developed ground-breaking scientific instrum ...
were born in Missoula, while
Carroll O'Connor John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame ...
and
J. K. Simmons Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He ...
attended the University of Montana. Composer
David Maslanka David Maslanka (August 30, 1943 – August 7, 2017) was an American composer of Polish descent who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra. Best known for his wind ensemble c ...
(1943-2017) lived in Missoula, and musician
Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the American rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Prior to his wo ...
, and musician, vlogger, and author
Hank Green William Henry Green II (born May 5, 1980) is an American vlogger, science communicator, entrepreneur, author, internet producer, and musician. He is known for producing the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his older brother, author John Green ...
reside in Missoula. Academically, Missoula has been home to Nobel Prize winners
Harold C. Urey Harold Clayton Urey ( ; April 29, 1893 – January 5, 1981) was an American physical chemist whose pioneering work on isotopes earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for the discovery of deuterium. He played a significant role in the d ...
and
Steve Running Steven W. Running, (born 1950) Emeritus Regents Professor of Ecology, W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana, and Director of the Numerical Terradynamics Simulation Group, developed the earth observing-oriented ...
as well as 20th century Montana historian K. Ross Toole. Noted names in literature include Native American poet James Welch, crime novelist
James Crumley James Arthur Crumley (October 12, 1939 – September 17, 2008)Local author James Crumley dies at 68 url=http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/local/news02.txt date=2008-09-17 accessdate=2008–09=18Fox, Margali''New York Times'' (S ...
, former head of the University of Montana's Creative Writing Program
Richard Hugo Richard Hugo (December 21, 1923 – October 22, 1982), born Richard Franklin Hogan, was an American poet. Although some critics regard Hugo as primarily a regionalist, his work resonates broadly across place and time. A portion of Hugo's work re ...
,
William Kittredge William Kittredge (August 14, 1932 – December 4, 2020) was an American writer from Oregon, United States, who lived mostly in Missoula, Montana. Biography He was born in 1932 in Portland, Oregon, and grew up on a ranch in Southeastern Oregon's ...
, a western writer and professor of creative writing at the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
at Missoula, and
Norman Maclean Norman Fitzroy Maclean (December 23, 1902August 2, 1990) was a Scottish-American professor at the University of Chicago who became, following his retirement, a major figure in American literature. Maclean is best known for his collection of no ...
, whose '' A River Runs Through It'' chronicles his life in early 20th-century Missoula. Joanna Klink, poet and professor at the University of Montana.
Michael Punke Michael W. Punke (born December 7, 1964) is an American author, attorney, academic, and policy analyst. He is a former Deputy United States Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2017, ...
, the author of the best-selling novel '' The Revenant'', also lives in Missoula.


Sister cities

*
Neckargemünd Neckargemünd ( pfl, Neggergmin) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the Neckar, 10 km upriver from Heidelberg at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the t ...
,
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany *
Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
, New Zealand Missoula's Sister City relationship with
Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
, New Zealand, began after Missoula resident and later University of Montana professor Harold Bockemuehl returned from obtaining his PhD from
Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
. The relationship was made official in 1983 after a meeting between then UM President Neil Bucklew and officials from Massey University. Each May, Missoula celebrates "New Zealand Day" in honor of the relationship with rugby, food, and entertainment. Missoula's second Sister City relationship began in 1991 after a
Neckargemünd Neckargemünd ( pfl, Neggergmin) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the Neckar, 10 km upriver from Heidelberg at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the t ...
delegation, led by Mayor Oskar Schuster, visited Missoula following a Fulbright-sponsored faculty exchange between
Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
and the University of Montana. Every September the Missoula Cultural Council holds an annual "Germanfest" to celebrate German culture and this relationship.


Portrayal in media

Author
Norman Maclean Norman Fitzroy Maclean (December 23, 1902August 2, 1990) was a Scottish-American professor at the University of Chicago who became, following his retirement, a major figure in American literature. Maclean is best known for his collection of no ...
grew up in Missoula and wrote about it in his 1976 autobiographical novella '' A River Runs Through It''. The work was adapted into a 1992 motion picture of the same name, directed by
Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
and starring
Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
and
Craig Sheffer Craig Eric Sheffer (born April 23, 1960) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his leading roles as Norman Maclean in the film '' A River Runs Through It, ''Aaron Boone in the film ''Nightbreed'', Joe Kane in the film '' The ...
. ''Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town'', a prominent 2015 book by
Jon Krakauer Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954) is an American writer and mountaineer. He is the author of bestselling non-fiction books—'' Into the Wild''; ''Into Thin Air''; ''Under the Banner of Heaven''; and '' Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat ...
, focused on a series of sexual assault cases between 2010 and 2012 and the way that the Missoula Police Department, Missoula County Attorney's Office, and
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
handled those cases. Missoula's handling of rape cases sparked a Justice Department's investigation that found a "pattern of disrespect and indifference toward alleged victims" by Missoula law enforcement, prosecutors, and the University, with scathing blame directed at the Attorney's Office. While being interviewed on
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
about the book, Krakauer stated, "I don't mean to single out Missoula: Its rape rate is a little less than the national average; I think its problems with dealing with rape are pretty depressingly typical." Nevertheless, reporting by Krakauer and local and national journalists showed what they characterized as a troubling pattern of authorities mishandling investigations, treating victims with hostility and suspicion, reflexively protecting alleged perpetrators at the expense of victims, declining to prosecute large numbers of credible rape allegations, and creating an atmosphere where victims were unlikely to come forward after an attack. Krakauer placed the greatest blame for mishandling rape prosecutions on a single Deputy County Attorney, Kirsten Pabst, who now serves as the Missoula County Attorney. The book also charted deep divisions within the town about the allegations, particularly those involving football players from the Montana Grizzlies. There is a lengthy study of Missoula in the title essay of British writer
Jonathan Raban Jonathan Raban (born 14 June 1942, Hempton, Norfolk, England) is a British travel writer, critic, and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, t ...
's ''Driving Home: An American Journey'': despite writing that on his arrival, "I had the powerful impression that I had driven deep into the Rocky Mountains and somehow arrived in
Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...
or
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
," and that "the overall effect was oddly unsettling; the streets too open for comfort, the town too closed in, inducing mild claustrophobia and agoraphobia at the same time", he notes the literary heritage of the city and its reputation as a "kindly town" (evidenced by its being a place where "odds and ends naturally collected and cohered"). Missoula is mentioned as being the closest city to the fictional Hope County in ''
Far Cry 5 ''Far Cry 5'' is a 2018 first-person shooter, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to 2014's ''Far Cry 4'', and the fifth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series. Set in Hope County, ...
''. The game's first mission involves the player trying to escape the county to reach Missoula.


References


External links

*
Missoula Visitors Bureau

Missoula Chamber of Commerce
* *
Missoula Collection Guide
(University of Montana Archives)
City of Missoula (Mont.) Records, 1883-2009
(University of Montana Archives) Cultural heritage resources
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections

The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula's Public Research Boxes

Missoula Art Museum's Online Collections Database
{{good article Cities in Montana Cities in Missoula County, Montana Montana placenames of Native American origin County seats in Montana Metropolitan areas of Montana Populated places established in 1860 1866 establishments in Montana Territory