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Missoula, Montana

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Missoula, Montana viewed from the top of Mount Sentinel in 1999. Missoula is a city in and the county seat of Missoula CountyGR6 in western Montana, United States. It is the principal city of the 'Missoula, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Missoula County. 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.

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[edit] Geography

Location of Missoula, Montana

Missoula is located at 46°51′45″N, 114°0′42″W (46.862633, -114.011593)GR1.

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.

[edit] Demographics

The Clark Fork River flows through downtown Missoula. (2003)

As of the censusGR2 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, 2.35% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.36% African American, 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.

[edit] 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, until 1860 when C. P. Higgins and Francis Worden opened a trading post called the Hellgate Village on the Blackfoot River near the eastern edge of the valley. It was followed by a sawmill and a flour mill, which the settlers called "Missoula Mills". 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. With this Missoula became a trading center in earnest, distributing produce and grain grown in the agriculturally prosperous Bitterroot Valley. Businessmen A. B. Hammond, E. L. Bonner, and R. A. Eddy established the Missoula Mercantile Company in the early 1880s.

The city's success was aided by two other factors. First was the opening of the University of Montana in September 1895, serving as the center of public higher education for Western Montana. Then, in 1908, Missoula became a regional headquarters for the Forest Service, which began training smokejumpers in 1942. The Aerial Fire Depot was built in 1954, and big industry came to Missoula in 1956, with the groundbreaking for the first pulp mill.

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. 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 is a popular area for hunting mule deer, elk, bear, moose and other game animals. This provides Missoula with an ample tourism industry based on hunting and fishing.

[edit] 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 Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. NORML's state office is in Missoula and it holds a yearly Hemp Festival. 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. On November 7th, 2006, Missoula Voters passed Initiative 2, which makes marijuana offenses law enforcement's lowest priority in Missoula County. The initiative passed with 54% of the vote.

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.

[edit] Additional facts about Missoula

[edit] Sister cities

Missoula has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

[edit] External links

Image:Flag of Montana.svg
 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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