100 Missoula Icons

You see them, or a photograph of them, and no matter where you are at that moment, you say: “Missoula.” The big block-letter “M” on Mount Sentinel. The Stoverud’s clock, downtown on Higgins Avenue. The four big metal X’s at Circle Square, a nod of the cap to Missoula’s many eccentricities – and its railroading past. Main Hall and the Missoula County Courthouse and the Florence Building, our built environment. Mounts Sentinel and Jumbo, Lolo Peak, the Clark Fork River – our natural habitat. Missoula’s icons are a rich and fanciful collection that tell the story of our people and their purposes in this relatively remote corner of the planet. They are what make us uniquely, and proudly, “Missoula.” During the summer of 2014, the Missoulian celebrated 100 Missoula icons as part of our coverage of several important junctures in our city and state’s history. 2014 was the 150th anniversary of the designation of Montana Territory by the U.S. Congress. In 2015, Missoula is celebrating its 150th. In this book, we feature Missoula’s 100 icons in words and photographs. Join us for the ride as we celebrate all things Missoula. We begin on the slopes of Mount Sentinel, feet planted on concrete.