Archives West Finding Aid

Rocky Mountain spotted fever was first recognized in 1896 in the Snake River Valley of Idaho and was originally called "black measles" because of the characteristic rash. It was a dreaded and frequently fatal disease that affected hundreds of people in this area. By the early 1900s, the recognized geographic distribution of this disease grew to encompass parts of the United States as far north as Washington and Montana and as far south as California, Arizona, and New Mexico. In response to this severe problem, the Rocky Mountain Laboratory was established in Hamilton, Montana, 1902 by the State of Montana for the Montana State Board of Entomology and the United States Public Health Service. In 1928, a new building was constructed serve the expanded work being done on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Prior laboratories had been in a shack and an abandoned schoolhouse. The U.S. Public Health Service first leased and then purchased the building. In 1948, after a successful vaccine for the fever had been developed at the laboratory and the introduction of antibiotics made a cure possible, the laboratory became a part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institute of Health. It has continued to be active in research of the interrelationships of disease agents, wild and domestic animals and man. Its location makes possible extensive animal experiment quarters and facilities for work with highly transmissible agents. The laboratory continues to study Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, diseases in nature, the medical entomology of ticks, chronic viral diseases, the molecular biology of microorganisms, allergy antibodies and immunologic aspects of diseases.