Filed Under Broadview

Antelope Stage Station

Stage travel and wagon freighting were of tremendous importance to sparsely populated central Montana in the late 1800s. This way station was located on a thirty-eight mile route that carried homesteaders, travelers, mail, and supplies between the Northern Pacific station at Billings and the “Milwaukee Road” railhead at Lavina. With mere ruts for a road, stage coaches and huge lumbering freight wagons bounced along the route stopping at Twenty-Mile, here at Antelope, and Fairview. For four dollars, a passenger could ride from Billings to Lavina in the Montana Stage Company’s Concord coach or covered sleigh, braving unpredictable weather and the fear of holdups along the way. Antelope Station, constructed in 1883 of hand-hewn logs, is the only remaining stop along this well traveled route. Here weary travelers and teamsters found welcome refuge as well as a change of horses, hot meals, and conversation around the warmth of the big woodstoves. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad spread its tracks west from South Dakota into central Montana in 1908, replacing stage travel. Though used as a residence until 1927, the flooring and most partitions have long since been removed. Antelope Station’s remaining walls today spark the imagination, recalling this vital phase of Montana’s colorful past.

Images

Antelope Stage Station
Antelope Stage Station Antelope Stage Station. View of the south side of the Station House, facing north. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Aug. 1982
Antelope Stage Station
Antelope Stage Station Antelope Stage Station. View of the east side of the Station House, facing west. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Aug. 1982
Antelope Stage Station
Antelope Stage Station Antelope Stage Station. Side view of the stable, facing west. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Aug. 1982
Antelope Stage Station
Antelope Stage Station Antelope Stage Station. View of the north side of the Stage Station, facing south. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Aug. 1982
Antelope Stage Station
Antelope Stage Station Antelope Stage Station. Overview of the property with the Station House on the far right. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: 1910

Location

East of Broadview, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “Antelope Stage Station,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2169.