The College Life: Billings' Universities

By editor

Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana

Billings, Montana, that city which began as a railroad town in 1882 when the Northern Pacific Railroad chugged in like a brass band late to a small-town picnic, is now home to two accredited colleges. These institutions, Rocky Mountain College and Montana State University Billings, carry the educational torch through the dusty plains and sprawling streets, each with a story as winding as the Yellowstone River itself.

Rocky Mountain College is the product of a union among three separate institutions from Billings, Helena, and Deer Lodge. Its origins in Billings trace back to 1908 when two brothers, Lewis and Ernst Eaton, decided that Billings needed more than just a stopover for cattle and miners. They founded Billings Polytechnic Institute, a vocational school that took a practical approach to education long before the buzzwords “hands-on learning” became fashionable. The campus buildings were fashioned from local sandstone quarried nearby, setting a tone of rugged self-reliance. It was not a place for idle bookishness, but a workshop for trades and crafts, a place where students could earn their keep.

By the roaring 1920s, the school had expanded its ambitions. Students were not only learning trades but were also running the campus dairy farm, tending to grain fields, milling cereal, and working in a stone quarry and machine shop. They even grew gardens to supply the cafeteria. Imagine that: a college where the students did the farming, the milling, and the cooking, while studying. The notion of “farm to table” was alive and well, though nobody called it that. The students literally produced their own food, a fact that might have made city dwellers in New York clutch their pearls.

In 1927, Billings Polytechnic Institute added the Billings Business College to its portfolio, expanding from manual trades to the ledger and ledger-keeping. This was no accident; Billings was a city where the railroad, mining, banking, and land speculation swirled around like a dust devil. Money changed hands quickly, and the need for business education was as clear as the Montana sky.

Meanwhile, farther west in Helena, a different educational drama was unfolding. In 1918, Intermountain Union College, already something of a phoenix having absorbed the College of Montana from Deer Lodge, was trying to hold its ground. The College of Montana, by the way, had its own checkered history, founded in the 1880s and struggling through the early decades, only to be swallowed by Intermountain Union College. But fate was unkind to Helena’s campus. In 1935, a violent earthquake rattled the city and left the college buildings beyond repair. The institution had to move--literally--to Billings, where it shared the facilities of Billings Polytechnic Institute.

This forced cohabitation led to a merger in 1947, creating Rocky Mountain College as it is known today. It is notable as Montana’s only four-year liberal arts college with Protestant affiliation, a fact that might have made the founders of the College of Montana nod approvingly or roll their eyes, depending on their theological inclinations.

One of the early presidents of Billings Polytechnic, a certain Lewis Eaton, once said in 1915, “We are not merely building tradesmen but citizens who can make and mend the world around them.” That world, of course, was Billings itself, a place where practical skills often meant the difference between prosperity and ruin.

The other major player in Billings’ higher education scene is Montana State University Billings. It began life in 1925 as the Eastern Montana Normal School, a term which might perplex modern readers, but in those days normal schools were institutions dedicated to training teachers. The demand for teachers in the growing public schools of eastern Montana was pressing, and this school was the answer.

At first, the normal school had no permanent home and used classrooms in local elementary schools. This arrangement was as temporary as a summer rain and lasted until they could build a larger campus on the north edge of downtown Billings. Over the years, the school changed names as often as a river changes course: Eastern Montana Normal School, then Eastern Montana College of Education in 1949, then Eastern Montana College in 1965. Finally, in 1994, it merged into the Montana State University system as Montana State University Billings.

Today, with around 5,000 students, MSU Billings is the third-largest campus in the Montana university system, behind Bozeman and Missoula. Its growth mirrors the city’s own expansion, from a railroad stop to a regional hub.

Both these colleges grew out of practical necessity. Billings was never going to be New York or Chicago, and its educational institutions reflected the needs and peculiarities of the Northern Plains. Trade, agriculture, business, and teaching were the pillars on which the city rested. The institutions were not ivory towers but places where the students worked with their hands and minds, often simultaneously.

In the words of a 1920s Billings newspaper editorial, “The Polytechnic Institute is not a place for those who fancy diplomas without labor, but for those who understand that honest work and honest study go hand in hand.” That editorial captured the spirit of the times and the ethos of these schools.

So the next time you find yourself wandering through Billings, remember that its colleges are more than just places of learning. They are embodiments of the city’s gritty, pragmatic character--built from sandstone, sweat, and a stubborn belief that education should serve the community, not just adorn it.

See also

• The College Life at Billings, Yellowstone County
• Story Mill at Bozeman, Gallatin County
• Bozeman Comes of Age at Bozeman, Gallatin County