In Their Own Words

Chacón worked with the University of Montana's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library K. Ross Toole Archives and the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula to create the first complete biography of Albert John Gibson, Missoula County's best-known and most beloved architect. Photographs from the museum and architectural drawings from the library's archives, as well as other materials from public and private collections, have been brought together for a rich portrayal of Gibson's life and his impact on Montana towns. The Original Man's catalog of Gibson's buildings includes recent discoveries and materials from unpublished archival material, documents, drawings and photographs from the architect's life.

From the 1880s to the 1910s, Gibson defined great architecture in Western Montana and Northern Idaho. He reshaped the Western town from a rustic accumulation of buildings to a rational and civilized space and was an integral figure in the development of architecture, urbanism and society. His meteoric rise as an architect/builder in the 1890s was remarkable, given that he had no professional training in the field. A self-made individual, he designed and built a broad range of buildings, from modest, private homes to grand residences and significant civic structures. Gibson's legacy and work have endured for more than a century and include the first five buildings on the UM campus in Missoula, the Daly Mansion near Hamilton, and the Ravalli and Missoula county courthouses.

Gibson's other great passion was automobile travel. He and his wife Maud set many records and earned a reputation as two of Montana's automotive pioneers. Their lives ended tragically in an automobile accident on New Year's Eve, 1927.