If you visit Kalispell’s art museum and the name doesn’t match what you read online, you’re not lost. The Hockaday Museum of Art spent 55 years under that name before quietly becoming the Glacier Art Museum.
- Kalispell’s Hockaday Museum of Art officially renamed itself Glacier Art Museum after a board vote in September 2024
- It still occupies the same historic Carnegie Library building, built in 1904 with Andrew Carnegie’s funding
- The permanent collection spans Montana and Glacier National Park art, including work by C.M. Russell and the Blackfeet Nation
- Most existing travel content still uses the old Hockaday name, so this guide reflects the current one
- This is one of the best museums in Montana worth knowing by both names, since you’ll still see the old one referenced everywhere
A Museum That’s Changed Its Name Five Times
Most museums settle on a name and keep it for a century. This one has never quite stopped evolving.
It started life in 1969 as the Hugh Hockaday Memorial Art Center, named for a beloved Lakeside commercial artist who died the year before the museum opened.
Within a year, it dropped “Memorial” to become the Hockaday Center for the Arts. In 1998, it became the Hockaday Museum of Art, marking a shift from community arts center to a genuine collecting institution.
Then, in September 2024, the museum’s board approved yet another change: Glacier Art Museum. The new name rolled out through 2025, with updated signage, branding, and a new website following over roughly a year and a half.
This wasn’t a sudden decision. Records show the museum had actually registered names similar to “Glacier Art Museum” with Montana’s Department of Commerce all the way back in 2005, nearly two decades before the change finally happened.
Why the Museum Actually Changed Its Name
Executive Director Alyssa Cordova has been direct about the reasoning, and it makes genuine strategic sense once you understand the museum’s actual reach.
The museum serves visitors from five counties across northwest Montana, not just Kalispell. A name built around one local artist’s memory, however beloved, didn’t communicate that regional scope to out-of-state visitors deciding where to spend their limited Glacier-area museum time.
The rename is also part of a broader push toward accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, following a two-year strategic planning process that started in fall 2022 and was led by former board chair Robin Bailey.
Cordova specifically noted that the new name better reflects the museum’s close ties and proximity to Glacier National Park, something the “Hockaday” name never conveyed to first-time visitors scanning a list of things to do near the park.
Board chair Mike Roswell echoed that reasoning in the museum’s own announcement, pointing to the Flathead Valley’s growing population and the opportunity a Glacier-associated name creates for both local and out-of-state recognition.
It’s a pragmatic argument: a name evoking one of America’s most recognizable national parks does more marketing work than a name honoring a respected but locally known artist, however unfair that trade-off might feel to people who knew and loved Hockaday personally.
Hugh Hockaday himself hasn’t been erased from the story. Cordova confirmed his work remains in the permanent collection, and the museum’s history pages still credit him prominently.
His granddaughter, Kimberly Hockaday Quinby, told local reporters she was saddened by the change but understood the pressures modern art institutions face.
What’s Actually Inside
The permanent collection focuses on Montana and Glacier National Park art, with real depth rather than a token regional gesture. You’ll find work by C.M. Russell, John Fery, Winold Reiss, Elizabeth Lochrie, Ace Powell, O.C. Seltzer, Russell Chatham, and Hugh Hockaday himself, among many others.
If you’ve already visited the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, seeing his work again here offers a different regional context — Kalispell’s collection sits his paintings alongside Glacier-specific artists rather than the dedicated Russell-focused framing you’d get in Great Falls.
The Crown of the Continent gallery is the collection’s most distinctive permanent exhibition. It’s built entirely around Glacier National Park’s artistic legacy: paintings, photographs, historic writings, vintage maps, and hand-tinted photographs documenting how generations of artists have tried to capture the park’s scale on canvas and film.
A Discovery Gallery adds hands-on activities for kids, rotating alongside whatever special exhibition is currently on view.
The current collection description also specifically highlights the Blackfeet Nation’s artistic legacy alongside Glacier’s, a meaningful pairing given the park’s location on traditional Blackfeet homeland.
If that connection interests you, our Museum of the Plains Indian guide in Browning goes considerably deeper into Blackfeet material culture specifically.
A Building With Its Own Century of History
The museum’s home is worth knowing about on its own terms. The Carnegie Library Building was constructed in 1904 with direct funding from Andrew Carnegie, part of the same nationwide library-building philanthropy that put similar buildings in small towns across America.
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has undergone significant renovations over the decades, including work to make the nearly 125-year-old structure wheelchair accessible while preserving its original architectural character.
Standing in a museum housed in a genuine Carnegie library gives Glacier Art Museum a different feel than a museum built into a modern gallery space. The building itself is arguably as much a Flathead Valley landmark as anything hanging on its walls.
Arts in the Park: A Museum-Connected Community Tradition
If your visit lines up with mid-July, ask about Arts in the Park, the longest-running arts, crafts, and music festival in the Flathead Valley. It’s held in Kalispell’s historic Depot Park and typically draws more than 80 juried artists and artisans from around the country.
A three-day unlimited pass has historically run around $5, with kids 12 and under free. It’s a genuinely good complement to a museum visit if your timing works out, giving you both the curated permanent collection and a snapshot of the region’s current working artists in one trip. [verify current festival dates and pricing]
Visiting With Kids
The Discovery Gallery is specifically built with younger visitors in mind, rotating hands-on activities alongside whatever exhibition is currently showing elsewhere in the building. That gives families a genuine reason to visit beyond just walking kids past paintings and hoping they stay interested.
Older kids with any interest in Glacier National Park itself tend to connect well with the Crown of the Continent gallery, especially the vintage maps and historic photographs showing how the park looked to visitors generations ago.
It’s a nice complement if you’re visiting the museum before or after an actual Glacier trip, giving kids a sense of the park’s artistic legacy alongside the real thing.
I’d budget a shorter visit if your kids are very young, since this is still fundamentally a fine-art museum rather than an interactive children’s science center.
Quick Questions I Get Asked
Is this the same museum I might remember visiting as “the Hockaday”?
Yes, exactly the same institution, same building, same core collection — just a new name as of late 2024 into 2025.
Will my GPS or map app find it under the new name?
Results vary. Some listings have updated to Glacier Art Museum, while many directories, review sites, and older blog posts still show Hockaday Museum of Art. Searching both names is the safest approach when planning your visit.
Is the museum funded by tax dollars?
Partly. Like several Montana cultural institutions, it has received funding through Montana’s coal severance tax, which channels a portion of coal-mining tax revenue into the state’s cultural and aesthetic projects trust fund.
How does this compare to other Montana art museums, like Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings?
They’re genuinely different in focus. Glacier Art Museum centers specifically on Montana and Glacier National Park-themed art in a historic building, while Yellowstone Art Museum leans more contemporary and houses a much larger permanent collection. Both are worth visiting if your route allows it, but they scratch different itches.
This is the single biggest gap across every source I checked: most existing Montana travel content still refers to this museum exclusively as the Hockaday Museum of Art. The rename happened in late 2024 and rolled out through 2025, and a huge share of online listings, directories, and travel guides simply haven’t caught up. A few other specific gaps:
- The reasoning behind the rename rarely gets explained, leaving readers confused about why a beloved local name disappeared.
- Hugh Hockaday’s continued presence in the collection goes unmentioned, making the change feel more like an erasure than it actually is.
- The Carnegie Library building’s own history gets treated as a footnote, when it’s a genuinely significant piece of small-town American library history.
- The Blackfeet Nation art focus is rarely highlighted, despite being a meaningful and deliberate part of the current collection’s framing.
Personal Tips: What I Wish I Knew
- Search both names when planning your trip. Online directories, GPS listings, and older articles may still show “Hockaday Museum of Art,” so don’t assume you’ve found the wrong place if the name doesn’t match what you expected.
- Budget an hour to ninety minutes. It’s a focused, single-building museum rather than a sprawling complex.
- Ask staff about the name change if you’re curious. Given how recent it is, most staff have genuine, detailed context beyond what’s posted online.
- Check for Arts in the Park if you’re visiting in July. It’s worth timing your Kalispell trip around if the dates line up.
- Pair this with downtown Kalispell more broadly. The museum sits within easy walking distance of the rest of downtown’s shops and restaurants.
How This Fits a Glacier-Area Visit
Kalispell functions as one of the main gateway towns for Glacier National Park’s west side, which makes this museum a natural add-on for travelers already passing through rather than a dedicated detour.
If you’re staying in the area before heading into the park, our where to stay in Glacier National Park guide covers lodging options on both sides of the park boundary.
Our Kalispell things-to-do guide covers the rest of what’s worth doing in town, and if you’re building a broader Montana art itinerary, our Montana museums guide maps how this stop connects to the state’s other art and history museums.
Given how recently the name changed, I’d genuinely expect some confusion to persist for a few more years among casual visitors and even some longtime Flathead Valley residents.
That’s not a reason to skip it — if anything, it’s a good conversation starter with museum staff, many of whom have their own opinions about the rebrand worth asking about.
Practical Info
| Address | 302 2nd Ave E, Kalispell, MT 59901 |
| Phone | (406) 755-5268 |
| Hours | Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday [verify current hours] |
| Admission | $8 adults, $6 seniors/veterans, $4 college students/active military, free for children under 18 and members [verify current pricing] |
| Time needed | 1–1.5 hours |
| Good for | Art enthusiasts, Glacier-area travelers, downtown Kalispell day trips |
| Nearby pairing | Rest of our Kalispell guide |
Final Thoughts
Glacier Art Museum is proof that even a beloved 55-year-old institutional name can outlive its usefulness. The collection and the historic Carnegie building haven’t changed — only the sign out front has, and even that took nearly twenty years of consideration to finally happen.
Pin this for your Glacier-area trip planning, and don’t be surprised if a map app or an older blog post still calls it the Hockaday. If you remember visiting under the old name, I’d love to hear how the collection compares in the comments.
