The Missoula Cemetery in Missoula, Montana, was established in 1884 by the Missoula Valley Improvement Company, an incorporation owned by Dr. Isadore Cohn, William H.H. Dickinson, Frank Woody, and Thomas C. Marshall. The original land consisted of sixteen acres, located three miles northwest of the city’s center, and was a triangular section purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company for $168. The Missoula Valley Improvement Company commissioned H.V. Wheeler to survey and plat the cemetery. The official plat was filed in Missoula County on January 21, 1885. The corporation owned and managed the cemetery until Frank Worden and A.B. Hammond became owners.
On March 5, 1901 the cemetery land was offered and sold to the City of Missoula for one dollar. The City Council passed Ordinance #109 of acceptance and appointed the first Board of Trustees to manage the care of the cemetery.
Throughout the years, the City of Missoula has purchased additional land to accommodate growth. The cemetery consists of approximately forty acres of developed and forty acres of undeveloped land. It is one of the largest cemeteries in Montana.
The Missoula Cemetery property records include the original deed from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to Frank Woody, December 6, 1884; the original deed from Frank and Lizzy Woody to the Missoula Valley Improvement Company, January 24, 1885; and an undated letter of transfer of the cemetery from the Missoula Valley Improvement Company to the City of Missoula, probably from around 1901.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana-Missoula.
[Name of document or photograph number], Missoula Cemetery Property Records, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Chain of ownership unknown
Donated by Mary Ellen Stubb on behalf of Missoula Cemetery, May, 2011
The Archives & Special Collections also holds the 1914 drawings for the Missoula Cemetery barn in Mss 20, The Gibson, Kirkemo, and Bakke Architectural Drawing Collection and an undated map of the cemetery in Mss 240, the Montana Power Company Records.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.