Historical Tourist: From Schoolhouse to Wildlife

Existing for over ten years as the Museum at Central School and the home of the Northwest Montana Historical Society, the Northwest Montana History Museum was renamed two years ago, lending a clearer title to its objective and contents. As with most other historical sites and opportunities in the area, my school made good use of having the museum within its field-trip range. While there are several permanent exhibits housed in the old classrooms, there are two that stick out in my memory: the lumber industry exhibit and the American Indian exhibit on the first floor. I am still impressed with the extent of their collections, and with my recent volunteer experience, I can honestly say that there is so much more that I didn't expect to have survived the past hundred years of history in the area that aren't currently in any exhibits. The amount of research opportunity in just this one location is overwhelming. For the average museum-goer, however, there is plenty of variety and extent to the permanent exhibits to sate your appetite--not to mention the constant rotation of temporary exhibits that sit in the room off the bookstore.

Currently, that temporary exhibit sitting on the main floor is one that my high school band teacher would find much joy in. The displays contain local instruments from the past from auto-harps to an auto-piano. Scattered around the room are locally-produced albums and music. All these items are focused on the Victorian-Edwardian era, and the exhibit is styled to recreate a sitting room that one might find from that era. There is an upright vinyl turntable and an elaborately-carved organ in the room as well. Aside from the occasional case, you can almost get the feel for what kind of family entertainment would have been available--at least in terms of music--during the late 1800s and early 1900s. All items, as with everything in the museum, has a history within the valley and has claimed the Flathead and Northwestern Montana as their home.

The natural history and American Indian exhibits tend to be my favorite ones, regardless of which museum I find myself in for the week. The unique nature of this museum's nod to the American Indian culture, however, is incredible, in that a large portion of this exhibit is taken up by telling the history of the interaction and storytelling that took place between Frank Linderman and the local American Indian tribes. Linderman was one of the most prolific chroniclers of American Indian biographies and stories of the frontier in Montana. The collection contains early copies of his books, gifts from his Indian friends, and hand-made statues he created. Aside from the Linderman artifacts, the exhibit showcases other Native American artifacts that were used in daily life by the individuals in the tribes of the area. Continuing up to the second floor, take care as you round the top stair and don't be too startled to see the bear currently sitting at the top in the hallway. Here rests a temporary exhibit on the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (Glacier National Park on the American side and Waterton on the Canadian). The display consists of stuffed statues of the wildlife with descriptions of their ranges as well as documents from the park itself throughout the ages--largely park pamphlets. There are also other miscellaneous park artifacts displayed in the cases that are definitely worth the view.

There are multiple classrooms available for meetings and class experiences on the second floor, but perhaps the most interesting and well-fleshed-out room in the museum is the one dedicated to the development and evolution of the lumber industry in Northwest Montana. Here, you can review multiple tree rings displays, with one tree dating back to 1212 AD. The photographic timeline wraps around the room from the initial arrival of those seeking a timber resource to the region to the more recent era in which the Forest Service now works to prevent and fight forest fires and other ecological disasters that affect the health of the forest. The largest pieces in the room are the tree cookies--slices that show the ring growth of trees--a large portion of a sawmill, displaying a log going through a blade, a glass-top gas pump, and a model of a Forest Service observation tower. The walls and displays contain so much in-depth information about the details of the timber industry in the region, you could easily spend thirty minutes in this room alone. Overall, however, the entire building is worth going through, as you navigate the late 1800s school-layout from exhibit to exhibit, including those I have not detailed here.

The building itself is a piece of local history, preserved by repeated interventions of local historians and the city's interest. One of the city's initial permanent stone buildings, the Central School building originally housed all students in the booming frontier town, from elementary to high school students. In the history of Flathead High School, it is noted that from 1895 through the first few years of the 20th century, the Central School building was its home before its own structure was built. Elementary school continued in the building until 1989, over a hundred years after its construction. The next decade was spent in limbo between demolition and preservation, with safety hazards being the biggest issue toward the building's destruction. The local historical society and the former students, however, had other ideas and coordinated with the city for the preservation of the building as the home of the historical society, to be transformed into a museum. Thus, the building underwent a major overhaul that fixed the safety and outdated issues that the building was experiencing to renovate it into a museum space. Early in the 21st century, the museum went by the name The Museum at Central School, but was rebranded only two years ago in 2019 to properly reflect the extent of the collections the museum houses.

Situated in the historical district of downtown Kalispell, the Northwest Montana History Museum is in the epicenter of what matters to the town, one of the largest in the northwestern corner of the state. Just a walk away are the old main street storefronts and retro theater buildings, original names and build dates etched in plaster and stone across the top of the walls. All of the buildings have found a new use since their original conception; in this the Central School has friends. The buildings do, however, hold to their original character, in permanent names, building materials, and even similar use to the businesses they initially housed. Perfectly situated for a walk around the old downtown, the Central School, once a school and now housing everything from early electronics to a large stuffed bear, has managed to remain with its neighbors in continuing to serve the community in the present while also reminding people of and keeping them in touch with their past.

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Bibliography (for Further Reading):

Bain, Lou. Down the Years 1898 to 1998: Flathead High School. Kalispell, MT, 1999.

Beacon Staff. "Places: Museum at Central School." Flathead Beacon (Kalispell, MT), Jan. 30, 2011. https://flatheadbeacon.com/2011/01/30/places-museum-at-central-school/.

Pate, Sheena. "Northwest Montana History Museum | Kalispell, Montana." Crown of the Continent. 2021.

Priddy, Molly. "Meet the Northwest Montana History Museum." Flathead Beacon (Kalispell, MT), Sep. 5, 2019. https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/09/05/meet-northwest-montana-history-museum/.