History
First established in 1908 as Missoula County High School, the school was later renamed Hellgate High, shortly after the foundation of Sentinel High School. Hellgate is one of the oldest high school buildings in the State of Montana. It is a three-story building blending several different forms of architecture, with a network of underground tunnels.
On September 24, 1952, the morning after giving his Checkers speech, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon spoke at the school. He denied that politics was a dirty game, and stated that if students thought it was, they should get involved and clean it up.
The name Hellgate High School was not used until well after the building now known as Sentinel High School opened in 1956. Originally what is now known as Sentinel was to be the new Missoula County High School replacing what is now known as Hellgate. As Missoula grew, classes were slowly returned to the Hellgate building. First the Freshman class, then Sophomores. In the mid-1960s Hellgate and Sentinel were created as separate four year high schools, with all the old team names going to Sentinel, and the new team names (Pages, Squires, and Knights) were created with all new traditions. Before Sentinel opened, Missoula County High School was the only public high school in Missoula, with Frenchtown High School the only other public high school in the County. Hellgate is named for Hellgate Canyon, a passage carved by the Clark Fork River through the mountains where Blackfeet warriors would lay in wait for the Salish. French trappers called the canyon Porte de l’Enfer, which means "gate of hell." Hell Gate Canyon remained a most dangerous site until 1855, when the Flatheads and Blackfeet signed a treaty. Missoula, incidentally derives its name from the Salish name for Hell Gate, the word having been simplified (corrupted) by Neo-Europeans to Missoula.
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