TRPHA History

Residential growth already threatened Pat and Earnest Deschamps'15 acre dairy farm 1 1/2 miles up Lolo Creek as preliminary research hinted it was the actual site of Travelers' Rest.  In 1999, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed this little farm as one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places".  Two years later The Conservation Fund arranged to purchase the property and began the transfer to public ownership.  Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) was the only agency willing to accept donation of the property as the requisite publicly owned land, but lacked funds and resources to manage and develop the new state park.

Accordingly, the nonprofit Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association (TRPHA) incorporated to accept this responsibility and on March 31, 2001, Travelers' Rest State Park was established.  Through the years leading up to the Lewis and Clark bicentennial in 2005 and 2006, grant funds and financial partnerships were available to hire staff, develop the park and create programming for the bicentennial celebration.  Travelers Rest was up and running; the bicentennial was a success.

After the end of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in 2006, TRPHA found many of the funding sources it had relied on for development and day-to-day operations were dwindling or disappearing all together.  In 2007, the grassroots organization asked FWP to consider changes to the partnership.  A task force made up of FWP staff and administrators and TRPHA staff, board members and volunteers, arrived at a recommendation for a bold, new management structure for Travelers' Rest.  In this model, FWP would assume the responsibility for day-to-day management of Travelers' Rest and TRPHA would focus its' efforts on providing quality, place-based programming and promoting Travelers' Rest State Park through outreach, public education and advocacy. 

A campaign to convince the 2009 State Legislature to allocate funds for Montana State Parks' new responsibility was undertaken by TRPHA members and Travelers' Rest supporters from across the State and around the nation.  As leverage, longtime Park friends and supporters Bill and Ramona Holt proposed to donate their newly constructed museum and visitor center building immediately adjacent to park property as well as 10 acres of land next door, if the legislature approved funding.

This campaign met success when the legislature selected stimulus dollars for this purpose.  On July 1, 2009 Travelers Rest became a real state park, with access to all the State Parks support structure already in place.  Now, TRPHA could focus its energy and resources on providing an intimate perspective about the history of this place that had been so important to so many for so long.  In addition to ongoing programs, we could expand the personal interpretation and education programs that bring together the history of early American explorers, the Native American people who prospered here for centuries, and the natural history that shaped all their worlds.

The innovative partnership between Montana State Parks and the private non profit Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association allows both participants to use their strengths to best advantage while both cooperating to furthering goals beneficial to Travelers' Rest.  It is currently being used as a model for other state and national parks.