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Originally called Washington's Birthday, Presidents Day has been a federal holiday since 1879 - which is one year before Paris Gibson visited the Great Falls of the Missouri, and four years before Great Falls was founded.

Since then, a number of sitting Presidents have found their way to our area.

Eighteen of the 44 U.S. Presidents have visited Montana; one of them, Chester A. Arthur, did it six years before Montana became a state.

The first sitting President to visit Great Falls specifically was Harry Truman in 1950

Others who have made a stop in the Electric City include Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush.

The appearance that made the biggest impression was in 1963, when an estimate 100,000 people filled the streets of Great Falls and Memorial Stadium to get a glimpse of JFK.

KRTV alumni Norma Ashby (pictured above with President Kennedy) recalled, "People were hanging from trees and on rooftops and just everywhere. They let children out of school that day. There were busloads of kids who came in from around the region. So, it was an enormously exciting day for the city."

Seeing the President in color for the first time and finding out he had red-hair was a memorable moment for Norma; she said, "In the 60's, women wore a lot of wigs and I had a red wig on. I really didn't plan that. I had no clue he had reddish hair too. So, I blended with the President!"

President Kennedy left more than just jaw-dropping impressions and photos of his visit behind; the podium he used during his visit was custom built by three local men, and is still in use today at the History Museum.

The most recent sitting U.S. President to visit Great Falls: George W. Bush in 2005, touting his Social Security reform plan following his State of the Union address.