GREAT FALLS — An 180-acre field on the northeast edge of Great Falls may look vacant now, but it will soon signal the start of a new industrial era — not only in the Electric City, but across all of Montana.
Janicki Industries broke ground Friday on its next manufacturing campus in Agri Tech Park. The $800 million project by the privately owned aerospace supplier is expected to bring 2,000 jobs to the area when it is complete.
WATCH: Janicki Industries' $800 million investment in Great Falls is drawing comparisons to the Anaconda Copper Company, which once processed a third of the world's copper supply
With a projected 1.6 million square feet, the Great Falls campus will be among the company's largest. Janicki currently has four campuses in Washington and one in Utah.
With Janicki now doing business in Great Falls, it is hard not to make comparisons to another major manufacturer that served as a community symbol for nearly 100 years. What Janicki is to aerospace manufacturing, the Anaconda Company once was to copper production.
A century of industrial history
Great Falls Historian Ken Robison says the Anaconda Copper Company once fueled more than just a local economic engine.
"The workforce varied over time from 2,000 to 4,000," Robison said.
At its peak, the operation's reach extended far beyond Montana.
"At the peak, one third of the world's copper supply was being processed right here, one third of the world's copper supply," Robison said.
Nationalization and other factors eventually led to the company's demise. The 1982 demolition of the Big Stack meant more than a loss of jobs — it was the death of a city symbol.
"People that are longtime residents of Great Falls still bemoan the fact that their iconic landmark stack is down," Robison said.
Around the same time, Great Northern closed rail yards on the city's west side, costing another 700 jobs.
"If Great Falls hadn't had the Air Force presence and the Air Force input into the economy, it would have been even worse," Robison said.
RELATED: Janicki Industries breaks ground on $800M Great Falls campus
A military legacy and a new economic chapter
That strong Air Force presence dates back to World War Two, when Great Falls had two air bases, both participating in lend-lease training for B-17s.
"Something like a quarter of the Soviet air arm during the war came from Great Falls, Montana, which is just really stunning," Robison said.
Today, Malmstrom Air Force Base remains an integral part of the nation's defense system and the Great Falls economy. The Sentinel Project, a missile modernization program, is expected to add to the base's $444 million-a-year economic impact.
Brett Doney has been with the Great Falls Development Authority for 20 years and has never seen a project quite like Janicki.
"It's the biggest investment in Great Falls in Cascade County, not from a financial standpoint, from a jobs standpoint and a wages standpoint," Doney said.
Great Falls Development Authority President and CEO Brett Doney calls Janicki's manufacturing presence a much-needed boost for a city that has long struggled to replace the jobs lost when the smelter closed.
"When I got to town, manufacturing was less than 2% of our employment base," Doney said.
Doney says that in Missoula the number is 9% and in Billings it is 16.5%.
"Our biggest struggle here for decades has been that we had a structural problem that our economy, we never replaced the jobs from the smelter," Doney said.
With an increased emphasis on development ranging from education to housing, energy to the military, Janicki's manufacturing revival may be what sets Great Falls apart.
"There are very few communities in the western mountain region that have been able to achieve strengthening their economy, creating higher wage jobs and staying affordable. I think we can do it," Doney said.
