Polson (Montana)
| Polson | |
|---|---|
 Look at Polson |
|
| Polson's Lake County location (left) and Montana county's location (right) | |
| Basic data | |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Montana |
| County : | Lake County |
| Coordinates : | 47 ° 41 ′ N , 114 ° 9 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) |
| Residents : | 4,585 (as of 2012) |
| Population density : | 427.6 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 10.80025 km 2 (approx. 4 mi 2 ) of which 10.72255 km 2 (approx. 4 mi 2 ) land |
| Height : | 892 m |
| Postal code : | 59860 |
| Area code : | +1 406 |
| FIPS : | 30-58750 |
| GNIS ID : | 775341 |
| Website : | www.cityofpolson.com |
| Mayor : | Paul Briney (until the end of 2021) |
Polson is a town in Lake County in the state of Montana in the United States and is located at the southern end of Flathead Lake on the Flathead Indian Reservation . Polson is the county seat . The city is ranked 18th in the ranking of the largest cities in Montana.
geography
Geographical location
The city is located in the northwest of the US state Montana in the Mission Valley at the western foot of the Mission Mountains , part of the Rocky Mountains . Polson borders the south shore of Flathead Lake. The Flathead River drains here to the southwest.
City structure
Polson has an area of just under 11 square kilometers. The city is divided into an urban area and a rural area. In 2012, 91% of the population lived in the city and 9% in the rural areas.
Neighboring communities
To the north are Big Arm , Elmo and Dayton . In the south, Pablo (seat of the Indian government and reservation administration) and Ronan are the next places.
climate
Polson has a continental climate with an average minimum temperature of around −10 ° Celsius (13.6 ° Fahrenheit ) in January and an average maximum temperature of around 27 ° C (81.1 ° F) in August.
history
In the area around today's Polson lived two Salish-speaking Indian tribes in pre-colonial times , the inland Salish ( Seliš or Sqelixw , also known as Bitterroot Salish ) and the Upper Pend d'Oreille or Upper Kalispel ( Ql̓ispé ). From the 1820s, trappers and fur traders came to the area. The French-Canadian Abraham Finley took the first ferry of the southern part of Flathead Lake into operation in the 1840s at what is now Polson. He sold the company in 1869 to Baptiste Aeneas, who built a log cabin, the first permanent non-Indian building in what would later become Polson. In addition to the ferry service, Aeneas operated a freight company on the route to "Hellgate", today's Missoula . In 1855, with the "Hellgate Treaty", the Flathead Indian reservation was established, within whose borders Polson lies. In the early 1880s, Harry Lambert set up a trading post on the south shore of Flathead Lake. The area became known as "Lambert's Landing". A post office was set up here in 1899 and named after David Polson, a cattle farmer who was one of the first white settlers in the area since 1884.
The Congress adopted in 1904 the "Flathead Allotment Act" which allowed the parceling of the reserve and a settlement by non-indigenous Homesteader initiated. In 1909 a land map for the place Polson was drawn up and the first plots of land were sold to settlers who moved to the reservation from 1910. The federal government provided money to deepen the port at Polson and to enable steam ships to be moored. Polson was incorporated on May 12, 1910 and became a local authority. Household goods dealer CM Mansur became the town's first mayor. In September 1911, Polson's first public school opened with an initial 143 students. In 1913 the first hospital, Polson General Hospital, opened. When Lake County was formed from Missoula County in the south and Flathead County in the north in 1923, Polson became the administrative seat of the new county .
In the 1930s, more farmers from the Great Plains moved to Polson and the surrounding area. Cherry cultivation along the lakeside in Polson was also intensified from the 1930s . In the early 1940s, cherry farmers founded the “Flathead Sweet Cherry Association” cooperative, which also operated a shared warehouse. New cherry plantations were established until the 1960s.
In May 1930, Rocky Mountain Power began building a hydroelectric dam in the Flathead River, which drains to the southwest of Flathead Lake. Due to the Great Depression , construction stopped in 1931 and was only resumed in 1936 by the “Montana Power Company”. On August 6, 1938, “Kerr Dam” was put into operation, named after the company's president at the time, Frank A. Kerr.
During the Second World War , some of the residents of Polson joined the armed forces or migrated to the Pacific coast to work in the war industry .
In the early 1960s, Native American tribesmen founded the Dupuis Brothers Lumber sawmill in Polson, which developed into a major logging company in western Montana. It was bought in 1965 by the Pack River Lumber Company, the fifth largest private timber company in the USA at the time. The Polson sawmill employed 250 people at peak times. Pack River also operated a plywood production facility in town. The company closed its operations in Polson in the 1990s.
In 2015, ownership and operation of the “Kerr Dam” were transferred to the “Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes”, who renamed it “ Séliš Ksanka Ql'ispé Dam”. It is the first American Indian owned hydroelectric dam.
Population development
According to the city, the population developed as follows:
- 1920: 1.132
- 1930: 1,455
- 1940: 2.156
- 1950: 2,280
- 1960: 2,314
- 1970: 2,464
- 1980: 2,798
- 1990: 3,291
- 2000: 4.041
- 2010: 4,488
Of 4,585 inhabitants in 2012, 2,041 (44.5%) were male and 2,544 (55.5%) were female.
The average age of Polson residents is 40 years (compared to the average age of 38.3 years for the state of Montana).
religion
Polson is influenced by Christianity. The churches in town include, among others
- Assembly of God
- Calvary Baptist Church of Polson
- Fellowship Baptist Church , First Baptist Church
- Fresh Life Church
- Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
- Heritage Faith Christian Church
- Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Mission Valley Church of Christ
- Mount Calvary Lutheran Church of Montana
- New Life Church
- Polson Alliance Church
- Polson Community Church ,
- Polson Foursquare Church .
- Presbyterian Church of Polson
- St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- United Methodist Church
politics
mayor
Paul Briney was elected mayor of the city (until the end of 2021).
Culture and sights
Theaters and museums
Polson has a cinema with two projection rooms.
The city is home to two museums. The Miracle of America is a nonprofit American history museum founded in 1981. The Polson-Flathead Historical Museum is organized on a voluntary basis and exhibits memorabilia predominantly related to local history.
The Port Polson Theater is a log house built in 1938 and operated by an amateur group founded in 1976.
Green spaces and recreation
The city maintains twelve recreational areas on a little more than 12 hectares (a good 30 acres ) with playgrounds, a skate park, a dog park, picnic areas and sports areas.
The operated by the County Golf Course Polson Bay Golf Course with 27 lanes opened 1938th
Lakes and riverside parks allow swimming, fishing and water sports.
The urban area is criss-crossed by around ten miles (approx. 16 km ) of hiking and biking trails, which are connected with 20 miles (32 km) of additional routes in the surrounding countryside.
Regular events
Cultural and sporting events are aimed primarily at citizens of the city, supplemented in summer with offers for tourists.
The “Mack Days” in spring and autumn, a fishing competition sponsored by the “Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes” to reduce the amount of American char (Lake Trout) introduced into Flathead Lake, and the non-profit-oriented “Flathead” experience national attention and participation Lake Blues Festival ”, which has been taking place on the shores of Flathead Lake in Polson every summer since 2011. An annual classic car show in the city is also of national importance.
Economy and Infrastructure
One of the economic bases of the city is agriculture, especially cattle breeding and cherry growing. A second income pillar is tourism in summer with offers for water, horse and hiking sports, gastronomy and accommodation.
The hydroelectric dam "Séliš Ksanka Ql'ispé Dam" is also of economic importance for the city. It produces around 1.1 million megawatt hours of electricity annually. As a Native American company, the dam has been exempt from property tax since 2015, which means that the city is losing around $ 1 million in annual revenue .
Public facilities
The county administration is located in the Lake County Courthouse in Polson. The city also has a city court. The state employment agency for Lake County is also based in Polson. There is an urban and a rural fire department: City Volunteer Fire Department and Polson Rural Fire District.
education
Polson forms the school district 23 with the elementary schools "Linderman Elementary" and "Cherry Valley Elementary" and the secondary schools "Polson Middle School " and "Polson High School ".
traffic
US Highway 93 runs through the city from north to south . On the south shore of Flathead Lake, US Highway 35 branches off to Finley Point and Woods Bay .
Web links
- Official City of Polson website
- Website of the Chamber of Commerce Polson ( Polson Chamber of Commerce )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e cityofpolson.com: Demographics & History ( Memento of the original dated May 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b cityofpolson.com: Paul Briney
- ↑ Lake County website
- ↑ Polson Chamber of Commerce: Polson Living ( Memento of the original of April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e f City of Polson: History of Polson , accessed October 31, 2019
- ↑ General Allotment Act. 1904
- ↑ Back to their Roots: Once a thriving business, Dupuis family invests again in lumber industry , September 10, 2007
- ^ Federal commission OKs 2nd new name for former Kerr Dam , November 10, 2015
- ↑ Flathead Beacon: CSKT Prepares for Historic Acquisition of Kerr Dam , August 19, 2015
- ^ Assembly Of God Church, Polson at church.org
- ^ Calvary Baptist Church of Polson
- ^ First Baptist Church website
- ↑ Fresh Life Church website
- ↑ Website of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Heritage Faith Christian Church on Facebook
- ↑ Jehovah's Witnesses website
- ^ Mission Valley Church of Christ at church.org
- ^ Website of the Mount Calvary Lutheran Church of Montana
- ^ New Life Church website
- ^ Website of the Polson Alliance Church
- ^ Polson Community Church website
- ^ Polson Foursquare Church website
- ^ Website of the Polson Presbyterian Church
- ^ Polson United Methodist Church
- ^ Website Polson Theaters
- ↑ www.cityofpolson.com: Welcome
- ^ Website The Miracle of America : About us
- ^ Website Polson-Flathead Historical Museum
- ^ Port Polson Theater website : Port Polson Players
- ↑ a b c cityofpolson.com: Parks ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ cityofpolson.com: Golf ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ polsonbaygolf.com: About us
- ↑ Polson Chamber of Commerce: Events ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website: Mack Days
- ^ Website of the Flathead Lake Blues Festival
- ↑ a b Polson Chamber of Commerce website
- ^ Federal commission OKs 2nd new name for former Kerr Dam , November 10, 2015
- ↑ Flathead Beacon: CSKT Prepares for Historic Acquisition of Kerr Dam , August 19, 2015
- ↑ Missoulian: Lake County, Polson schools worry about $ 1M tax loss When tribes takeover Kerr Dam , March 7, 2015
- ↑ lakemt.gov: Lake County Courthouse Directory ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ cityofpolson.com: Polson: City Court
- ↑ Lake County Job Service website ( Memento dated May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ City of Polson Fire Department
- ↑ Website of the Polson School District # 23 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
