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  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | National Institutes of Health

Canyon Creek Schoolhouse Laboratory 100th Anniversary

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When the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse became a laboratory in September 1921, it was initially rented by the Montana State Board of Entomology for $15 a month because the U.S. Public Health Service was not yet involved in the tick studies. But once the federal agency had sent Dr. Roscoe Spencer and other officers to help the investigation, the laboratory became a field station of the Public Health Service.Citizens  Citizens of the Bitterroot Valley helped to renovate the schoolhouse into a laboratory with some aid from Red Cross donations. A fence and a small moat were was built to help keep people and non-laboratory animals out—and to keep ticks and infected animals in.


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Two-story brick building with U.S. Public Health Service sign and cars from 1920s parked in front on winter's day

The sign on the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse was changed to proclaim the building’s new function as a laboratory under the U.S. Public Health Service, although the day-to-day running of the laboratory was done by Dr. Ralph Parker, a Montana State Board of Entomology employee at the time. Circa 1924.

Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 196

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Slanted winter evening light on back yard with large wood cage enclosure for animals.

The rear of the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory building on a snowy day. In addition to the animal housing shown here, there was a shed for the scientists’ vehicles and plenty of wood to keep the building warm. Circa 1924.

Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 172

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