Who are we and what have we been working on?
Preserve Historic Missoula has been actively working to preserve Missoula’s historic sites and buildings. Your board of directors has attended numerous meetings with city and county officials; we have written letters of support for various projects; we have written letters to the editor of the Missoulian, we have met with citizens about development and historic preservation issues in our community and much more. A partial list of the projects and the activities which we have been involved with include:
Missoula Country Fairgrounds: PHM prepared a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Fairgrounds and submitted the nomination to the Montana State Historic Preservation Review Board. The Fairgrounds was entered into the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on September 16, 2010.
Missoula's Historic Missoula Mercantile Building: Octagon Partners purchased the historic Missoula Mercantile building in January of 2011 and announced plans to rehabilitate and restore the building. The plans involve turning the 113,000 square foot building into mixed-use space for commercial and office space while preserving the historic fabric of the building. PHM actively supports Octagon Partner's efforts to rehabilitate and preserve the historic Macy's Building in downtown Missoula. Peter Goergen, Octagon Partners, presented a special presentation at the 2011 PHM Night on their work. PHM recently received a tour of the historic building from the architectural firm spear heading the rehabilitation and PHM testified before the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission on our support for this project.
Missoula Historic Preservation Commission Downtown Banners: For the past three years PHM has provided financial support for a series of banners for Missoula's Downtown Historic District. The banners depict various historic buildings from Missoula and are posted across the downtown during the month of May, which is Historic Preservation Month.
Left, one of the street banners which PHM helped to purchase, right, Missoula Historic Preservation Commission Jim McDonald, the driving force behind the banner project.
Missoula Public Library book donations: In celebration of Historic Preservation Week in May, 2012, Preserve Historic Missoula contributed $500 to the Missoula Public Library for the purposes of purchasing books relating to historic preservation. The list of books recommended resulted from discussions with historic preservation specialists and lay people interested in the topic. The Missoula Public Library did a special exhibit of the historic preservation books during Historic Preservation Week. Preserve Historic Missoula requested that all books purchased with our donation be made available for easy check-out rather than library-use only.
Preserve Historic Missoula Sign Grant Program: Preserve Historic Missoula instituted a program in 2012 to subsidize the cost of official National Register of Historic Places signs for properties individually listed on the National Register or listed as contributing buildings within a historic district. PHM will subsidize five signs per year on a first-come first-served basis.
Lincoln School Memorial Award: Preserve Historic Missoula received funds from the Save Lincoln School group which had dissolved. We used a portion of the funds to start an annual Lincoln School Award, which will recognize a person who has made a significant contribution to historic preservation in Missoula or the surrounding area.
Timber Framers Guild and Silver Park Bench Shelter Project: PHM provided support for the construction of the log and reclaimed lumber bench shelters at Silver Park. The project utilized logs salvaged from the Blackfoot River, several of which still had the original logger marks visible, and lumber salvaged from the old mill buildings previously on the site where the shelters were placed. PHM attended several meetings with City and provided letters of support for the project. One of our board members was the driving effort behind this project.
Missoula City Zoning Rewrite Process: PHM has been actively involved with the historic preservation zoning code revisions. PHM supports the adoption of the historic preservation zoning codes; these codes were drafted by the U of M Land Use Law Clinic and supported by the Missoula City Historic Preservation Commission. We provided comments on the draft preservation codes, and we wrote a letter of support to the Missoulian expressing our support for the overall zoning revision process. PHM also met with the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission, met with Roger Millar, OPG Director, in order to discuss the code revision process and to express our support for the process. PHM will continue to work with the City of Missoula in order to ensure that the historic preservation ordinance is passed and some measure of protection is provided for our historic neighborhoods and buildings.
Lincoln School and Save Lincoln School group, PHM nominated the Lincoln School to our 2008 Endangered Historic Sites list because we felt we needed to illustrate a lost opportunity to preserve this historic school. At the same time, group of Missoula citizens were organizing in an effort to purchase the building and turn it into a community center. The serendipitous timing of the two efforts led to PHM assisting the Save Lincoln School group and their efforts. Save Lincoln School has been actively raising funds, among other activities, in an effort to save the school house. PHM will continue to assist the group with their efforts.
Target Range Elementary School: PHM has met with the local group working to restore this historic school building. The group envisions the building serving as a community center and they are working with Boy Scout Troop 1910 towards that end. PHM has provided technical assistance and we have agreed to provide financial assistance for their efforts at preserving this historic building. PHM will continue to work with the Little White School House group and their efforts to preserve this historic building.
Downtown Master Planning Process: PHM has been actively involved with the development of the downtown master plan. The Missoula Downtown Historic District is one of the crown jewels of our historic fabric. PHM has attended public meetings during the course of the development of the new master plan. We have encouraged the consideration and continued protection of the historic district at every phase of the process.
East and West Alder Street Housing and Development Issues: PHM was contacted by two separate private property owners regarding two new developments in the historic Alder Street district. The problems served to highlight the need for the development of the historic preservation ordinance in order to provide protection for our historic districts. PHM met with the property owners in order to discuss the situation and to try to find common ground for the resolution of the problems. We also contacted city council members and city personnel about the situation. PHM will continue to work for the establishment of the historic preservation ordinances.
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula acquisition of Building T-1: PHM supports the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula in their efforts to acquire Building T-1. The building served as the Post Headquarters and the museum envisions the building serving as the cornerstone for their efforts to preserve and interpret the internment camp period of Fort Missoula’s history. PHM has attended meetings with museum personnel, our elected representatives and we have provided letters of support to the Historical Museum in their efforts.
Preserve Historic Missoula Sign Grant Program: Preserve Historic Missoula instituted a program in 2012 to subsidize the cost of official National Register of Historic Places signs for properties individually listed on the National Register or listed as contributing buildings within a historic district. PHM will subsidize five signs per year on a first-come first-served basis.
Lincoln School Memorial Award: Preserve Historic Missoula received funds from the Save Lincoln School group which had dissolved. We used a portion of the funds to start an annual Lincoln School Award, which will recognize a person who has made a significant contribution to historic preservation in Missoula or the surrounding area.
Timber Framers Guild and Silver Park Bench Shelter Project: PHM provided support for the construction of the log and reclaimed lumber bench shelters at Silver Park. The project utilized logs salvaged from the Blackfoot River, several of which still had the original logger marks visible, and lumber salvaged from the old mill buildings previously on the site where the shelters were placed. PHM attended several meetings with City and provided letters of support for the project. One of our board members was the driving effort behind this project.
Missoula City Zoning Rewrite Process: PHM has been actively involved with the historic preservation zoning code revisions. PHM supports the adoption of the historic preservation zoning codes; these codes were drafted by the U of M Land Use Law Clinic and supported by the Missoula City Historic Preservation Commission. We provided comments on the draft preservation codes, and we wrote a letter of support to the Missoulian expressing our support for the overall zoning revision process. PHM also met with the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission, met with Roger Millar, OPG Director, in order to discuss the code revision process and to express our support for the process. PHM will continue to work with the City of Missoula in order to ensure that the historic preservation ordinance is passed and some measure of protection is provided for our historic neighborhoods and buildings.
Lincoln School and Save Lincoln School group, PHM nominated the Lincoln School to our 2008 Endangered Historic Sites list because we felt we needed to illustrate a lost opportunity to preserve this historic school. At the same time, group of Missoula citizens were organizing in an effort to purchase the building and turn it into a community center. The serendipitous timing of the two efforts led to PHM assisting the Save Lincoln School group and their efforts. Save Lincoln School has been actively raising funds, among other activities, in an effort to save the school house. PHM will continue to assist the group with their efforts.
Target Range Elementary School: PHM has met with the local group working to restore this historic school building. The group envisions the building serving as a community center and they are working with Boy Scout Troop 1910 towards that end. PHM has provided technical assistance and we have agreed to provide financial assistance for their efforts at preserving this historic building. PHM will continue to work with the Little White School House group and their efforts to preserve this historic building.
Downtown Master Planning Process: PHM has been actively involved with the development of the downtown master plan. The Missoula Downtown Historic District is one of the crown jewels of our historic fabric. PHM has attended public meetings during the course of the development of the new master plan. We have encouraged the consideration and continued protection of the historic district at every phase of the process.
East and West Alder Street Housing and Development Issues: PHM was contacted by two separate private property owners regarding two new developments in the historic Alder Street district. The problems served to highlight the need for the development of the historic preservation ordinance in order to provide protection for our historic districts. PHM met with the property owners in order to discuss the situation and to try to find common ground for the resolution of the problems. We also contacted city council members and city personnel about the situation. PHM will continue to work for the establishment of the historic preservation ordinances.
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula acquisition of Building T-1: PHM supports the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula in their efforts to acquire Building T-1. The building served as the Post Headquarters and the museum envisions the building serving as the cornerstone for their efforts to preserve and interpret the internment camp period of Fort Missoula’s history. PHM has attended meetings with museum personnel, our elected representatives and we have provided letters of support to the Historical Museum in their efforts.
