Florence Park is one of the nicest in the valley, with lots of room for baseball, softball, soccer, and tennis. A new addition to the park is Hideout Mountain, a playground with lots of surprises. Florence also hosts a Renaissance Fair every other summer and has a Harvest Festival in the fall. Both events are locally sponsored and help develop a sense of community.

If you like walking, biking or riding; Florence has great trails. Along Highway 93 you can go north to Lolo onto Chief Looking Glass campground (on the Bitterroot River) or you can go south to Stevensville Bass Creek campground or Poker Joe river access. The Doug Vulcan trail runs from Florence to the Bitterroot River where the FWP maintains a river access. You can follow the Lewis and Clark trail where Clark and his men returned from Oregon in 1806 on the west side of the Bitterroot River.

History:

Its earlier settlers called the town ‘One Horse’ for the little creek that drains through it from the Bitterroot Mountains. In 1880, the town was renamed Florence for the wife of A.B. Hammond. Mr. Hammond was instrumental in opening the Bitterroot Valley for lumbering, and brought the railroad to the Bitterroot to transport timber. He set up a sawmill in the center of one of the Bitterroot’s best logging areas, and this site became the town of Florence, incorporated in 1888. There was a town to the north called Carlton, which merged with Florence, thus the school name Florence Carlton. Around the turn of the century, Florence had a post office, railroad depot, hotel, Catholic and Disciple Churches, I.O.O.F. Hall, blacksmith shop and livery stable, school, several stores, a small creamery and, of course, saloons.

Bitterroot Valley Communities: