For the Flathead Valley and wider region, downtown Kalispell was the place to shop.  

Downtown Kalispell and Main Street are the focus of a new Northwest Montana History Museum exhibit that opens July 1. 

Museum volunteers, Mary Miers and Nancy Hart, who curated the new exhibit titled, “Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941,” described it as a vibrant regional hub. 

"Back in the day, they were strolling, shopping and socializing. That comprised why people went downtown, and technically, they still do,” Miers said.  

The idea for the exhibit was initially sparked by aerial photographs from the late 1930s on display at the museum. 

“About two years ago, we were notified by the Forest Service that they had made available aerial photographs of Kalispell and the surrounding areas,” Miers said. “I thought, gee, it’d be kind of nice to know what the town looked like on Main Street.” 

Both Miers and Hart would soon discover it was a regional commercial hub where shoppers could buy everything from groceries to new cars.  

“What I found is it was a vibrant downtown area. We had grocery stores, drugstores, clothing stores, automobile dealerships, all these on Main Street,” Miers said, sweeping her arms outward in front of a wall display mapping out the downtown. 

The exhibit came together like pieces of a puzzle, Miers said, through a combination of curiosity and happenstance. 

As they started going through old newspapers, Miers and Hart came across the Kalispell News’ golden jubilee edition, marking the city’s 50th birthday. That clinched their decision to focus on 1941. 

Using a 1940-41 edition of R.L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell and Whitefish Montana City Directory for reference, they began mapping out Main Street on the large board. The display also shows downtown businesses that "spilled over” to First and Second avenues east and west. 

Polk Directories historically provided comprehensive information on a city’s businesses, properties and residents. 

“It started with this board,” Miers said. 

Dotting the board are numbered miniature houses and cars to identify more than a dozen types of businesses to highlight what essential services and products people could get from groceries to a new car. 

“We will talk about a concept and what we had to do was identify the businesses we wanted to highlight,” Miers said. “We said, OK, do we have enough items to illustrate the department stores? Yes, we did.” 

The number of auto dealerships located downtown were surprising to the pair, showing a section of Daily Inter Lake car ads, and one announcing a March 1941 automotive and implement show, advertising that the latest models of autos, refrigerators and ranges would be displayed on Main Street. 

“There were like nine or 10 dealerships in the immediate downtown area,” Miers said.  

“Everything was on Main Street, basically,” Hart said. 

From there, they began “shopping the museum archives,” pulling out period pieces and continuing the search online to locate other ephemera, including an original Kalispell Cafe menu and a catalog page of a chair and birdcage on display, purchased from Sears, Roebuck. 

“One of the things that we had to realize is what artifacts do we have in the collection that can produce a meaningful exhibit," Miers said. 

Some of the pieces they had to locate online, such as the cafe menu, Hart said. 

“I thought this is very cool and then come to find out they advertise a Mae West sandwich back in the day and this is a recreation of that Mae West sandwich,” Miers said. 

“Mary made that sandwich by the way,” Hart added. “And the salad.” 

The sandwich entree, which sold for 40 cents at the time, would cost approximately $9.23 in 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index inflation calculator. 

Adding interest to the exhibit, Miers and Hart located period photos and advertisements to accompany objects, such as a meat market scale and a hair perm machine with a cluster of ominous-looking cords dangling from within. 

“This is the actual unit here in this photograph,” Miers said, holding up a black and white photo of a young girl getting her hair done at a beauty parlor. “It looks like Shirley Temple to me. Maybe that’s how they got her curls.” 

The photos and ads hanging have color-coded borders or circles to help people identify the pieces on display. 

Visitors will also get to see a restored Husky gas pump and a rare 1938 Western Field rifle — one of 189 made by Mossberg and sold under the Montgomery Ward brand. 

One of the interesting stories behind the exhibit pieces is a man’s and woman’s suit. Miers and Hart had gone through the racks of clothing stored away in the attic looking for a typical outfit a man and woman would wear in 1941. First, they pulled a men’s navy double-breasted wool suit. Later, they located a woman’s brown, belted suit. 

“All of our items ... they’re assigned a number that’s in our computer system, giving information,” Hart said. “So, when we looked at the man’s suit for the information on it, we were just mainly thinking, wanting to know, were we correct that it was early ’40s, and so it gave that this was Robert Gordon’s wedding suit.” 

Looking up the woman’s suit, information showed it belonged to a woman named Lois. Then, Miers said, they found a newspaper article with the details of a wedding. 

“It said the bride wore a brown tailored suit with gold accents, and it was like, can you believe this? So, we paired them up and didn’t even know it,” Miers said. 

Miers and Hart also previously worked on the museum’s ALERT exhibit and a souvenir exhibit. 

“We’re a good team,” Miers said, Hart agreeing. 

If you go  

What: Going to Town Stroll Kalispell in 1941 exhibit opening reception. Admission is free. 

When: 5 to 6:30 p.m. July 1 

Where: Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell 

Visitors are encouraged to wear 1940s attire and drive up in 1941 (or earlier) vehicles. 

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 406-758-4431 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Volunteers Mary Miers and Nancy Hart hang photographs of John's Hardware while curating an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 

    Volunteer Nancy Hart shows a display case containing items from the Montgomery Ward store and Jack's Tavern at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Volunteer Mary Miers shows the label on the inside of a tailored suit, one of two clothing examples from Winklers and W.G. Woodward Co. stores at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Part of a display case containing items and a photograph from Jack's Tavern at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Part of a display detailing the 1941 Automotive and Implement Show held in downtown Kalispell from an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Examples of tailored women's and men's suits from Winklers and W.G. Woodward Co. stores at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A lighted reproduction of an antique visible gas pump at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    An interior photo of the Kalispell Meat Market from around 1940 at an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Part of a display of photographs from the 1941 Automotive and Implement Show held in downtown Kalispell from an exhibit titled "Going to Town: Stroll Kalispell in 1941" at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Tuesday, June 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider