The land where the Riverside (later renamed Milltown) settlement sprang up is on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Clark Fork and Big Blackfoot rivers and about ½ mile south of the mill. Originally owned as farmland, John McCormick leased small parcels to workers. It was said that the mill workers built their homes by “moonlight” as the company did not seem to mind if inventory was diverted to building the small homes.
As the population grew, businesses sprang up to serve their needs. Longtime resident Mildred Dufresne reported that by 1892 there were already a dozen homes, a livery stable, a boarding-rooming house and three saloons.
In 1903, Riverside boomed. John McCormick sold his land to the Western Lumber Company owned by W.A. Clark. Part of the land and the newly purchased Ray farm would become the reservoir behind a proposed hydroelectric dam. More lots 35x130 feet were created and leased in the increasing worker population. It wasn’t until decades later that homeowners were able to purchase the land their homes are on.
The construction of the Milltown Dam beginning in 1905 and the arrival of the Western Lumber Company in 1910 brought more immigrants and most of the population of Riverside were of definite ethnic groups: Finns, the most numerous; Norwegians and Swedes; and French Canadians. In 1928 when the Anaconda Copper Mining Company purchased the Western Lumber Company, most workers stayed on to work for ACM.
Milltown has always been influenced by roads and railroad lines. Prior to 1908 when the reservoir was flooded, the Mullan Road was the main road with a ford at the mouth of the Blackfoot. Most of the businesses were located in the south side of town. By 1908 a new bridge was built across the Blackfoot at the site of the current pedestrian Black Bridge and businesses shifted their location to take advantage of the traffic. This road was used until 1948 when the present Highway 200 was constructed. In addition, the Northern Pacific ran through town east and west and for a time passengers and freight services were offered at the Milltown Station.
The streetcar, powered by Clark’s dam, provided the main transportation between Bonner and Riverside to Missoula from 1910 to 1932. By then the first local stop was in Milltown; the name had been changed to Milltown in 1913 when it was learned that another post office already had the name of Riverside.
The Piltzville neighborhood is named for Billy Piltz who came from Maine to work at the lumber mill in Bonner where he eventually became yard boss. The Piltz house was built in 1904, the third house in the neighborhood. On the west side of the first floor of the Piltz residence was a small store operated by Mrs. Piltz.
During World War I, timber on the land just west of Piltzville was cleared and crops were grown on behalf of the war effort. The gardens in the “dry farm” were not too successful since there was no running water in the area and water had to be carried by hand to the gardens.
Most residents of Piltzville worked at the mill. Living in Piltzville gave them the opportunity to own land and their own homes.
In 1971 area residents formed a volunteer fire fighting association which became part of the Missoula Rural Fire District. The fire station was located in the old Fleming restaurant building in Piltzville which has been expanded and modernized.
Today Piltzville remains a residential area, home to many long-time residents.
Families were part of the fabric of Bonner from the earliest days. The Weekly Missoulian, April 8, 1887, records the birth of a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rouleau of Bonner, Montana Territory.
By 1888 the first post office was established, followed in 1889 by the completion of Bonner Hall, which housed the Masonic Lodge. The Bonner School first held classes there in August and continued until a new building was built closer to Piltzville and Milltown in 1907. After the school moved, Bonner Hall continued as the social center and later served as office for the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association until torn down in the early 1940s.
In 1892 the grand Margaret Hotel was constructed to house dignitaries making the long trip from Missoula and farther destinations. It featured beautifully appointed rooms and fine dining. Over the years it at times housed the post office and library and was home to single mill workers as well as families. Its demolition in 1957 is lamented to this day.
The arrival of Kenneth Ross as mill manager in 1899 perhaps played a pivotal role in the shaping of Bonner’s society. An experienced mill manager, Ross was also skilled at human relations and under his 26 year administration, Bonner flourished. He made sure his workers were well treated: the company made no profit on house rentals or at the company store, established in the late 1880s. He provided a public library at the urging of County Librarian, Mrs. Ruth Worden, and agreed to let Charles Hart establish the community or “Victory Gardens” in 1918 that were worked and appreciated by gardeners until the late 1940s when the mill expanded.
Land for the Bonner School as well as two community churches, St. Ann Catholic Church and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church were provided by the mill in the early 1900s. Though the structures have changed, those three community pillars still stand side by side today.
Kenneth Ross’ successors continued his style through the years and Bonner suffered less from labor unrest than did other ACM properties.
In 1972 Champion International Corporation acquired most of the assets of Anaconda Forest Products and on October 2 of that year U.S. Plywood started sawmill operations. Mill properties, including the Bonner houses, changed hands through the years until Stimson Lumber Company sold the houses to Scott Cooney's Montana Improvement Company in fall of 2007. Stimson subsequently ceased mill operations and put the property up for sale in 2009.
By the time the houses were sold in 2007, modern life long ago erased the isolation that had fostered creation of the society of Bonner. The sale created another irrevocable change: company houses were exactly that. Only active mill managers lived there; there were no widows or retirees. From now on renters and eventual owners of the restored houses will live there through choice, not employment.
Lengthy legal procedures resulted in the Montana Improvement Company declaring bankruptcy in 2011. Some of the Bonner houses were restored by then, but the fate of others was in doubt.
Having survived and flourished much longer than most company towns, Bonner begins a new chapter. Local history advocates are working to see that its heritage will forever be noted on the National Register of Historic Places as the Bonner Company Town Historic District.
The confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers is bordered by the several communities. Closest to the confluence itself is Milltown; north of the Clark Fork and west of the Blackfoot lie West Riverside and Pine Grove; north of the Clark Fork and east of the Blackfoot is Bonner and Piltzville.
For thousands of years the rivers now known as the Big Blackfoot and Clark Fork flowed to the sea without human intervention save for occasional visits by native tribes and early explorers.
In the mid-1800s that changed. In 1864 Montana became a territory and Missoula Mills, now known as just Missoula, was founded.
Entrepreneurs recognized the great merchandizing potential of the area, established partnerships, and located in the new town of Missoula. Those interests soon expanded to include lumbering ventures to meet the demands of the railroad and the mines in Butte.
Names such as Hammond and Bonner, two of the partners in the Montana Improvement Company, became forever linked to the history of the area when, in June, 1886, the first logs were sawed at new, permanent mill.
The land on which the mill and town of Bonner was built was allegedly purchased from settler Hiram Farr for $100 and a cow. Gladys Peterson in A Grass Roots Tribute: The Story of Bonner, Montana, (1976) wrote that “Bonner, Montana can make no claim for remarkable size or remarkable growth. After 90 years of existence it possesses only 45 houses and a population of about 150 persons. Yet this town which has no mayor, no town hall, nor any apparent local government continues to function in the role it was assigned at its birth, the role of a company town.”
The company town was built in part to have supervisors near the mill 24/7. Mill workers and loggers including French Canadians, Finns, Swedes, and Norwegians had to settle nearby. Riverside, now Milltown, a part of John McCormick’s ranch, was neatly divided into lots leased to immigrant workers.
By 1910, land ownership became an option when Barbara Zaugg subdivided West Riverside across the Blackfoot from Riverside (Milltown). The establishing of the Western Lumber Company on the Clark Fork River increased West Riverside’s population.
Piltzville, to the east, and Pine Grove, to the west, offered farming opportunities as well as more opportunities for land ownership for mill workers.
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Old Bonner School and Churches
The Bonner School and Catholic and Lutheran Churches have had a long presence in the Bonner-Milltown area.
Sleigh Riding in Bonner, Montana
Glen Max Smith, aka "The Hooligan," recalls sledding adventures on Bonner Mountain using Flexible Flyers, skis, boxes, and Coca Cola signs.