With a focus on providing safe, educational, and entertaining opportunities in Downtown Missoula, Unseen Missoula Guided Walking Tours are back for a third season! Unseen Missoula is a partnership of the Missoula Downtown Association, Historical Museum of Fort Missoula, City of Missoula’s Historic Preservation Office, and the Historical Research Associates. The program began offering historical guided walking tours to the public in June 2018.
Unseen Missoula is currently comprised of two main tours: Basements & Back Alleys and Hotels & Hooligans. Along with the two main tours, Pedal Through the Past is a new special offering for bicyclists and history enthusiasts. This tour looks at the continuing impact of place, geography, and the environment on Missoula, from Glacial Lake Missoula to the age of tourism. This tour will be offered only a few times over the summer.
Basements & Back Alleys takes a holistic look at downtown life during Missoula’s transition from a marginal frontier town to a major local economic and cultural center from 1880 to 1920. The Basements & Back Alleys tour is offered weekly on Saturdays at 1pm.
The Hotels & Hooligans tour looks at how the average Missoulian (whether long-time or just passing through) lived and recreated during the city’s railroad boom. Scandals from the Courthouse to the seedy underbelly of Missoula’s railroad hotel district will also be revealed! Tours will be offered weekly on Tuesdays at 4:30pm.
These tours promote the heritage and uniqueness of Downtown Missoula, and they work to engage Missoulians, visitors, civic groups, downtown businesses, and property owners in fostering cultural identity and promoting heritage tourism. For this season, the MDA created COVID-19 precautions to ensure that this season is a safe experience for our tour guides, property owners and, of course, our attendees.
Tickets are on sale now for June tours, and July tours will be available soon. Tickets can be purchased online at www.missouladowntown.com/tours/unseen-missoula. For more information, contact Program Director Kalina Wickham via email at kalina@missouladowntown.com or via phone at (406) 543-4238.