Catherine T. Montgomery

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Catherine T. Montgomery
A young white woman with dark hair center parted and dressed up from the shoulders; wearing a high-collared dress with braid trim and puff sleeves
Catherine Montgomery as a young educator in Washington state
BornApril 1, 1867
Prince Edward Island
DiedSeptember 17, 1957 (aged 90)
Bellingham, Washington
Occupation(s)Educator, clubwoman, philanthropist, hiker
Known for"Mother of the Pacific Crest Trail"

Catherine T. Montgomery (April 1, 1867 – September 17, 1957) was a Canadian-born American educator, clubwoman, and hiker based in Bellingham, Washington. She donated money and land to improve Federation Forest State Park, and is known as the "Mother of the Pacific Crest Trail".

Early life[edit]

Montgomery was born in Valleyfield, Prince Edward Island,[1] and raised in Schuyler, Nebraska. Her father was a railroad carpenter; her parents, William Montgomery and Jessie MacPherson Montgomery, were born in Scotland.[2] She described herself as a cousin or niece of author Lucy Maud Montgomery.[3] She graduated from the University of Washington.[4]

Career[edit]

In 1899, Montgomery joined the faculty of New Whatcom Normal School,[5] a precursor institution to Western Washington University. She chaired the Bellingham Lecture Course, a public program of speakers and performers.[6] She supported women's suffrage, prohibition, and labor reform laws.[4][7] Although she decried the bureaucracy of state-run education,[8] she ran for state superintendent of schools in 1920.[7][4] She retired from teaching in 1926.[2] She was president of the Progressive, Literary, and Fraternal Club (PLF) of Bellingham from 1922 to 1923.[9] She ran for county superintendent of schools in 1930. In 1931 she proposed parent education classes in Bellingham.[10] She was active in the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs.[11]

Montgomery was an avid traveler and hiker. In 1905 she traveled with writer Ella Rhoads Higginson around Alaska by train for almost two months.[12][13] She felt the 1908 Messina earthquake while studying in Rome.[14][15] In January 1926, Montgomery met mountaineer and textbook salesman Joseph Hazard, and described her hope for a hike in the West to match the Appalachian Trail through fourteen eastern states. That evening, he shared the idea at a meeting of the Mount Baker Club in Bellingham.[2][16] While Clinton C. Clarke is called "the Father of the Pacific Crest Trail", his involvement in the project came several years later.[17][18]

Personal life and legacy[edit]

Montgomery lived with fellow educator Ida Agnes Baker; they were both among the founding members of the PLF.[19] "Memories of financial struggle, of trans-continental trips, of farming together, come to me as I recall the locking of Ida Baker’s life with mine, but above all comes the memory of tramping together", she wrote in a eulogy for her partner, who died when she was struck by a street car in 1921.[2][20]

Montgomery died in 1957, aged 90 years, in Bellingham.[1] She left much of her estate to the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs[21] to enlarge and improve Federation Forest State Park,[22] where the Catherine Montgomery Nature Interpretive Center hosts educational programs about the forest.[23][24] In 2010, she was induced into the Northwest Women's Hall of Fame, as "the Mother of the Pacific Crest Trail".[2]

Montgomery's former home in Bellingham became housing for the Sisters of Newark serving at St. Joseph's Hospital.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Miss Montgomery, Original Faculty Member at Normal School, Dies". The Bellingham Herald. 1957-09-18. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Meet the mother of the Pacific Crest Trail: Catherine Montgomery". Pacific Crest Trail Association. 2017-05-14. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  3. ^ "Famous Cousin". The Bellingham Herald. 1948-10-24. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "Catherine Montgomery for State Supt. of Schools". The Washington Standard. 1920-10-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Ten Acres of Land Given Normal". The Bellingham Herald. 1914-09-12. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Bellingham's Lecture Course". The Bellingham Herald. 1905-06-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Would Take School Job Out of State Politics". Spokane Chronicle. 1920-10-26. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Protest Made Against Too Much System in Schools". The Bellingham Herald. 1912-01-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "P. L. F. Observes Golden Anniversary". The Bellingham Herald. 1950-10-22. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "School for Parents Proposed to Council by Miss Montgomery". The Bellingham Herald. 1931-11-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Vancouver Favored; State Federated Women's Club Meets There in June". The Bellingham Herald. 1931-02-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "To Take Long Journal Along Alaskan Coast". The Bellingham Herald. 1905-05-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Montgomery, Catherine (1941-01-28). "Ella Higginson--In Appreciation". The Bellingham Herald. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Critic Teacher Returns from Europe". The Bellingham Herald. 1909-02-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Miss Montgomery is Safe in France". The Bellingham Herald. 1909-01-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Kahn, Dean (2010-03-28). "Bellingham woman may be 'mother' of Pacific Coast Trail". The Bellingham Herald. pp. A2. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Mann, Barney "Scout". "Where the Pacific Crest Trail Begins: Is it Campo? Manning Park? No, It's Montgomery" (PDF). PCT Communicator: 8–11.
  18. ^ Mann, Barney "Scout" (Fall 2021). "The Hidden History of the Pacific Crest Trail". Mountaineer.
  19. ^ "P.L.F. Club in its Home". The Bellingham Herald. 1904-11-19. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Normal Pays Tribute to Departed Faculty Member". The Bellingham Herald. 1921-01-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Courthouse Report: Women's Clubs Named". The Bellingham Herald. 1957-09-19. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Lund, Roland (1975-08-10). "Forest Dream Cam True". The News Tribune. p. 29. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Hiking at Federation Forest State Park". VisitRainier. 2021-01-05. Archived from the original on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  24. ^ "Druzea Members Hear about Forest". The Bellingham Herald. 1971-04-30. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Old Wing of St. Joseph's Hospital Being Torn Down in Modernization Project". The Bellingham Herald. 1958-04-06. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-01-03 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

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