Changing legacy: Boulder, Montana sheds its mining town roots as town copes with institutional shift

This small town nestled along the Boulder River with a sweeping vista of the Elkhorn Mountains was built on dreams.

Many of the town’s earliest residents in the 1860s moved here dreaming of striking it rich, mining for gold and silver in the nearby Elkhorn Mountains and surrounding foothills.

However, a delicate yet profound shift started in 1893, when Montana built a state school for the deaf and blind. The school eventually became the Montana Developmental Center, serving people with mental and physical handicaps.

By MARGA LINCOLN – Independent Record

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2007/11/22/helena_top/a011122_01.txt

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Youths learn responsibility, trust at Boulder facility

By MARGA LINCOLN – Independent Record – 11/22/07

Today is a tough day for 17-year-old Justine.

Her young face is impassive, her voice flat. Glossy, shoulder-length brown hair sometimes veils her round face. Occasionally tears well in her eyes, but don’t spill over.

Justine was working at a part-time job in Boulder. She had a foster family lined up. She was on her way out of Alternative Youth Adventures, soon.

Or so she thought.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2007/11/22/helena/a011122_02.txt

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Alternative Youth Adventures provides safe haven

By MARGA LINCOLN – Independent Record

It’s one of those sparkling October days, with a hint of briskness in the air.

It gives a sharp and golden focus to the early morning scene at Alternative Youth Adventures, as students from one of the three campus group homes queue at the door to go to the 8 a.m. class.

For most of them, it’s just another routine day at what appears to be an alternative high school.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2007/11/22/helena/a091122_01.txt

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Picturing a new life: Montana Developmental Center clients work to return to community settings

By MARGA LINCOLN – Independent Record

Walking into the conference room, Tom apologizes as he first makes a phone call.

The 24-year-old tells someone on the other end of the call that he’s arrived here, then seats himself in a comfortable chair at the table and leans back to talk about the circumstances that brought him here.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2007/11/23/helena_top/a011123_01.txt

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Throughout its history, MDC has adapted to many changes

By MARGA LINCOLN – Independent Record

The historic red brick Montana State Training School towers above the modern residential campus of Montana Developmental Center this sunny November day.

The architectural gem is a relic of a different time, where blind, deaf and mute students from Montana first came to boarding school here. Later, MDC was home to a community of developmentally disabled adults and children, offering a school, print shop, ranch, orchard, small train, carousel and even a pond with swan boat rides.

Much has changed since then.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2007/11/23/helena/a011123_02.txt