In the beginning there was a town of fewer than 4,000 people and forty acres of scrubby, unlevel land at the base of Mount Sentinel. These acres were to become the home of The University of Montana, donated from the estates of two prominent Missoula businessmen. Missoula promoters lobbied the state legislature intensely to win a battle with Helena for the state’s first university. One of their first actions was to fence the forty acres to keep horses and cattle out. So began a history and a partnership that has spanned more than a century. Here we part the curtains on the past to observe how Missoula and the University grew from before the turn of one century to the turn of another, surviving at times and thriving in others, their fates inextricably bound...there was a town of fewer than 4,000 people and forty acres of scrubby, unlevel land at the base of Mount Sentinel. These acres were to become the home of The University of Montana, donated from the estates of two prominent Missoula businessmen. Missoula promoters lobbied the state legislature intensely to win a battle with Helena for the state’s first university. One of their first actions was to fence the forty acres to keep horses and cattle out. So began a history and a partnership that has spanned more than a century. Here we part the curtains on the past to observe how Missoula and the University grew from before the turn of one century to the turn of another, surviving at times and thriving in others, their fates inextricably bound...