Many small towns throughout our region peaked in 1917 and most have declined ever since. Such economic factors as resource depletion, mines played out, and the worldwide agricultural depression of 1919 drove these declines. Further, economies of scale encouraged larger farms and ranches as mechanical replaced muscle power.

Concurrently, with superior cars and trucks running with cheap fuel on much-improved roads, larger towns and county seats, like Bozeman, became readily accessible. The net result was commercial atrophy in villages such as Gallatin Gateway. However, Gateway experienced a boom in 1927 when the Milwaukee Railroad built the magnificent Gallatin Gateway Inn for tourists visiting Yellowstone Park. Their timing was unlucky: the Great Depression hit in 1929 and then WWII. In the post War period, cars replaced trains for family vacations and the Inn lost its lifeblood.

Now, with the specter of $5 and even $10 or $15 gas looming, the wheels will not turn as freely. Fortunately, while transportation may become quite expensive, communication of words, data, and drawings becomes ever cheaper, creating opportunities for artisans, craftsmen, and many professions.

This has powerful social and business implications for places like Gallatin Gateway; revitalization could occur. How might its residents guide their town’s future? Gateway and similar towns evolved as organic social entities. Today’s residents can learn from these examples and not try to micromanage their way into quality. They can set standards that guide development while preserving the village feel and not thwart constructive opportunities in a small core.

Consider the history and evolution of Gateway. It was originally Salesville, named for two brothers who developed a sawmill where a warm water spring creek intersects the Gallatin River providing an ice-free mill pond. They platted their village into 50 by 140 foot lots, six per acre. Many were mixed-use with both commercial and residential buildings, some with two or three dwelling units. Salesville gradually evolved into a viable small town with businesses integrated with homes and other dwellings. It could be a model for today’s “new urbanism,” but organic rather than contrived.

The key to Gateway’s future is to foster mixed-use infill in a slightly expanded core, while preserving the rural character of its surrounding land. For illustration, consider replicating the mixed-use density of original Salesville, while limiting density as one moves further out, perhaps 2 lots per acre east of 191 with gradually larger lots as we move out into farm and ranch land.

Residents need to identify the Gateway core, the original town and adjacent lands, and design standards for core development. The goal is to guide, not mandate, the kind of development that makes a town attractive, productive, and liberating. Standards should foster mutually beneficial outcomes. Ideally, the result will be the revitalization of a viable community, not a staging area for large-scale development at Big Sky. Some proposals may benefit a few but will generate the kind of sprawl that will destroy Gateway’s charm and rural qualities. Some are tempted to exploit the attractiveness that makes Gateway special. Standards should guard against this.

Gallatin Gateway residents place a high value on the rural character of their home territory. We’ve organized a team to help preserve this quality while accommodating anticipated development. A few large landowners have placed conservation easements on their property and funded endowments to monitor them. If done properly, this increases their land’s value while benefiting neighbors, the community, and our environmental quality.

The task for Gateway (and similar towns) is to foster self-generating renewal while retaining its character. Dense, mixed-use infill can provide the number of residents required to fund a safe and modern water and sewer system. With these in place, a successful, viable community can evolve and prosper.

There are many cultural, social, and economic advantages to permitting residential and commercial integration. We should be careful not to limit opportunities for infill development and high densities in the Gateway core. The ambiance and ecology of Gateway are common pools easily overexploited. However, our history offers a model and today’s technology opens possibilities for revitalization. Let’s carefully consider both while alert to dangers of unconstrained development.