Chambers + Visitor Information

• Troy Chamber of Commerce

History

Because of the deep ravines, dense forests and the steep mountains that characterize this area, the southern loop of the Kootenai was known as the Montana Wilds. Its ruggedness along with the fear of Indians kept it unsettled until gold was discovered in the mid 1860s. But not until the Great Northern railroad establish a freight division on the current town site, did it really begin to flourish.

In 1910, the great forest fires that raged through the area almost claimed the town. Railroad hoses soaked the downtown buildings while a locomotive was kept steamed up ready to evacuate the remaining residents and crews should the fire overtake them. A little luck and a shift in the wind saved the town.

There is some disagreement over how Troy got its name. Some say it took its name for a civil engineer working for the Great Northern. Others think the town was named for the Troy weight system, which was used to weigh silver and gold. Still others say that E.L. Preston named the town for Troy Morrow, the son of a family that was providing him with room and board while he surveyed the area for track and laid out the town site. It is this latter theory that is most accepted.

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