A highlight of the exciting history of Missoula County and Fort Missoula
Produced by The Broadcast Media Center
The Univerity of Montana
Copyright © 2006 The Historial Museum at Fort Missoula
On February 5, 1887, Frank Worden passed away. Worden had been influential in almost every major development in Missoula. He had served in the territorial legislature in 1864, 1865, 1874 and 1880. In 1866 he married 14-year old Lucretia Miller in Frenchtown; the couple was blessed with seven children, one of whom married Joseph Dixon who later became a United States Senator and Governor of Montana. He sent for trees from his native Vermont for the yard around his house. Among these trees were maples, which people said couldn't be grown in Montana. The success of Worden's maple trees disproved their theory, and his success can be seen every day in Missoula. It is believed that Worden caught a cold while working on the city water system and that this cold ultimately caused his death.