 Fort Missoula was established near Missoula, Montana as a permanent military post in 1877 in response to citizen concerns of conflict with local Native American tribes.In 1941 Fort Missoula was turned over to the "Department of Immigration and Naturalization" for use as an Alien Detention Center for non-military Italian men.Nearly 1100 Italian citizens were interned at Fort Missoula, including merchant seamen and World's Fair workers who were in the U.S. and could not be returned to Italy, as well as the crew of an Italian luxury liner seized in the Panama Canal.