The Missoula Station on the Northern Pacific Railroad on April 27, 1971
Photo by: Hikki Nagasaki/Wikimedia
After completion of the nation's first transcontinental railroad in 1869 (by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads), plans were set in motion to continue expansion. In 1870, construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, backed by banker Jay Cooke, began but was abruptly cut short when the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1873 struck. Construction resumed four years later, and the Northern Pacific Railroad's track eventually reached Missoula, Montana, in 1883. The current brick depot, completed in 1901, is the third structure, preceded first by the original wooden depot in 1883 and an updated depot in 1896 that was destroyed by arson.
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