Originally established five miles from its current location, Missoula, Montana has a long tradition of changing things up. From the early commerce hub of Hellgate Trading Post west of town to today’s mid-sized city, Missoula boasts a varied and vibrant history. The best place to bear witness to this ongoing metamorphosis? Downtown, where folks are surrounded by stories on every street corner.

While today’s visitors may primarily see beautiful architecture and thriving businesses, beneath these contemporary views lie tales of burned buildings, catastrophic floods, and ever-changing power brokers. This exhibit reveals some of the fascinating narratives hidden inside Missoula’s downtown area. With origins in the lumber industry and commercial growth built by railroads, Missoula has undergone its share of changes since its founding in 1860.

A companion piece to the Montana History Portal’s partnership with Adventure Lab, this Walking Tour of Downtown Missoula invites visitors to compare the historic photos below with today’s views. Some of these sites have plaques with further information, and we encourage you to read them on your walking tour to learn more. For those unable to visit these places in person, we have embedded Google Street Views with each photo, allowing you to compare today’s Missoula to the Missoula of bygone eras.

Following over a month of rain, on June 5, 1908, the Clark Fork River breached its banks, and the “old rattle-trap” Higgins Avenue Bridge became one of the flood’s many crossing casualties. Where today, visitors can admire the newly-refurbished Beartracks Bridge (Sx͏͏úytisSmx̣e, meaning “Grizzly Bear Tracks”), during the early summer months of 1908, the same view included listing telephone poles, damaged trusses, and extremely high water.

Photo: Higgins Avenue bridge on the Clark Fork River

Higgins Avenue bridge on the Clark's Fork River, damaged by flood in 1908

Photo: Clark Fork River flood in Missoula

Higgins Avenue bridge repair, after the bridge was washed out by a flood. The photograph was taken looking south across the Clark Fork River in Missoula, Montana.

It didn’t take long, though, for construction crews to create a catwalk for pedestrians. Using surviving truss segments, workers figured out a way for foot traffic to make the trip between the two banks. The trek may have been a little risky, but until months later when workers completed the new steel bridge, the rickety catwalk offered Missoulians one of the few ways across the Clark Fork River.

First National Bank

While today nothing remains of Missoula’s earliest banking establishment, back in 1890, the corner of Higgins and Front became home to the towering First National Bank. Initially established as Missoula National Bank in 1873 by early Missoula founders (including AB Hammond), the bank started with just $50,000 in capital.

The 1890 building featured Norman Gothic elements and consisted of Chicago brick, granite, steel, copper, and slate. It had a skylight on the roof, and the whole structure was wired for electric lighting and had indoor toilets on every floor. Though lovely, the building was demolished in 1962. Since then, even the replacing structure–a mid-century facility that opened in 1964–also came down; in 2009, the current First Interstate Bank building was completed.

Photo: First National Bank Building, Missoula

Exterior view of the First National Bank as seen from the corner of Higgins and Front Streets taken on or before 1905, Missoula, Montana.

The Wilma 

Named for the builder’s wife, Edna Wilma, the Wilma Theater faces Higgins Avenue to the east and the Clark Fork River to the south. Sporting a Sullivanesque style, the Wilma–completed in 1921–survived both the 1908 flood and a 1947 flood, which took out an island nearby. In addition, the Wilma maintains an enviable legacy among the downtown’s early buildings: it never succumbed to fire.

Photo: Higgins Avenue, Missoula

Looking north along Higgins Avenue, Missoula, from the bridge. The Higgins Avenue Bridge, Wilma Theater, and First National Bank are in foreground. A number of cars are on the street, and pedestrians walk along the sidewalks.

Florence Hotel Building

Not nearly as lucky as the charmed Wilma, the Florence Hotel has undergone several iterations. This first Florence, built in 1888, burned in 1913.

Photo: Florence Hotel, Missoula, Montana

View of the Florence Hotel, Missoula, Montana, corner of Front Street and Higgins Avenue looking west. Hotel was built in 1887-1888.

Photo: Florence Hotel building before the fire of 1936

Original Florence Hotel building before the September 24, 1936, fire. Missoula, Montana. Photograph shows building on corner of block. Cars are parked on the street and people can be seen on the sidewalk.

Rebuilt as a bigger enterprise in 1914 (with a total of 106 rooms), the second Florence served as a popular meeting spot for 23 years.

Photo: Florence Hotel fire

View of the Florence Hotel along Front Street showing the extent of the fire and fire fighters pouring water on the building. Missoula, Montana.

However, it burned in 1936.

Photo: Downtown Missoula

Missoula, looking downtown along North Higgins Avenue. The Missoula Mercantile is in the foreground. Numerous cars and trucks are parked and driving along North Higgins. Pedestrians walk along the sidewalks and cross the street. Library note: The large hole in the ground seen on the left side of the picture was the location of the Florence Hotel which burned down on September 24, 1936.

This left Depression-era Missoula without a “proper” hotel for several years–and also with an enormous hole in the neighborhood.

Finally in 1941 the current building, an Arte Moderne structure with characteristic features like glass blocks, rounded corners, and smooth surfaces made its debut.

Garden City Dairies and Gem Theater

The same building on the north side of West Front Street housed the Gem Theater, and then later, Garden City Dairies. One of ten saloons and bars in Missoula’s red light district, the Gem had both a Front Street entrance and back access that opened into the city’s notorious Pig Alley. Prohibition effectively brought an end to the debauchery in Pig Alley, and by 1921, Garden City Dairies (featuring pasteurized milk!) had replaced the Gem Theater.

Photo: Gem Theater on Front Street 

Gem Theater on West Front Street. Missoula, Montana.

Photo: Garden City Dairies, Missoula

Garden City Dairies at 124 West Front Street, Missoula, Montana. The slogan 'it tastes better' appears below the company name on this sign. This building previously housed the Gem Theater.

Tearing Down the Gem Theater, Missoula

Demolition of the Gem Theater on West Front Street, Missoula, Montana, to build the Florence Hotel parking garage.

Eventually, owners demolished the Gem Theater/Garden City Dairies structure to build the Florence Hotel parking garage.

Studebaker Building

Though originally a stable stood on this spot, by 1918 the current building, with its Art Deco utilitarian features (including an “arc ziggurat”), offered automobile services. “The original industrial steel-frame show windows, carefully refurbished, illustrate design elements associated with the early auto industry.” ¹ The building had enough room that Missoulians could rent space on the second floor to store their automobiles.

Photo: Turmell Tire Company, Main Street, Missoula

Turmell Tire Company and Nybo & Company (Studebaker and White trucks), on the north side of Main Street, Missoula, Montana. Turmell Tire Company advertises Kelly Springfield tires and is a Union Oil Company gas station. A cupola with a white brick rectangle can be seen on the Studebaker building. The car at the gas pump is circa 1950; the black coupe behind the pickup is probably a 1950 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe 2-door. There are traces of snow piled up around the utility poles, some of the cars have some snow on them, and the center of the street seems to have remnants of grit or gravel.

Palace Hotel

Like the Wilma, the Palace Hotel also offers a fire-free glimpse into Missoula’s past. One of the early buildings of the downtown area, the Palace has both art deco and Egyptian components as part of its architectural design. The five-story structure built in 1909–called the Savoy Hotel–included Egyptian influences in its vernacular commercial style. In 1941, the adjacent six-story annex was added on the east side, and this portion sports an Art Deco look. The entire structure endures as part of Missoula’s early commercial booms.

Photo: Downtown Missoula, Broadway Avenue 

Intersection of Broadway and Stevens in Missoula, Montana. Missoula Motors and the Palace Hotel buildings are in the foreground. Cars are parked along both streets. Gas pumps are in front of the Missoula Motors building.

Higgins Montana Bank Building

Restored in the 1980s, the CP Higgins Montana Bank Building delivers a visual delight. Besides the famous copper dome topping the whole thing, the curved corner staircase, arched Romanesque windows, and local granite walls give visitors a peek into the past. The building was completed in 1889, just weeks after CP Higgins–who commissioned the building as an answer to his rival’s Missoula National Bank–passed away at 59. This Queen Anne-style structure designed by AJ Gibson, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Photo: Intersection of Main and Higgins

Higgins Bank building, at the corner of Higgins and Main, Missoula, Montana. Cars appear to be stopped at the intersection as pedestrians cross the street. Other cars are angle-parked along the street. Library note: The view is to the northeast. The LaCombe Fur and Dress Company, whose sign hangs on the bank building, was located on the second floor of the building. None of the cars appears to be post-1940ΓÇÖs. This is a cold weather shot as indicated by the people wearing coats and snow piled in the gutter by the bank building.

Missoula Mercantile

From 1885 through 2010, Missoula did its shopping in this spot. Until 1959, the Missoula Mercantile sold everything from food to furniture to farming supplies.

Photo: Missoula Mercantile Company

Missoula Mercantile Company, Missoula, Montana. Large corner building with many people standing on the sidewalks.

Photo: Missoula Mercantile Company

Missoula Mercantile Company building in Missoula, Montana. Numerous mid-1930's through early 1940's automobiles are angle-parked in front of the building. The view is to the south or southeast. The Montana Power building, which was located where First Interstate Bank now sits, and the power plant smokestacks can be seen in the background. The rolled-down awnings on the west-facing display windows and the open windows of the Mercantile building suggest a warm day, possibly a summer or a warm spring or fall day.

The building underwent numerous additions and renovations, including adding a row of windows on the brick wall facing Higgins in 1905. Meant to encourage retail sales, the increased light–aided by Luxfer prisms which came a few years later–helped maintain the Merc’s place as Missoula’s premier shopping spot. Eventually, though, the owners sold the building to Allied Department Stores in 1959. Even then, the structure survived and housed the Bon Marché and later Macy’s. Unable to find suitable investors, the city demolished the building in 2017.

The current structure opened in 2019, and builders preserved the historic pharmacy’s facade (with its arched windows) in the northwest corner. Inside, visitors can see reclaimed timber beams from the original building.

Missoula Mercantile (East Front Street)

Like today’s Residence Inn, the old “Merc” took up an entire city block. By standing at the corner of Front and Pattee facing west, one gets a sense of the current Missoula Downtown.

By walking west down Front, the 1941 version of the Florence Hotel is visible on the right, but everything else from this vantage point maintains a contemporary feel–unlike the 1905 photo below, which features the Merc on the right and the first Florence Hotel toward the northwest.

At the west end of this block, visitors will emerge onto Higgins, back near the tour’s starting point at the Clark Fork River. With a mix of old and new architecture as well as robust pedestrian traffic, Downtown Missoula maintains the energy and possibility of its early days.

Photo: Front Street looking west from Baltic (now Pattee)

Front Street looking west from Baltic Street (now Pattee Street) in Missoula, Montana. Image is from an unknown publication. The Missoula Mercantile building can be seen on the right. In the foreground are the Missoula Steam Laundry and Rankin Hotel. A horse-drawn coach with a Rankin Hotel sign waits in front of the hotel building. Several horse-drawn buggies are parked on the sides of the street. Pedestrians can be seen on the sidewalk.

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