West Glacier is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in eastern Flathead County,

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 Columbi ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 227. The town is at the west entrance to Glacier National Park and is located on

U.S. Route 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern ...

and a main line of the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

. The headquarters complex for Glacier National Park is located nearby.

Demographics

History

Remote and almost inaccessible, the West Glacier area drew only limited attention by white settlers until the main line of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) reached the northern

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

in 1890. The transcontinental GNR was completed on January 6, 1893, at

Scenic, Washington Scenic Hot Springs is a privately-owned natural mineral spring in Washington state that is closed to the public. It is located south of U.S. Route 2, about 8 miles west of Stevens Pass and bordering the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Nearby, the Great N ...

. The railroad established a station named "Belton" at the current West Glacier site, and a small community slowly began to develop in the area. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was established at Belton in 1900. The number of homesteaders and other settlers remained small, however, due to the region's rugged, heavily forested terrain. The community, heavily dependent on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

, has a small permanent population that expands significantly during the summer tourist season; most area businesses are likewise seasonal—including the 18-hole golf course—and are primarily geared towards travelers. The elevation is . The Swiss-style Belton Chalets in West Glacier, originally built in 1910, was the first Great Northern Railway hotel at Glacier National Park and would welcome guests arriving by train to the park, before they would travel into the park's back-country chalets and tent camps. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Belton Chalet housed the crews working on the

Going-to-the-Sun Road Going-to-the-Sun Road is a scenic mountain road in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, in Glacier National Park in Montana. The Sun Road, as it is sometimes abbreviated in National Park Service documents, is the only road that trave ...

. Over the years, the chalet housed many businesses, while today it is one of Montana's grandest historic hotels. The chalet survives today under new ownership and is a registered

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. In 1949 the town changed its name from Belton to West Glacier to promote the tourism potential.

Tourism

Railroad tourism

By the early twentieth century a small number of tourists had begun to visit the spectacular mountain landscapes east and north of Belton, and in 1910 that area was set aside as Glacier National Park. As the railway station nearest the area, Belton became a primary gateway to Glacier, and the park headquarters was established there. Presently 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 ...

'' makes stops daily at the West Glacier station.

Automobile tourism

Alberta Tourism Centre at West Glacier Montana USA

The growth of tourist traffic through Belton increased substantially in the 1920s and 1930s, largely due to the improvement of automobile routes through the area. U.S. Highway 2 was completed eastward from Belton over

Marias Pass Marias Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains in the western US state of Montana. Lying on the southern border of Glacier National Park, it is traversed by US Highway 2 and by the BNSF Hi-Line Subdivision. The pass is the ...

in 1930, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed across Glacier Park in 1932.Carr, p. 186. In 1938, a number of tourist-oriented businesses were constructed at the western end of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Belton, forming the core of a new commercial district for the town. These businesses, owned by the Lundgren family since 1946, remain today. The town of Belton was renamed "West Glacier" in 1949, to better reflect its geographic location and make it more identifiable to tourists, although the railroad station and chalet complex retained the Belton name.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Flathead County, Montana Census-designated places in Montana