JTech Communications Turns 25
JTech Communications has grown with Bozeman. We've seen our town turn from dirt roads to a bustling hub of commerce and community. Back in the late 1990s, the Gallatin Valley had a population in the mid 20 thousands, now it has over 54,000. Bozeman’s population has doubled in the last 25 years!
Over that same amount of time, JTech has grown from a handful of employees to 15. We’ve seen the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport through the construction of its air traffic control tower and Bozeman through its first true growth spurt in the 90s.
The advances in technology and marketing standards over the last 25 years are, to put it succinctly, staggering. What's more, we couldn't be happier to have worked through the years with you as our clients. In many cases we can now count our clients as friends and partners in business!
Our team has several exciting announcements for you to celebrate the dawning of our quarter-century.
The JTech Team Hopes You'll Celebrate With Us
First and foremost, JTech wants to spread the love during our 25th year in business — we are offering 25% off new marketing and design services purchased in the month of July. Have you been waiting to pull the trigger on an SEO plan for your website? To update an older logo?
You can read more about our 25% off deal in the official announcement blog we'll be publishing very soon—keep your eyes peeled for that email!
Reflecting on 25 Years in Web Design
We've been in the business of internet services, web design, and marketing since the dawn of the internet. Our team—yes, even the team members who wouldn't work here until a decade or two later—were tinkering with all manner of tech back when the web was so new that, while our clients knew they needed a website, they couldn’t say why.
Other future employees were fending off phone calls for 20 glorious minutes on AOL, learning to solder, or crafting lawn mowing advertisements with Microsoft paint.
We couldn't imagine doing a single thing differently. We love working in the technology and marketing space, and we're ecstatic that we get to practice our passions with you every single day.
Let’s pause and reflect on how JTech and Bozeman have grown along with technology.
Welcome to the Internet
The internet dawns in a world ruled by cassettes and car phones. The Dotcom bubble bursts. Bozeman is a relatively small town attracting big attention. Costco and Target move in on 19th, and the Gallatin Vally Land Trust (GVLT) announces Burke Park, their first conservation effort. JTech spends our first years in the Gallatin Valley Seed Building.
JTech and Netflix are founded in 1997!
Other Notable Events
- The Haufbrau House finally gives up trying to stop people from carving their initials into tables
- JTech expands to occupy a second space in the Gallatin Valley Seed Building
- 19th is paved, zoned, and extended past the highway
- Peets’ Hill becomes a Bozeman icon.
- The interstate speed limit changes from 'Reasonable & Prudent' to 75 mph
- MSU accidentally dyes the Gallatin red for 4 days
- Google and Yahoo thrive
- Wifi is created
- The Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport hires JTech to build them website
- Napster launches—millions who wouldn't steal a car download All-Star by Smash Mouth
- JTech launches an alternate flash version of our website
- Two Ph.D. students launch Google
- Microsoft releases Windows 95
- Yahoo incorporates and Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay go live
- CERN Introduces the World Wide Web to the public
- The iPod launches and everyone with a song in their heart now has one in their pocket
- The Western Cafe celebrates 47 years of business
The Early 2000's
Welcome to the turn of the century! By now, YouTube has launched, the first cat video has gone viral, and a MySpace user sets their page’s theme music to Evanescence for the first time.
JTech turns 10!
Other Notable Events
- Twitter breaks out of its shell with a fresh take on social media
- JTech redesigns our website to look like a grimoire — adding a high fantasy twist to the web
- Seniors release 4 pigs labeled 1, 2, 3, and 5 in Bozeman High
- Bozeman's stockyards close
- Open containers of alcohol in cars becomes illegal
- The iPhone launches
- A new age of MMORPGs blesses the world as broadband becomes more popular
- The Bozeman National Guard Armory is saved from demolition
- The Western Cafe remains unchanged
The Mid 2000's
JTech turns 15, Netflix starts streaming, and the world decides not to end. Facebook and SnapChat launch (everyone is relieved to finally have texts that delete themselves). Tragically, KO’s closes and Bozeman citizens are forced to stop riding the train “Choo Choo”, and make their Jello shots at home.
In these last five years the internet, and Bozeman, have truly begun to resemble what we know today. Both are now growing faster than many people could have imagined.
Other Notable Events
- The Bozeman Airport becomes ‘international’ and accepts its first flight from Canada
- The Bozeman International Airport works with JTech to upgrade their website for the first time
- JTech simplifies our logo to a bold ‘JT’ monogram
- A MySpace user changes their page's theme song to 'Airplanes' by B.o.B. for the last time
- Bing launches—no one knows why
- The Western Cafe remains unchanged.
The Mid 2010's
The mid-2010s treated JTech and Bozeman well. MSU begins a nine-year victory streak in Brawl of the Wild, JTech refreshes our brand with a more modern design and launches My JTech, our new management app and portal, to replace our old content management system, The Control Center. This makes managing a website from JTech even easier.
JTech turns 20!
Other Notable Events
- The first (and second) Starbucks open
- The Stockyard Cafe closes, reopens, and then closes for good
- Bozeman is the fastest growing micropolitan area from 2016-2017
- JTech Launches our image editor in My JTech
- Twitter Kills Vine
- TikTok Launches
- JTech goes jtech.digital with a brand new URL!
- Instagram overtakes Twitter in popularity—proving that the future is visual
- JTech upgrades our client servers
- Mobile responsiveness becomes an important factor for SEO
- The Western Cafe remains unchanged
The Last Five Years
Over the last five years, we’ve seen tremendous growth, positive change, and the ramifications of a global pandemic. We’re proud to say that JTech and Bozeman’s other businesses are all stronger after weathering Covid-19. Bozeman’s downtown has seen a resurgence of repairs to historic buildings like the Rialto and the Ellen theater. New neon lights up the streets at night with a soft glow.
Oh, and JTech turns 25!
Other Notable Events
- HEEBs moves to a gorgeous new location and becomes Town and Country
- The ‘Barmuda Triangle’ becomes the ‘Barmuda No-angle’ as The Scoop closes for good
- JTech redesigns our website in a flat, modern style
- Google + shuts down—no-one notices
- 5G revolutionizes communication
- Bozeman comes together during Covid-19
- GVLT finishes main street to the mountains
- TikTok buys musical.ly. Fans of Vine lose their minds with excitement
- The Zebra closes and reopens without live music — Bozeman’s crusty underbelly weeps
- The Kimpton Armory Hotel opens and the Baxter is no longer the tallest building in town
- The Western Cafe remains unchanged
JTech's Logo Design Evolution
One of the JTech Team's favorite ways to look back on JTech through the years is to see how far our brand identity and design language have changed over time. Our logo has always had a strong, stamp like quality. However, as phones rose in popularity and the years passed, we realized the need to move away from skeuomorphism and toward a design that works better in the digital world.
By simplifying and refining our design to a bold monogram Felix Wolfstrom, our lead designer, was able to create an 'iconic' mark that resized more easily without compromising on the great parts of our original logo’s design.
Here's To The Next 25!
Looking back, it's incredible how the world has changed. Bozeman and Montana at large are growing quickly. More rural locations than ever finally have access to high-speed (even fiber optic) internet.
We're honored to be riding the internet's tsunami-sized wave alongside everyone we've worked with through the years and we're excited to see where technology, and this community, takes us next.
Thank you for looking back with us! Let's take on the next 25 years together.
About Samuel Klusmeyer
Samuel Klusmeyer is a content marketing professional with 6+ years of experience writing helpful, search-optimized content that converts. Sam helps clients optimize their website copy or write new copy that speaks directly to their target audience. He leads JTech's internal content marketing efforts — including emails, social media accounts, and E-E-A-T-optimized website articles.