Old Missoula

Local Passenger Station Never Used

The total destruction by fire of the Northern Pacific passenger station on Sunday, July 12, 1896, was apparently the work of some fiend, according to the July 14 Missoulian.

Most members of the fire department were attending a baseball game across the river when the call for fire fighters came. They hurried to the scene, but were too late to save the structure.

The fire probably pleased North Side residents who opposed the closing of Higgins Avenue. North Side property holders contended that the construction prevented their crossing to the business district of town, necessitating a walk four blocks longer.

Before construction of the passenger station began, North Side residents presented a petition of opposition to the City Council in June 1895. At the next session of the council, the committee to which the matter had been referred recommended that an ordinance be passed allowing the railroad company to build the station.

Angry citizens from the North Side molested workmen at the construction site. An officer appointed to protect the workmen spent most of his working hours in the nearest saloon. It was rumored that he received liquor money from those who objected to the cut off of Higgins.

Higgins Brothers, contractors for the construction, ignored further opposition. The Northern Pacific backed them in their undertaking.

When fire broke out in July there were indications that the cause was coal oil. An unidentified man was seen in the building a few minutes before the fire. Several other fires had been set during the past weeks including the Missoula Mercantile Co. warehouse fire and the Higgins barn fire. An attempt was also made to burn down the Higgins Block.

There was no insurance on the nearly completed passenger station and losses were estimated to be $20,000. Work on the present building began in 1898. This time North Side residents did not interfere. The building was completed in the summer of 1899.

A Photo with this article had the following caption:

This partially completed Northern Pacific passenger station, about on the same site as the present one, was demolished by fire in July of 1896, the blaze apparently set by an arsonist. (Courtesy of Oakley E. Coffee)