The powder magazine is a structure made of mortar and fieldstones that was used to store explosives when the post was active. The small building was purposely built along the river, close enough for easy access, but far enough away to minimize any damage or danger from explosions. At one point the building was also storage for target frames and other equipment.

The physical building itself also holds interesting stories from Fort Missoula’s past. Inside the building is a scratched in name of a buffalo soldier, Horace Bivins, who served in the Apache and Spanish-American wars. Footprints from a dog are still in the concrete from when the foundation was poured.

The powder magazine was still in use by the National Guard to store ammunition as late as 1967. Today, the Northern Rockies Heritage Center and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History own the building.

Other buildings surviving at Fort Missoula from this original building period include the log cabin NCO Quarter’s and carriage house, both part of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula.

After fires destroyed many Fort Missoula buildings in the early 1900s, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law appropriations for a bill that included major upgrades to Fort Missoula. New Officer’s housing was included in these upgrades.

Officer’s Row consists of four identical Mission style concrete buildings. Each of these buildings are 2.5 story duplex buildings that would have houses junior officers, officers, commanding officers and their families.

Building T-27 is a slightly larger building that was designed as a four-plex building to house junior officers. From 1941 to 1943 when Fort Missoula was the site of an Alien Detention Center, this building was used for civilians employed by the INS. After the detention camp, the building housed military officers and senior enlisted men. Today, the buildings on Officer’s Row are owned by the Northern Rockies Heritage Center and house a variety of offices for local non-profits.

Buildings T-24 and T-26 are large “U” shaped concrete buildings with the same Missoula Style architecture as Officer’s Row. Also built from 1906-1912, these two buildings were first used as company barracks as well as a recruiting center in 1940. When the Italian detainees first arrived at Fort Missoula during World War II, these buildings were used as housing before separate barracks were built. They were then later used as Army staff for the disciplinary barracks after World War II. Today, the Lolo National Forest Service uses these buildings.

The first hospital at Fort Missoula consisted of tents and a shanty set up by the 3rd Infantry in 1877. A frame building was built the following year that could hold up to twelve patients at one time.

Construction of the still surviving Post-Hospital building began in 1911 when other major buildings on the Fort were getting makeovers. This 16,000 square-foot hospital was built to standards of the Surgeon General’s recommendations for a regiment post for the time. It included two patient ward wings, capable of holding 30 patients each. The plans were to build a rear ward for hospital corps privates and non-commissioned officers, but this was never funded.

The hospital treated a wide variety of diseases and injuries over the years including a large breakout of Spanish influenza in 1918. An outbreak of polio in children at the Fort was treated from 1934 to 1935. The building sustained damage during a fire in 1941, but was repaired a few years later and was used as the main hospital for the Alien Detention Camp.

The hospital was deactivated in 1947, and sat empty until 1962. Today it serves as the administration and accounting offices for the Western Montana Mental Health Center and provides numerous programs related to mental health and addiction services.

Unlike its neighboring Officer’s Row buildings, the Post Exchange building, built in 1906, followed a Colonial Revival architecture style with large columns gracing the front of the building. It was originally built for $21,800 and housed administrative offices as well as a 2,000 square-foot gymnasium. Soldiers could also purchase personal items such as beer, wine, jewelry and gifts at the PX.

In the early 1960’s, the PX was used by the US Marine Corp Reserve and the Naval Reserve. Today the building, now known as Heritage Hall, is owned by the Northern Rockies Heritage Center and is leased for office space and used for weddings and community events.

The original Fort Missoula stables and coral were built in the northwest corner of the Fort, located near the Bitterroot River. New Mission-style stables (T-42) were built on the east side of the Fort in 1910. During World War I the building was used to train truck mechanics.

Today the building is used by the University of Montana for the Biological Sciences Field Research Station. In 1998 it was remodeled for avian research, and again in 2009 to add office and meeting spaces. The stable building is surrounded by 150 acres of open fields, and includes aviaries, laboratories and greenhouses.

When Army Engineer George Pond inspected the fort in 1900 the water system was found to be worn out and beyond repair. By 1903 a contract was made for a new water and sewer system, and the Fort was forced to use bottled water until repairs were made.

In 1912 the iconic Fort Missoula landmark, the 300,000-gallon water tower was built near the river, with a pump house at the base. It stands 166 feet above the valley floor and can still be seen throughout Missoula. During the 1940s it was painted with a red and white-checkered pattern. Today, the tower is no longer used to supply or hold water.

The American economy was at an all time low after the stock market crashed 1929. In response, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps which was designed to employee young men from poor families. The CCC was established in 1933 by the Emergency Conservation Act. The Army was put in charge of the new program, and Fort Missoula was quickly designated as the Northwest Regional Headquarters for all of Montana, including major projects in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and into Idaho. Fort Missoula administered training and camp assignments for 24 to 32 local camps, with as many as 225 men per camp. It was not unusual for 400 to 500 men to arrive at Fort Missoula in a single day.

Buildings constructed for the CCC during their time at Fort Missoula including a motor pool garage, a boiler plant and an administrative building. Today these buildings are home to The Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History. The museum started in 1985 when Tom Wilkins of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, approached local collectors and veterans with his desire to preserve American military history. Wilkins started the museum and served as its director until 1992.

Today the museum features exhibits ranging from frontier era wars to contemporary Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It has a research library and an extensive collection of historic documents. Its grounds host a variety of military vehicles including an M-7 105mm self-propelled howitzer and a Bell UH-1H helicopter gunship.

Building T-46 was built in 1940 and housed a fire station and guard offices on the first floor, and a cellblock on the second floor. After World War II it continued to be used as a fire station until it was converted into a Post Exchange (PX).

In the early 1970’s, the US Forest Service began using part of the building for office space for an archaeologist and for fire dispatchers, while the Army Reserve used the garage as a repair shop. Today it houses the Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Management division.

When the Alien Detention Center was closed, local Missoulians were worried about the loss of jobs. Representative Mike Mansfield notified the local Chamber of Commerce that Fort Missoula would be turned back to the Army to be used as a detention camp for medium-security military prisoners. These prisoners were sentenced to terms ranging from 2 to 30 years.

The prison was activated on June 25, 1944 with the first prisoners arriving soon after. A total of 2,000 inmates were held at the fort over the years, with 560 officers, 576 enlisted men, and 171 civilian employees staffed at the peak of use. Fences that had surrounded the Alien Detention Camp were strengthened and adapted to the area used by the detention camp. Soon after their arrival, inmates proved that the fences were not nearly as secure as they were thought to be when eight inmates escaped from the camp. Over the years many inmates attempted escape, some were wounded, and others were killed during their escape attempts. The disciplinary barracks at Fort Missoula were officially closed on April 18, 1947.

Many of the buildings at Fort Missoula were repurposed during this time. Two buildings still stand from this time period, a set of cellblock buildings built in 1945 and a rec hall and gym that is now used by the US Forest Service. The cellblocks originally had flat roofs and an open courtyard in the middle of each building. The buildings were set for demolition in the 1990’s, but were saved. Today the University of Montana’s Geosciences Department renovated the buildings, one for their use, the other for the University of Montana’s Fine Arts Department.

The Officer’s Club (T-3) building was one of the first buildings to be built at Fort Missoula. It was a log building, constructed of 10 to 12 inch think larch logs. The building was originally intended for a laundress quarters, but was first used as housing for officer’s family until it could be completed. The building was divided into four apartments, but the diving walls were taken down when it was converted into the Officer’s Club in the mid-1920’s.

During the renovation an old Springfield rifle was found in the floorboards, and was promptly displayed on the wall inside the building. Though the building was one of the oldest on the Fort, it received very little maintenance. It was destroyed by fire in 1972.

In 1939 the Fort received $75,000 from the Works Progress Administration to reconstruct and improve Fort buildings. Projects included converting the old Fort Chapel into building T-1, new guard houses, and a new recreation center. It was the largest project done at the Fort by the WPA. It was air conditioned, and included a basketball court on the first floor, a basement bowling alley, a kitchen and bar, and a large stage.

The formal opening of the recreation hall included a nine-course dinner prepared by WPA and Fort Missoula employees as well as a cabaret party at the nearby officer’s club. The building also housed boxing matches and basketball tournaments. During the Alien Detention Center, the detainees used the building for numerous musical and theatrical productions. The building was destroyed by fire on December 7, 1946.

The Post Cemetery at Fort Missoula encompasses an area just shy of one acre, split down the center by a service road, and surrounded by an iron fence. The Post Cemetery is an active Class IV National Military Cemetery with an estimated 400 gravesites, about which half of are filled. There are veterans from many American wars buried here, including the Civil War (1861-65), the Indian Wars (1866-92), the Spanish-American War (1898), World War I (1917-18), World War II (1941-45), the Korean War (1950-53), and the Vietnam Was (1964-73). Today the cemetery remains as an active military cemetery. Those eligible for burial are military personnel either retired or active duty, their spouses, and dependent children.

Ranks represented in the Post Cemetery range from Private (63 burials total) to Lieutenant-General. Most were members of Infantry regiments, though some represent the cavalry, as well as the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and the Montana National Guard. Large portions of the graves (22%) are members of the 24^th and 25^th infantry regiments of black soldiers that were stationed at Fort Missoula from the late 1800s into the early 1900s.

There are also a large number of women and children buried in the cemetery. Most are wives of officers and senior sergeants stationed at the Fort and their children.

The oldest grave in the cemetery is that of Private William Gerick, who died of unknown causes during the first year of the Fort’s existence, in September of 1878. He was the first soldier to die while on duty at Fort Missoula. 1^st Lieutenant Edward Belger was the first officer to die on active duty at Fort Missoula, passing on October 8, 1879 of acute dysentery, a common disease at the time.

There are two Medal of Honor recipients buried in the cemetery, Private Michael Kimmelsback and Hospital Steward Henry “Harvey” Garland. Both men received the honor during the Indian Wars, Kimmelsback receiving his in Nebraska in 1870 and Garland in Idaho in 1877.

These above stories are only a few of the interesting tales that the stones in the Fort Missoula Post Cemetery can tell us about life and individuals that had a connection to Fort Missoula. Annually the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula and the Rocky Mountain Military History Museum host an event, “Stories in Stones” that interprets the stories of many of the individuals buried at Post Cemetery.