Montana Sites

"The Headquarters Historic District of Glacier National Park comprises the administrative and housing buildings near West Glacier, Montana on the west side of the park. The area contains a mixture of styles, ranging from National Park Service Rustic to more modern structures built immediately after World War II. Many of the buildings were built by labor from the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Post-World War II development consists primarily of housing developed under the Mission 66 initiative. Significant buildings in the National Park Service Rustic style include the Superintendent's Residence (1923), the original Administration Building (1923), and a...

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported: "Work started recently on a clubhouse at the Kalispell golf course, according to Mayor J. P. Bruckhauser. The building. 70 feet by 38 feet, will be built by WPA labor at a cost of approximately $10.000." Exact location and current status unknown to the Living New Deal.

Big Timber Pioneer reported in late 1935 that among eight WPA projects then being undertaken in Musselshell County were (unidentified) improvements to Goulding Creek Road.

The WPA worked to improve roads throughout Granite County, Montana. The agency allocated $119,458 for such projects during August 1938 alone.

Multiple New Deal agencies contributed to the development of what is now Great Falls International Airport. According to the Big Timber Pioneer newspaper, the PWA supplied a loan and grant toward a $304,000 project at what is now Great Falls International Airport. The project "includes the erection of a hangar with a door 200 feet wide by 36 feet high ... an administration building and lighting of the field." P.W.A. Docket No.: Mont. 1189 Grant: $148,185 W.P.A. project information: “Develop airport site” Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐110 Total project cost: $167,281.00 Sponsor: City of Great Falls

Local businessman Harrison Green established Lewistown’s first airport at this location in 1928, intending to sell it to the city or operate it as a private enterprise. The city, however, established its own airport in 1933 just across the road from Green’s runway. When airmail and air passenger service began in 1933, it quickly became obvious that the city’s airport was inadequate. It was too close to power lines and its runway was too short. After several close calls, the city negotiated relocation of its airport to Green’s facility. In 1937, this became Lewistown’s municipal airport. In 1941, the WPA improved...

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in 1938 that a new high school and attendant gymnasium were being constructed in the town of Harlowton: "This structure is being financed by a $45,000 PWA grant and a $55,000 bond issue which was carried by a large majority at an election last September." The WPA also contributed to the project: "The gymnasium connected with the present high school building is being razed by WPA workers at a cost of $2,100."

The PWA allotted funds toward the construction of the $510,000 Helena high school, which was built between 1934 and 1935. A 1939 survey of PWA works described the school's construction: "The high school was rehabilitated and designed to resist earthquakes. The brick walls were removed, and reinforced concrete substituted with special column and beam reinforcing. The building was divided into individual units separated by 4-inch spaces. The projects were completed in January 1938 at an estimated construction cost of $146,476 and a project cost of $157,504."   (Short and Brown) The building didn't last long in its original form... Helenahistory.org reports that: "Dedicated on...

The WPA allocated $5,093 for the construction of a new high school building in Keystone, Montana. Now a ghost town, Keystone has no active schools. The exact location and current status of the building is unknown.

Then the Gallatin County High School, architect Fred Willson -- who'd just designed the county's new courthouse -- was tapped by the WPA to design an addition to the 1902 high school building at 404 West Main Street. The building now houses the Bridger Alternative School.

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer reported in September 1934 that one of the first PWA-sponsored projects to be completed in the state was a new $55,000 high school building in the town of St. Regis. The building, located at 90 Tiger St., continues to serve as part of an expanded K-12 school complex.

The newspaper Big Timber Pioneer reported in 1936 that an "old warehouse" was being remodeled as a "first class high school gymnasium and civic center for Virginia City ," under the auspices of the WPA. The building was termed "highly substantial," with the original construction being a "combination of native granite and and the flawless construction efforts of Mormon artisans." The WPA allotted 37 man-months of labor for the project, which included "rebuilding of the roof and part of the sidewalls, installation of new double doors, placing of windows and other small repairs." The exact location of the structure and its...

"Practically every two-lane highway in Eastern Montana was built with the help of WPA funds, said Jon Axline, a historian with Montana's Department of Transportation. ... Other examples include Highway 87, from Billings to Roundup, and the old Frontage Road, south of the interstate between Billings and Laurel."

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Eureka, Montana (along Route 93) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken Nov. 3, 1933 reside in the National Archives. The facility has since been replaced.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Raymond, Montana (along Route 16) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. A completion photograph of the facility taken Aug. 5, 1937 resides in the National Archives. While the operations have been replaced by a newer facility closer to the border, Google Street View and satellite imagery suggest that the original New Deal structure, as of 2014, still stands.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Scobey, Montana (along Route 13) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken Jul. 6, 1937 reside in the National Archives. The facility has since been replaced.

The PWA contributed to an irrigation project around Big Dry in Garfield County, Montana, with the purchase of $50,000 in bonds and through a $44,000 grant.

Among the numerous WPA-constructed buildings in Bozeman designed by Fred Willson was the Irving School located at 611 South 8th Avenue.

The WPA worked to improve roads throughout Jefferson County, Montana. The agency allocated $147,821 for such projects during August 1938 alone.

A $42,427 WPA grant was used to improve Kalispell airport. According to Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper, the work involved "cement floors for the hangar, construction of a large warmup block, construction of three runways 400 by 2,600 feet, painting the hangar, seeding 60 acres to turf and incidental improvements." The airport is still in use today.

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in 1938 that 40 WPA laborers were "doing a $40,000 job of tree painting, landscaping, road oiling, leveling and general beautification" at what was then known as the Montana School of Mines, now Montana Tech of the University of Montana. Most evidence of such renovations is long gone, but one rock wall we observed looks suspiciously like WPA work. WPA employment was vital to the welfare of unemployed miners around Butte, Montana during the Great Depression.

Big Timber Pioneer reported in 1936 that a CCC camp at what was then known as "Morrison Cave" built "a road to the mouth of the cave" and conducted "exploratory work inside of the cavern." The CCC did much of the work to make the cave system accessible to visitors. Wikipedia explains more of the park's history: “Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park is located in southeastern Jefferson County, Montana. The primary feature of the park is its namesake cavern. The cavern was discovered in 1892 by local ranchers Tom Williams and Bert Pannel. The cave was first developed for tours by...

The W.P.A. worked to develop Lewistown Municipal Airport in Montana. Project details: "Develop airport site" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐48 Total project cost: $66,752.00 Sponsor: City of Lewistown "Develop airport site" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐XX Total project cost: $63,975.00 Sponsor: City of Lewistown

Among the dozens of WPA projects approved for the state of Montana during July 1938 was $1,651 for "public library assistance" for the town of Harlowton. The details of this project are unknown to Living New Deal at this time.

One of the first PWA-funded projects to be approved and completed in Montana was that for a new reservoir for Beaverhead County. The project involved the damming of the Red Rock River, resulting in the formation of the Lima Reservoir. Big Timber Pioneer, a Montana newspaper, reported in January 1934 that the county received a 30% PWA grant toward the completion of the project. The newspaper announced the project's completion by September 1934. The dam was reported to have cost $75,000.

The Lincoln County Courthouse (is) truly a story of two buildings in one as the mid-1930s Art Deco-styled courthouse received a totally new front, in a contemporary style, in the 1970s as the town and county expanded in the wake of the federal spending in constructing Libby Dam. The rectangular blockiness, flat roof, and band of windows set within a symmetrical facade makes the courthouse one of the state’s best designs for a rural public building in the late 20th century. Sometimes misattributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the project was enabled by Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a...

Early Twin Bridges offered few public gathering places, and so these fifty acres, once part of the Lott and Seidensticker homesteads, were developed as “The Park” in 1887. A “harvest home barbecue” was held that year, and two years later the event had blossomed into the first annual county fair. Early fairs were privately run and later partially supported by the county. Then, as now, the fair gave ranchers and farmers a chance to show their best produce and livestock while promoting local pride and friendly rivalry. In 1928, a depressed economy curtailed the event and in 1930 Madison County...

WPA engineer C. D. Paxton designed this impressive octagonal community building as part of the federally funded project to rebuild the fairground in 1936. Master log craftsman Tosten Stenberg of WPA headquarters in Livingston supervised the building. The primary construction material is lodgepole pine, chosen for its uniformity and harvested at nearby Ramshorn Creek. Logs are bias-cut and saddle-notched. Poles radiating from a central lantern form the interior rafters and afford a floor space of one hundred feet in diameter. Besides serving as the main hall during fair time, the Pavilion has long been a favorite place for building memories,...

The PWA allocated $778,000 toward the construction of two reservoirs in Meagher County: the Bair Reservoir on the North Fork of the Musselshell River and the Martinsdale Reservoir on the river's South Fork. 45% of the money for the project was a PWA grant. The reservoirs were built to store 23,000 acre-feet of water toward the irrigation of 20,000 acres.

McCormick Park in Missoula, Montana was developed by the Works Progess Administration (WPA) on "surplus highway land, a parcel from the American Hide and Fur Company, and land donated from the Kate McCormick estate." (Wikipedia).  The work would have been done by local relief workers made jobless by the Great Depression and paid for mostly by the federal government. McCormick Park is very much in use today and has been improved over time. We could not determine if any of the original facilities developed by the WPA are still in place.

Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in northeastern Montana between the Missouri River and the Canadian border. Medicine Lake NWR encompasses 31,702 acres and consists of the 28,438-acre north tract, which includes Medicine Lake, and seventeen smaller water units. The Refuge was established in 1935 under the auspices of the Bureau of Biological Survey to provide breeding and stopover habitat for migratory birds.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) sent workers in to improve the refuge under the direction of the Biological Survey (transformed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940). The WPA and CCC...

The Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported: "A crew of 16 WPA workers, E. H. Ellingson foreman, started last week on improvement of the Settlement road, leading west from Melville. It was one of the worst roads in the county when bad, and when the work is complete it will carry a gravel surface." The road leading west from Melville, Route 371, is now known as Melville Road.

"WPA crews also worked on projects on the grounds of what is now MetraPark. Three horse barns built by the WPA are still in use at the fairgrounds."

The PWA provided funding for the construction of a new high school in Sidney, MT -- now the town's middle school. "The loan and grant to school district No. 5, Sidney, Mont., is for construction of a three-story, fire proof high school building to accommodate 300 students. ... The PWA estimated work can start in one month, giving approximately 65 men employment for six months."

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in 1937: "Harold F. DePue, manager of the North Montana State fair, announced two new structures—the Future Farmers' building and a horse barn—have been completed at the fair plant here. The buildings were erected through co-operation of Cascade county, the PWA and the fair commission. A third new unit—the mercantile building, Is near completion."

The predecessor to the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind was founded in Boulder, MT the late 1800s. The school served deaf, blind, and "feeble-minded" children. As the school -- and particularly its "feeble-minded" student population -- continued to expand during the early 1900s, the Montana's state legislature "voted to segregate the departments of the deaf and the blind from the department of the feeble-minded" (MSDB—A Short History). In doing so, the legislature approved a new campus, moving the school from the town of Boulder to the city of Great Falls, which donated ten acres of land on...

In 1885, the Montana Territorial Legislature authorized the organization of a National Guard. Within three years its nine companies were headquartered in the territorial capital at Helena. Since that time Montana Guard personnel have been called up for State Active Duty to assist with riots, strikes, natural disasters, law enforcement, search and rescue, and other emergencies. Montana citizen soldiers mustered into federal service for military actions including the Spanish American War in 1898, the Philippine Insurrection in 1899, World War I France, throughout World War II's Pacific Theatre, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia and Kuwait,...

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer reported in 1934 that the PWA had just allotted $215,200 in loans and grants toward construction at the Montana State Hospital in "Galen" -- more accurately, Warm Springs -- in Anaconda County. It is unclear exactly which parts of today's hospital were built by the PWA.

Big Timber Pioneer reported that the PWA allotted $250,000 toward the construction of multiple "structures Eastern Montana Normal School" campus. Further money was allotted to the construction of a high school in Billings. Eastern Montana Normal was renamed Montana State University Billings.

"With a $214,000 loan from the Public Works Administration, MSC constructed a dormitory complex in 1934 on a newly-acquired block at the northeast corner of campus."   (NRHP)