Old Missoula

Victory Field Goes On Auction Block (1954)

Victory Field in southeast Missoula is passing from the city’s athletic picture and entering a new phase of existence which will see it as the site of homes.

The Board of County Commissioners will sell the land in the field May 3 at 10:30 a.m. at the Courthouse. The map accompanying this article shows how the ground in the area is platted as Hammond Addition 7 to Missoula and how it has been broken up into lots.

Officially the land is called lots 1 to 16, both inclusive, in block 60, and lots 1 to 16, both inclusive in block 61, Hammond Addition 4, but it was redesigned by agreement of city and county officials.

Money from the sale will go to the Missoula county airport fund and will be earmarked for use in erection of buildings at the Missoula County Airport, west of the city. Land at Hale Field, south of the city, was traded to the High School Board of Trustees in return for the practice field.

The Victory field dedication game was played Oct. 6, 1934, when Missoula defeated Whitefish.

Only a few high school varsity games were played at Victory Field, none after the lights were installed at Dornblaser Field in 1937.

However, the Missoula B team has played all of its home games at Victory Field through the past 20 years, and the Spartans, the Bombers and the freshmen all have used it for practice.

Sportsmen say plenty of rock grows on the gridiron itself.

The track and field has been used for nearly all of Missoula high school’s track meets in the past 20 years and Spartans have scored some notable triumphs there. Butte Bulldogs have been able to beat them at Victory Field, three times in all, probably the only dual meet losses.

Part of the stands were moved to the Legion baseball field on Stephens avenue in 1942, leaving about half.

Victory Field is the place where Missoula high schools [illegible] track and field teams have been developed from the freshman through the B squad to the Spartan varsity all these 20 years.

Colonel George F. Weisel supervised the building of the field.

The history of the ground dates back on official records until well before the turn of the century. According to an abstract of the property on file at the courthouse, Truman and Thomas K. Andrews located and claimed a water right for the property on May 21, 1880. They claimed all the water from Deer Creek above the falls near the mouth of Pattee Canyon. (There is no fall at this location now, nor has there been in recent years.)

The Northern Pacific Railway sold the land to the South Missoula Land Co. for $3,360 in 1889, according to a deed dated Sept. 23, that year. The South Missoula Land Co. sold the property to the county July 3, 1925, and clearing of the site for eventual use as an athletic field started the following year, eight years before the dedication game was played.

The field, when laid out, was all by itself on the southeast of the settled part of Missoula. Little by little the city has moved toward it and then moved around the field. Now the land is well within the settled area.

The sale will be a public auction at the front door of the Courthouse. No bid will be accepted for less than 90 per cent of the appraised value of each lot. The appraised value of the corner lots is $2,750 and the appraised value of the inside lots is $2,000. The corner lots are 77 feet by 130 feet and the inside lots are 60 by 130 feet. The county will reserve mineral and oil rights in the property, and also reserve the right to reject any and all bids.

The field is bounded by Maurice avenue on the east, Woodworth avenue on the south, Arthur Avenue on the west and Hastings avenue on the north.

The Missoula County Airport, where new buildings will be constructed, is about 5 miles west of Missoula. It was opened in June 1941. A new administration building was constructed in the last few years, and a smoke jumper center is now under construction.

Hale Field, also involved in the land transaction, was opened by Robert R. Johnson and Nick Mamer in 1927.[1] Johnson may move his flying service to the county airport. An elementary school, the Lewis and Clark School, is being erected in part of Hale Field and a high school athletic practice area has been completed at Hale Field. A proposal to construct a second high school plant on Hale Field will be voted upon May 8. Johnson would lease county buildings at the airport should plans materialize.

 

The above article appeared in The Sunday Missoulian on April 25, 1954.

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