Bonner-West Riverside (Salish: Nʔaycčstm, "Place of the Big Bull Trout") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States, including the unincorporated communities of Bonner, Milltown (formerly Riverside), West Riverside, and Pinegrove. It is part of the Missoula, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,663 at the 2010 census, a decline from its population of 1,693 in 2000.Bonner was named for Edward L. Bonner, president of the Missoula and Bitter Root Valley Railroad. Bonner was also a partner in Eddy, Hammond & Company, who were contracted by Northern Pacific Railroad for lumber to build their railway between the Thompson and Blackfoot rivers.Eddy, Hammond & Company founded the Montana Improvement Company, which built a sawmill in Bonner in 1886.Milltown is named for the mill. West Riverside is named for its position west of Milltown, formerly called Riverside for its position at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers. Pinegrove was named either for the Pine family that settled there or for the many large pines in the area. The associated Piltzville was named for Billy Piltz, early mill worker and yard boss.According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km2), of which 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (6.63%) is water.This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bonner-West Riverside has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.The area east of Missoula was born with the sawmill located there by Andrew B. Hammond. Hammond, with partners Richard Eddy and Edward Bonner, founders of the Montana Improvement Company (MIC), enticed the nearly complete Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) to pass through Missoula. They were rewarded with lucrative NP lumber contracts. Hammond, on behalf of the MIC, purchased land east of Missoula on Blackfoot River for a sawmill and dam to hold the mill's supply of logs. The Blackfoot Milling Company began operation on 6 June 1886 and by August produced an average of 55,000 board feet of lumber per day. In addition to the NP contracts, the Blackfoot Mill (or Hammond Mill) provided stulls (mining shaft supports) and lumber for construction. It continued to expand and in 1889 it produced 24 million board feet of lumber and was considered the largest mill between Wisconsin and the West Coast. The sawmill was purchased by the Anaconda Company in 1898.Bonner was the company town, encompassing the mill plus housing for mill managers and supervisors and a company store. By 1888, it included a post office, and in 1889 Bonner Hall, which housed the Masonic Lodge and the first school. In 1892, the elegant Margaret Hotel was built to house dignitaries. Later, a school, two churches, a library and community gardens were added. Only mill employees lived there. When the mill changed hands, Bonner with all its buildings was included. Bonner remained a possession of the mill until finally sold to private ownership in 2007.Milltown, originally called Riverside, was organized a half mile downstream. John McCormick leased small lots of his "farmland" to mill workers and loggers who constructed small dwellings with materials "borrowed" from the mill. By 1892, Riverside already had a dozen homes, a livery stable, boarding house, and three saloons. In 1903, the anticipated construction of the new dam brought more workers who leased land. No one owned the land their homes were on until decades later.In 1910, West Riverside was platted across the Blackfoot from Riverside, allowing for private land ownership. Population increased there with the establishment of the Western Lumber Company. Farming and more private homes became available to the east in Piltzville and to the west in Pine Grove."On January 16, 1919, the 'greatest fire in the history of Western Montana' burned a large portion of the mill to the ground." The mill was rebuilt and operational again by September, 1919. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the Bonner Mill was thought to be the world's largest of its type.The Anaconda Company sold the mill to US Plywood-Champion Papers in 1972. It was sold to Stimson Lumber Company in 1993, and was closed in 2008, after "122 years of continuous lumber production". In 2011, a heavy snowfall collapsed much of the mill's roof.The last PCBs were removed from the site in 2016.
Here is a local Business that supports the community
Google Map- https://goo.gl/maps/HDhMdFVBSGmRpGyN8
1410 S Reserve St ste c, Missoula, MT 59801
Be sure to check out this attraction too!