MAM History Monday! 🤓 Here is an abbreviated timeline of how our beloved art museum came to be. 🏛 1903 Missoula Free Public library was built with a $12,500 grant from Andrew Carnegie, designed by architect A.J. Gibson. 🎨 1972 Festival of the Arts was held in Missoula with over 10,000 people in attendance. 🖌1973 Missoula Festival of the Arts Committee petitions Missoula City Council to establish a civic center in the now-defunct library building. ✨1975 Missoula Museum of the Arts opened on March 15 with the exhibition Native Funk and Flash, which reflected the hip, avant-garde culture of the 1970s. 📜1987 Missoula Museum of the Arts begins to collect art and is awarded accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums. 🔨2006 The successful new building design seamlessly fuses the 100-year-old Carnegie Library building with a contemporary addition, creating the ideal environment for exhibiting, celebrating, and preserving MAM's growing contemporary art collection. The name Missoula Art Museum is adopted. 💛2017 The museum expands its footprint outdoors with the dedication of the newly constructed Art Park. #MissoulaArtMuseum #FreeExpressionFreeAdmission #Missoula #history #Carnegie #art #artmuseum