Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 900 Block of South Fourth Street, Hamilton, Ravalli County, MT

Significance: The Rocky Mountain Laboratories are comprised of over twenty buildings with functions ranging from laboratory work to living spaces to animal shelters. The facility began as a major research center concerning Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. In 1927, the Montana legislature approved funding for construction of the laboratory, which replaced a smaller facility at the former Lost Horse Creek schoolhouse. The Great Falls firm of Shanley and Baker constructed the new building located at the edge of town in Hamilton. Initially, there was opposition to the construction of a full-scale laboratory as residents feared that ticks would escape from the research laboratory and infect townspeople with the disease. To prevent this from occurring, a tick moat was constructed around the new buildings. The federal government purchased the laboratory in 1932. The facility came under the direction of the Public Health Service and then in 1937 became a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The facility was expanded in the 1930s. During World War II, the facility served as a production center for vaccines for overseas troops. Vaccines for typhus and yellow fever were the most widely produced with the laboratory distributing 3,360,000 doses as a peak period in 1945. By the 1990s, the facility was the NIH's only western center. Research continued about AIDS, rabies, and other infectious diseases.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N299
Survey number: HABS MT-101
Building/structure dates: 1927 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1938-1940 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 88001274