900 S 4th St
Hamilton, MT 59840, USA

Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Building No. 11, 900 Block of South Fourth St between Building NoS 8 & 9, Hamilton, Ravalli County, MT

The Rocky Mountain Laboratories possess national significance due to the pioneering research conducted at these laboratories from 1921-1945 toward the development of vaccines for insect-borne diseases. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever occurred frequently among the residents of the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. The facility was the primary site for research into the cause of the fever and many prominent members of the scientific community have worked at the laboratories. The period of historic significance for the site extends to the end of World War II as the Rocky Mountain Laboratories played a critical role in supplying vaccines to troops for the duration of the war. The buildings are of a high quality for a small community such as Hamilton, Montana. The majority of the buildings were constructed by the Office of the Supervising Architect, Department of the Treasury under the direction of Louis A. Simon, a long time architect for the Treasury Department. The Laboratory, which sits at the edge of this small town, offered employment to local individuals seeking work in the 1930`s during the Depression. For all of the above reasons, the Rocky Mountain Laboratories Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Building Eleven is a contributor to the Historic District.

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

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.