DescriptionThe settlement that would become Milltown began in 1886 as a place for mill workers to live while they worked in the Bonner mill, owned by the Big Blackfoot Milling Company. The town grew and in 1903 received the unofficial name Riverside, for the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers that flow together nearby. Many Finns lived there, and for a time the community was called Finntown to prevent confusion with a Riverside near Butte. Townspeople were dissatisfied with the name Finntown and changed it to Milltown. Milltown’s post office was established in 1912.W. A. Clark’s Missoula Light & Power Company built the Clark Dam (later known as the Milltown Dam) near Milltown in 1904–06. For over a century, the dam trapped millions of tons of copper tailings that washed downriver from Butte and Anaconda. In 1994, the EPA announced the Milltown Dam as a Superfund site. Faced with continued pollution and structural weakness in the dam, the EPA decided in 2003 to remove it.Personal NamesClark, W. A.Other Name(s)RiversideFinntownContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation3284 ft..CountyMissoula County
