Eleven years before statehood, Deer Lodge became home to Montana’s first postsecondary school: the Montana Collegiate Institute. The nonsectarian, coeducational college offered both high school classes and a classical graduating course “as…

Construction of this women’s residence, dedicated in 1903, attests to Montana’s early commitment to coeducation. Architect A. J. Gibson chose the simple, elegant Second Renaissance Revival style for his third campus building. Deviating from the…

Of the eight campus buildings constructed on the Carsley-Gilbert master plan, the library appropriately best expresses the Renaissance Revival style. Billings architects McIver and Cohagen designed this architectural gem with its Spanish tile roof,…

This enduring landmark was the fifth and final contribution to the campus by renowned Missoula architect A. J. Gibson. A work of exquisite craftsmanship and the university’s only example of Neo-classical architecture, the dramatic classical portico…

Fronting the Oval at the heart of the campus, the university’s oldest standing building, also known as Main Hall, proudly represents the birth of this noble institution. Celebrated Missoula architect A. J. Gibson designed the Richardsonian…

Missoula architect C. J. Forbis ushered in a new campus building phase in 1935 with the construction of this student union. The building’s placement and modern Art Deco façade broke ranks with the Renaissance Revival style called for in the old…

The first men’s residence on campus renamed Elrod Hall, opened in 1923 with seventy student rooms. Like its near-twin Brantly Hall, the facility was originally intended to be part of two U-shaped residential complexes. The Helena architectural firm…

Prominent state legislator and county commissioner Charles R. Prescott homesteaded here in 1891, planting a vast orchard of plum, cherry, pear, and apple trees. In 1898, Prescott replaced his original log dwelling with this beautiful Queen Anne…

Professor Frederick Scheuch and first university President Oscar Craig created the original campus master plan in 1895. The plan specified that the entrances of all immediate and future campus buildings were to face the center of a large oval. Ovals…