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| Downtown
Glasgow, Montana |
Glasgow was
one of the bigger surprises I had on the Hi-Line. Living
way over in Kalispell, truth be told, I had never
heard many – actually any – good things about
Glasgow. Granted, what little I had heard came from people
who drove through it now and then, none of them lived there.
So, when I first entered Glasgow in June of 2004 I was “braced” for
the worst.
Instead,
what I found was a pretty nice little town. True, Glasgow,
just like other towns in the Hi-Line, has been battling
the consolidation of the agriculture industry that has
led
to some population
decline. Glasgow also had to adjust following the end of
the construction boom when Fort Peck Dam was finished in
the late 1930's. Additionally, Glasgow also had to battle
the loss of a major air force base after World War II that
housed up
to 10,000 people during the peak period.
However,
Glasgow seems to have had success in at least partially
off-setting
these staggering losses
by attracting
some
new businesses
into town. While there are some empty storefronts here
and there, the town itself was hardly a ghost town like
people
had been describing it. Although Glasgow has lost some
agricultural jobs over the past few decades, new jobs in
various federal
government agencies, railroad jobs on the BNSF, and health
care jobs have provided a small, but relatively diverse,
base of employment in Glasgow - and have somewhat mitigated
the
effects of
the loss of population.
Glasgow is the county seat of Valley County, a county that
has been hard hit in particular by the consolidation of the
agricultural industry. The population of Glasgow is a small,
but respectable, 3200 people. Thus, while it is small, Glasgow
is still one of the larger towns on the Hi-Line.
Glasgow
is a very functional little town. While it does not have
any sort of big “box store”, all of
the little shops in town do provide all of basic needs a
person could have. It also has a decent movie theatre in
town, similar to other Hi-Line towns. Moreover, the downtown
area was quite clean, well-kept up and, in general, just
plain nice.
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| Downtown
Glasgow, Montana |
The
mountains are a very long ways away from Glasgow. However,
while Glasgow may not have any mountains, the town is located
very close to Fort Peck Lake. Fort Peck Lake, at least when
the Corps of Engineers isn’t draining it down, can
have some great fishing for walleye. As such, during the
peak periods of walleye fishing, the town can really get
hopping. Glasgow is also located in an excellent area for
Upland Bird and deer hunting, too.
The visitor who first drives through Glasgow, truthfully,
is likely to be disappointed. Indeed, you may not even see
the downtown area. The reason for this is that US Highway
2 is located on the north side of the railroad tracks. This
part of Glasgow contains all the usual suspects you would
expect to find on a busy highway, such as fast food, hotels
and some small retail outlets. The downtown of Glasgow itself
is located on the south side of the railroad tracks, not
on US Highway 2 itself. To gain access to the town, just
follow the signs that point towards downtown, taking you
under the railroad tracks in the process.
See
more Pictures of Glasgow,
Montana in our Hi-Line photo
gallery.
Next
Page : Side Trip
to Fort Peck Lake
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