Missoula history

The near-overflow crowd was excited. The champagne flowed freely. The hors oeuvres were marvelous. The setting, the historic Florence Hotel, was perfect for the official unveiling of Francis Lyman Worden’s Hazelton Brothers square grand piano on Friday, April 14. The Worden piano is the earliest documented grand piano brought to Missoula (circa 1880).

The new owner of the historic Florence Hotel, Thomas Taylor, has proposed displaying Missoula co-founder Frank Worden's unique square grand piano in the mezzanine of the downtown building. An official welcoming/unveiling ceremony will be held Friday, April 14 at 4 p.m.

Back in the late 1800s, social clubs were omnipresent. New York boasted the Manhattan Club and the Union Club. Chicago had the Iroquois Club and the Union League. There were so many clubs that some bordered on the silly.

Most folks are familiar with The University of Montana’s student newspaper, the Kaimin. But did you know there was another, albeit short-lived, student newspaper back in the early days of the campus – this one published by the Forestry School?

This week, we salute a Valentine – not the day, but the man: Valentine H. Coombes. In the 1890s, his name was ubiquitous, appearing on dozens and dozens of legal documents, mostly timber land purchases.

The Lady Griz have generated some great names in recent years. But we have to go back more than 100 years to find the rest of them.

“Cleaner streets and compulsory education” are to blame! The number of street urchins were getting “scarcer every year” and the president of the American Water Color Society, John George Brown, was very concerned that he couldn’t “find any more ragged boys to paint.”

“Live, by remote control,” direct from the studio in the Hammond Arcade, it’s “Paul Keith and His Arcade Orchestra!” That’s right, Missoula's Hammond Arcade had its own orchestra, appearing on its own radio show (the Hammond Radio Review) for the downtown building’s grand opening in 1934.

It’s a birdwatcher’s paradise this time of year. The annual southern migration of the “Northern Snowbird” is underway to destinations like Palm Springs, California; Destin, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and numerous locations in Mexico, Costa Rica and Hawaii. It's a longstanding phenomenon in these parts.

The Christmas message from Rev. F.D. Kelsey rang true in 1886, and also today: "Many a man whose exterior is rough and pointed and a caution to handle, will have on Christmas his heart opened, revealing to himself and others a much richer and more precious heart than the exterior seemed to promise."