The Laboratory After the Schoolhouse

Once the vaccine for Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) was proven to work, the production of the vaccine was added to the mandate of the U.S. Public Health Service’s Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory. As awareness of RMSF grew, particularly among the Western states, the laboratory could hardly keep up with the orders. The schoolhouse was too small for research and vaccine production, so in 1927, the State of Montana appropriated $60,000 for a bigger building actually designed for these purposes. The owner of the rented Canyon Creek Schoolhouse would get their property back.

This photo was taken on June 17, 1927 on the site for the future laboratory, now known as “Building One,” in Hamilton, Montana.

Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 4432a

The new laboratory, Building One, under construction on September 9, 1927.

Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 4434b

Building One was a three-story red brick building with several small, one story buildings in the rear for animals and storage. Finished in 1928 by state of Montana, the building was bought by federal government in 1932 for the U.S. Public Health Service’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories.

Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1527

This photo taken in June 1937 showed Building One’s walk-in refrigerator full of RMSF vaccine vials.

Image: RML, 692