The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula hosts four separate indoor gallery spaces: Main Gallery, Orientation Gallery, North Gallery and Heath Gallery. Exhibits change throughout the year, highlighting many different aspects of Missoula County’s History.
For more information and a virtual tour of our current exhibits please select one of the galleries below.
The Road to Today: 150 Years of Missoula’s History
Permanent Exhibit
Main Gallery
Explore Missoula’s development from its founding in 1866 to today. Beginning as a small trading post, Missoula quickly became the largest permanent White settlement in the area. In 1883, the Northern Pacific Railway arrived in Missoula, cementing its position as the most important trading post in the area. Through the exhibit, discover the importance of the lumber industry in Missoula’s history and find out how Missoula became home to the University of Montana, the first university in the state.
The exhibit also takes a deep dive into the story of Fort Missoula itself. Meet the 25th Infantry bicycle corps, who in 1897 rode all the way from Fort Missoula to St. Louis as part of a test to see how well bicycles would perform as army transportation. Learn how Fort Missoula was transformed during the Great Depression into a regional training camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Finally, hear the stories of the more than 2000 Japanese and Italian men imprisoned at Fort Missoula during WW2, when it served as a Department of Justice Alien Detention Center.
Walk through the gallery:
Click the below image for a virtual walk through the exhibit. For full screen click the 
.
360° Photos by MCAT
“We Can Take It!”: History of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Western Montana
Open April 2023 – June 2025
Heath Gallery
The American economy reached an all-time low after the stock market crash of 1929. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps to employ young men from poor families to work on public land conservation projects. In 1933, Fort Missoula was named the Northwest District Headquarters Detachment and, over the course of the Depression decade, processed and trained thousands of young corpsmen. These men would go on to do many meaningful projects throughout Western Montana, many of which you can still see today.
This exhibit explores the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps from its initial organization in 1933 to the lasting legacy that it has provided to many areas around the country. Learn what it would have been like to be an enrollee in this groundbreaking program and the organizations that are keeping this history alive.
Walk through the gallery:
Click the below image for a virtual walk through the exhibit. For full screen click the
360° Photos by David Eggebraaten
On display
Reproduction photographs from:
- HMFM’s permanent collection
- Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
- Glacier National Park Museum and Archives
- University of Montana Mansfield Archives and Special Collections
- Montana Historical Society
- National Archives
- National Park Service
- Stan Cohen
- National Museum of Forest Service History
- Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Artifacts from:
- HMFM’s permanent collection
- Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History
- National Museum of Forest Service History
- Stan Cohen
We thank Friend of the Museum Steve Bixby and Browman Intern Cassidy Vandervoort for all their help in bringing this exhibit to life!
Missoula, MT- The Bicycle Town
Open September 2023 – June 2025
North Gallery
Cycling has been a long-honored tradition throughout the world for over two centuries. From its humble beginnings as the “hobby-horse” invented in 1817 to the iconic “penny-farthing” of the 1870s, designs changed drastically before we see the bicycle as we know it today. Following these years of innovation, the cycling craze didn’t take long to reach Missoula, with its first shop opening its doors in the 1890s. Though its popularity would ebb and flow over the years, our western Montana town continues to have a strong tie to the biking scene that has lasted over 130 years!
The Bicycle Town rides through the history of biking in Missoula past the early bike shops that introduced the pastime to the advocacy work done by shops that still exist today. Discover the biking tradition of group rides from the recreation ride inspired by Fort Missoula’s Bicycle Corps to the trans-American ride that inspired many more through western Montana and beyond.
Walk through the gallery:
Click the below image for a virtual walk through the exhibit. For full screen click the
360° Photos by David Eggebraaten
The Bicycle Town features photographs and reprduction items from the UM Archives, Adventure Cycling Association, Greg & June Siple, Susan Moran’s collection of Mark Kleffner items, Free Cycles, and Gayl Teichert. Thank you!
Want to learn more about Missoula’s bike shops? Check out our interactive map of bike shops through the years.
Discover what there is to see at the museum in our Orientation Gallery, a one-stop shop for information about HMFM. Watch our on-site Orientation Video to learn about Missoula’s history and how the museum came to be. See the latest donations to our permanent collection in our Recent Acquisitions object case. Pick up scavenger hunts and activity sheets for the young and young-at-heart.
This gallery also serves as a classroom and as a home for short-term exhibits throughout the year.
Want to start getting oriented early? Here are some links to things you might want to visit when you’re here:
- HMFM’s grounds consist of a 32 acre park and over 20 historic structures! Take the virtual grounds tour here to prepare.
- Print out your own scavenger hunts ahead of time, or save paper and download them onto your own device before arriving.
- Read about some of the different eras of history that Fort Missoula has witnessed. Which one are you most excited to learn more about?
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