Missoula, Montana
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Missoula is a city in western Montana, United States, and it is the county seat of Missoula County[Geographic references#6GR6]. As of the United States 2000 Census, the population was 57,053, making it the second-largest city in Montana, behind Billings. Missoula is the home of the University of Montana. It is the birthplace of Jeannette Rankin (1880 - 1973), the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Missoula is nicknamed the Garden City. The state flower of Montana, the bitterroot, grows near Missoula. Local newspapers include the Missoulian and the [Missoula Independent].
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 61.9 km² (23.9 mi²). 61.6 km² (23.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.46%) is water. Missoula is located in a deep valley surrounded by mountains and is cut by three major rivers, the Clark Fork River, the Bitterroot River and the Blackfoot River. The city is the namesake and center of the large, ancient Glacial Lake Missoula, which caused catastrophic floods across the northwest in the last ice age. Missoula is currently the second most populous city in Montana. Billings is the only city that has a larger population.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 57,053 people, 24,141 households, and 12,336 families residing in the city. (A 2004 estimate puts the city's population at 61,790.) The population density was 925.6/km² (2,397.1/mi²). There were 25,225 housing units at an average density of 409.2/km² (1,059.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.57% White, 0.36% African American, 2.35% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.51% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.
There were 24,141 households out of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.9% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were non-families. 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 20.7% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,366, and the median income for a family was $42,103. Males had a median income of $30,686 versus $21,559 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,166. About 11.7% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
38% of Missoula residents age 25 and older have a bachelor's or advanced college degree.
History
The first inhabitants of the Missoula area were American Indians from the Salish tribe. They called the area "Nemissoolatakoo," from which "Missoula" is derived. The word translates roughly to "river of ambush/surprise," a reflection of the inter-tribal fighting common to the area. The Indians' first encounter with whites came in 1805 when the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the Missoula Valley.There were no permanent white settlements in the Missoula Valley, however, until 1860 when C. P. Higgins and Francis Worden opened a trading post on the Blackfoot River near Hellgate Canyon, on the eastern edge of the valley, called the Hellgate Village. The name "hellgate" came from French trappers, who found the carnage from warfare between the Blackfeet and Flathead tribes, including bones and bodies, in the close confines of the canyon on the east edge of town. The canyon is still called Hellgate today, but only winter winds are a threat now. It was followed by a sawmill and a flour mill, which the settlers called "Missoula Mills". ("Mills" was later dropped from the name.) The completion of the Mullan Road connecting Fort Benton, Montana with Walla Walla, Washington and passing through the Missoula Valley meant fast growth for the burgeoning city, buoyed by the U.S. Army's establishment of Fort Missoula in 1877, and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883.
Until the mid 1970s, logging was a mainstay industry with logyards throughout the city. Many ran teepee burners to dispose waste material, contributing to the smokey haze that sometimes covered the town. The current site of Southgate Mall was once the location of the largest log processing yard within several hundred miles which ran 24 hours a day. The saws could be heard over two miles away on a clear summer night. However, by the early 1990s, changes in the economic fortunes in the city had shut down all the Missoula logyards.
Missoula is located within the [flyfishing "golden triangle"] and also provides ample opportunity to hunt mule deer, elk, bear, moose and a variety of other game animals. This provides Missoula with an ample tourism industry based on hunting and fishing that dates back to at least the 1950's.
Other major draws to the area include the University of Montana - Missoula, which opened its doors in 1895, and the regional headquarters for the United States Forest Service, which opened in 1908.
Politics
Missoula holds the highest-percentage Democratic voting district in the state, and in the 2000 presidential election, it had one of the highest percentages of votes in the country for left-wing candidate Ralph Nader. NORML's [state office] is in Missoula and it holds a yearly Hemp Festival. The city is home to community gardens run by [Garden City Harvest] and [Missoula Urban Demonstration Project], which seek to improve both urban environments and agricultural practices. Other organizations that call Missoula home include the [Jeannette Rankin Peace Center], [Working for Equality and Economic Liberation] (a low-income and welfare advocacy group), and the [Western Montana Gay & Lesbian Community Center].Missoula has been a home to the IWW, and a branch of the World Church of the Creator, and is currently home to the [Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.] Popular forms of entertainment centered primarily on hunting, fishing (Missoula is located in the flyfishing golden triangle), and off-road motorcycle riding, which was at odds with the pro-environment sentiments of such groups as Friends of the Rattlesnake which sought to restrict access to the Rattlesnake River drainage and the Blue Mountain recreation area to hikers and horse traffic only.
Additional facts about Missoula
- Local ski areas include [Montana Snowbowl] and Marshall Mountain (closed).
- Notable Missoulians include: retired National Football League quarterback John Friesz, underground rock legend Steve Albini, comedian Dana Carvey, Pearl Jam bass guitarist Jeff Ament, actor Carroll O'Connor (who attended and was later a professor at the University of Montana), filmmaker David Lynch, Olympic Decathlete Dave Johnson, and Jeannette Rankin the first woman elected to Congress.
- Mike Mansfield, former US Senator and US Ambassador to Japan, and his wife Maureen called Missoula home for many years. The University of Montana's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Memorial Library is named in their honor. The library also hosts the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center which provides academic courses, seminars, public lectures, conferences and cultural events to promote a better understanding of Asian and U.S.-Asian relations.
- Because it is located in a valley, Missoula suffers from smoke, soot, and occasional fog inversion during the winter months. There have been emissions restrictions placed on various industries, and the burning of wood in woodstoves. In recent years, those restrictions have resulted in significant improvement in the problem.
- Missoula has three public high schools; Hellgate High School, Sentinel High School, and Big Sky High School.
- The "Garden City" has won various arbor awards from the National Arbor Day Foundation.
- The [International Wildlife Film Festival], the largest animal-themed film festival in the world, is held annually in Missoula at the historic Wilma Theatre.
- Missoula and the nearby Blackfoot River are the setting for Norman MacLean's autobiographical novel "A River Runs Through It". In it, he says "The world is full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana."
- Local breweries include [Bayern Brewing], [Kettlehouse Brewing Company], and [Big Sky Brewing Company].
- Missoula is home to the largest of the U.S. Forest Service's smokejumper bases. Free tours of the base are popular with tourists during the summer wildfire season.
- A walking bridge over the downtown railroad yards of the Montana RailLink railroad is a popular destination for railfans.
- The city appears or is mentioned in every novel written by author Chuck Palahniuk, who penned the cult favorite Fight Club.
- Robert Jordan, the fictional main character in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, was a Spanish professor at the University of Montana, and lived in Missoula.
- Missoula is home to a diverse and influential music scene. Members of bands such as Deranged Diction, which formed in Missoula, later moved to Seattle and became key members of groups such as Green River, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Silkworm, and Love Battery -- playing an important role in the birth of the grunge movement.
- Missoula Children's Theatre is an international touring program which visits nearly 1000 communities per year. The Children's Theatre routinely has residencies in all fifty states, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy, and many other countries.
- Missoula is the headquarters of the Northern Region of the United States Forest Service, which manages the National Forests and Grasslands in northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and northwest South Dakota. It is also the headquarters of the Lolo National Forest and the Missoula Ranger District.
- The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has its headquarters in Missoula. Founded in 1984, the Elk Foundation is an international, mission based, nonprofit wildlife habitat conservation organization. With more than 150,000 members, the Elk Foundation has protected and enhanced more than 4.3 million acres (17,000 km²) of wildlife habitat throughout North America.
- The Boone and Crockett Club, a non-profit organization founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt, is also headquarted in Missoula.
- The Missoula Osprey minor league team (Arizona Diamondback affiliate) calls the city home.
Sister cities
Missoula has two sister cities, as designated by [Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI)]:External links
| State of Montana |
|
|---|---|
| Regions | |
| Eastern Montana - Western Montana - Inland Empire - Glacier National Park - Southwestern Montana - Bighorn Country | |
| Largest cities | |
| Anaconda | Belgrade | Billings | Bozeman | Butte | Evergreen | Glendive | Great Falls | Havre | Helena | Kalispell | Laurel | Lewistown | Livingston | Miles City | Missoula | Sidney | Whitefish | |
| Counties | |
| Beaverhead - Big Horn - Blaine - Broadwater - Carbon - Carter - Cascade - Chouteau - Custer - Daniels - Dawson - Deer Lodge - Fallon - Fergus - Flathead - Gallatin - Garfield - Glacier - Golden Valley - Granite - Hill - Jefferson - Judith Basin - Lake - Lewis and Clark - Liberty - Lincoln - Madison - McCone - Meagher - Mineral - Missoula - Musselshell - Park - Petroleum - Phillips - Pondera - Powder River - Powell - Prairie - Ravalli - Richland - Roosevelt - Rosebud - Sanders - Sheridan - Silver Bow - Stillwater - Sweet Grass - Teton - Toole - Treasure - Valley - Wheatland - Wibaux - Yellowstone |
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