The incredible changes in Great Falls over the past 15 years (photos)
I moved to Great Falls in late January of 2000. I was just a 21-year-old kid, fresh out of broadcasting school, getting his first PAID job in radio. I worked Midnight to 6am on 560 KMON-AM, before moving over to K99 in January of 2001. The city that I thought would only be a temporary stop on my way to radio superstardom, has in fact, become where I planted my roots. It is where I met my wife, and had my kids, and where I met some of the best friends I have ever made in my life.
Over those 23 years since I first arrived, Great Falls has experienced plenty of changes. We have added businesses, and lost businesses. We have seen new housing developments spring up, empty lots get developed, and we now see empty lots where there used to be flourishing buildings.
There has been a HUGE revitalization of downtown Great Falls, which I believe might be one of the best things that's happened to our city in the last decade. Another huge change in the landscape of our city is everything that has happened over on the West Bank.
Through the power of the internet and Google Maps, I decided to take a short trip down memory lane to see some of the changes this beautiful city we call home has experienced.
While I had hoped to show you all of the changes Great Falls has gone through since my move here in 2000, Google maps only goes back as far 2007. So join me as we look back and see what Great Falls looked like fifteen or so years ago.
The incredible changes in Great Falls over the past 15 years
I hope you enjoyed a little trip down memory lane. This barely even covers all the changes we've seen over the past few years. I didn't even post any of the new businesses downtown, as that could have been a gallery of pictures just in and of itself.
If you are wondering how you can see the pictures from back in the day on google maps, here is how. Open up google maps on your browser, then in the bottom right hand corner grab the little yellow guy and drag him on the map in the location you want to see the street view of and drop him down. Then when you are in the street view mode, in the upper left hand corner where the address is you'll see "street view" with the date, click it and drag it to the date you'd like to see.
Some places can go back as far as 2007, and have multiple years of photos showing changes and progress. There are some places however that might only go back a couple years. Have some fun with it and maybe send us a picture or two of the changes you think we missed!