Person Page - 350

Robert Campbell Line was born to Lemuel and Mary Alice in Ogallala, Nebraska, in 1891. He received a B.A. from the University of Montana in Missoula in 1910, and a master’s degree from Harvard University in 1912. Line began his career as an instructor in Economics at Mount Holyoke College. Line was traveling in Germany in 1914 when war broke out. In 1915 he worked for the Merchants’ Association of New York before he returned to Columbus, Montana, and became the owner-operator of the family chain of stores in Montana until 1927. During that time he was active in merchants’ organizations, wrote business articles, and taught some short courses at the University of Kansas. He then taught at the University of Minnesota before becoming a professor and Dean of the School of Business Administration at the State University of Montana [now known as The University of Montana -Missoula] in 1927. He traveled to Europe with the Army Education Program from 1945 to 1946. Line stepped down from his position as Dean in 1947 but remained a professor until he retired from the university in 1957. He ran the Line Import Company until 1972. Robert Campbell Line married Louise Chapman of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on September 7, 1918. They had four children: Louise, Harriet, Robert Campbell [Jr.], and David Chapman. For about seven years beginning in 1938, the Lines operated their home, the Robert C. Line Ranch (also known as the Fellfoot Ranch) in Missoula, Montana, as a boys and girls camp during the summer. The ranch was later renamed the Pattee Canyon Ranch.³