Kalispell

Flathead County Courthouse - 2002
This courthouse was designed by Bell and Kent, the same firm who designed the Montana State Capitol.

Travel Montana

Kalispell Directory Listings

A view from 1939:

KALISPELL, (2,959 alt., 6,094 pop.), seat of Flathead County, is a farmers' trade center and tourists' headquarters. (Guides and horses available for mountain trips.) Many of the buildings on the broad, tree-lined streets are modern in design; the four delightful parks, covering 40 acres, were landscaped as a W.P.A. project. Kalispell's porgressive planners have produced a city that fits well into the awesome beauty of its setting. The Whitefish Range is on the north, the Swan Range rises sheer on the east.

The Flathead Valley appealed highly to Indians of the Salishan tribes, who called it "the park between the mountains." Until 1809, when David Thompson of the Canadian North-West Company explored it, no white man had been here. As it was accessible only by hazardous travel over the old Tobacco Plains Trail, no permanent settlement was made until 1881; the post established by Angus McDonald for the Hudson's Bay Co., and the post office at Dooley's Landing on the Flathead River, had been the only trading points.

When in 1891 the Great Northern completed its track to this point, the little settlements at Demersville, a steamboat landing on the Flathead River, 4.5 miles southeast, and Ashley, 0.5 mile west, were moved here piece by piece and became Kalispell.

The city has grown steadily with Jhe development of lumbering and agriculture in the Flathead country, which produces 40 percent of Montana's lumber and has never known a crop failure.

There are several dude ranches nearby, and numerous lakes and streams provide opportunities for bathing, boating, and fishing.

The S. E. Johns Collection (open; free), 128 Main St., contains fire- aims, Indian weapons and relics of pioneer Montana. The F. A. Robbin Collection, ist Ave. E. and 2nd St., contains 100 obsolete weapons. Kalispell has a radio station, KGEZ (1310 kc).

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.