Kalispell, Montana, was young like Carl Bonde

August 1, 2017

Information is partly from Wikipedia:

With his own money, Charles Edward Conrad, a businessman and banker from Fort Benton, Montana, formed the Kalispell Townsite Company with three others.  Conrad may be called the daddy of Kalispell.

While spending part of my childhood with my grandparents I heard the Conrad name often.  Conrad National Bank.  The Conrad mansion.

Anyway, Conrad and his partners began selling lots in 1891 and  Kalispell was officially incorporated as a city in 1892.

Twenty-three years later in 1915, Carl Bonde Jr.’s father moved his wife and daughters from Buffalo, Montana, to Kalispell. Well, not exactly.  While Carl Sr. established their home in Kalispell he sent his family to live in Nerstrand, Minnesota, at the Bonde farm where he grew up.  Carl Sr. rented a house in Kalispell for him and his family while he worked for the Kalispell Wholesale Company.  Carl Sr. worked for the same company from 1915 until shortly before his death in 1958.  That was 53 years.

Since that time, according to the boastful article in Wikipedia, the city of Kalispell has continued to grow in population reaching 19,927 in 2010. As the largest city in Northwest Montana, Kalispell serves as the county seat and commercial center of Flathead County. The city is considered a secondary trade center with a trade area of approximately 130,000. 

The city also is home to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, which boasts a 150-bed facility.  My mother would have died there in 1976 if we hadn’t flown her to Salt Lake City.  Turns out she was moribund and we could have saved the trouble and expense of moving her.  Hospice services weren’t available then.

Nestled in the Flathead valley, Kalispell is 31 miles (50 km) from Glacier National Park and 22 miles (35 km) from Hungry Horse Dam. Skiers have access to Whitefish Mountain Resort on Big Mountain and Blacktail Mountain Ski Area each 17 miles (27 km) away. Flathead Lake is 7 miles (11 km) away.  Buffalo Hill Golf Club, designed by Robert Muir Graves,  serves the needs of golfers.  Elsewhere, in a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce website, someone describes Kalispell as a golfing destination with seven golf courses.  I can just see someone landing at the Glacier International Airport with his or her bag of golf clubs with a gleam in the eye.  “Free at last…”