Toole Mansion - University of Montana - Missoula, MT - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

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Toole Mansion - University of Montana - Missoula, MT

in NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 271649 N 5194150

Now the home of the Beta Phi Chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, on Gerald Avenue four blocks west of the University of Montana, this was originally a private residence.

Now 144 years old, Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded as a women’s fraternity in 1870 at Monmouth College in Illinois by six founding members. This chapter, Beta Phi, was founded in 1909, and is the oldest sorority at the University of Montana. The sorority is housed in a large 2 1/2 story wood frame Neo-Classical building constructed in 1903. Well maintained, it is as beautiful today as it was when built.

Constructed in 1903 for the Toole family, this was their residence for several decades. John R. Toole was a member of the state's 1889 Constitutional Convention. By the 1930s the family was reduced to taking in boarders to pay the high costs of maintaining the mansion.

Toole went on to serve four terms in the State Legislature, participated as a member of the state's Constitutional Convention in 1889, and became the president of the Big Blackfoot Milling Company in Bonner. This mill, a subsidiary of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at the time of Toole's presidency, became one of the largest producing mills in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to his contributions statewide, Toole also helped create the Endowment Fund for the University of Montana, and gave generously to that institution in numerous ways. Kenneth F. Ross, a neighbor and associate of John R. Toole, managed the Bonner timber mill for many years, and hired noted architect A.J. Gibson to design the Keith/Ross Building, which still stands on the northwest corner of Pine & Higgins.

The area's early residents were very active in the material and social development of Missoula and greatly utilized each other's support and social status. For instance, in the 1920s, many of the residents on Gerald and Connell Avenues were associated with those running the timber company in Bonner. With help from those managing the city's transportation system, streetcars would haul flatcars piled high with slab wood (some as large as 20 cords) from the Bonner mill to Connell Avenue, in the heart of the district. That wood went to heat the homes of Toole, Ross, and other residences that took advantage of their association with the Bonner mill.
From the NRHP Registration Form