History of Missoula

turn, the beginning of Missoula's lumber industry that would remain the mainstay of the area's economy for the next hundred years. The continued economic windfall from railroad construction and lumber mills led to a further boom in Missoula's population. A.B. Hammond and Copper Kings Marcus Daly and William A. Clark competed fiercely in the region over lumber share and Missoula investments, and in 1908 Missoula became the district, and later a regional, headquarters for the United States Forest Service, which also began training smokejumpers in 1942.

Logging remained a mainstay of industry in Missoula with the groundbreaking of the Hoerner-Waldorf pulp mill in 1956, which resulted in protests over the resultant air pollution. An article in Life Magazine thirteen years later speaks of Missoulians sometimes needing to drive with headlights on during the day to navigate through the smog. In 1979, still almost 40% of the county's labor income came from the wood and paper products sector. The lumber industry was hit hard by the recession of the early 1980s, and Missoula's economy began to diversify. By the early 1990s the disappearance of many of the region's log yards, along with legislation, had helped clean the skies dramatically.

Today, education and healthcare are Missoula's leading industries with the University of Montana and the city's two hospitals acting as three of the largest employers. St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center, founded in 1873, is the region's only Level II trauma center and has undergone three major expansions since the 1980s. Likewise, the University of Montana grew 50% and built or renovated 20 buildings from 1990-2010. It is expected that these industries as well as expansions in business and professional services, and retail will be the main engines of future growth