Arts & Events

Missoula dirt. It’s valuable and worth investing in, according to the front page story in the Missoula Weekly Gazette in April of 1890.

In the spot in Circle Square where “Crossings,” artist Taäg Peterson’s representation of the railroad trestles across western Montana now reside there used to be a rock statue and a fountain. That work – completed in 1914 – and its resident trout delighted passengers stepping off the North Coast Limited train.

Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace, will speak at the University of Montana on Sunday, June 26. Goodall’s talk, “Hope Through Action,” is part of UM’s President’s Lecture Series and co-sponsored by UM’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center and the International Wildlife Film Festival. The lecture, which is free and ope...

It was a remarkable World’s Fair. It introduced us to the Ferris Wheel, Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum, diet carbonated drinks and Cracker Jacks – not to mention phrases like the White City and the Midway Plaisance.

“The Montana Historical Society is the guardian of Montana's memory. Established in 1865, (it is) one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the West,” in its own words. It had a rough start, though.

It was an impressive sight from Missoula’s Higgins Avenue Bridge. “Everywhere there were lights and everywhere were there people.” It was Saturday night, February 18, 1911.

Missoula School Superintendent J.M. Hamilton was irate. Truancy was spiking in the fall of 1895, largely due to the repeated absences of two or three young boys. “If the parents of these children do not give more attention to getting their children to school promptly they will be summoned before the board of trustees to explain the cause of this tardiness!” he fumed.

Modern-day parents have come to depend on the convenience of boxed or canned products. In the past, parents asked their doctors for a recipe, and made their own formula.

In the early morning hours of March 21, 1898, a fire broke out in the Hale House.