The earliest historical sites in Montana reflect the period of transition when European building ways and property ownership ideas marked a land long in use by Native Americans. The nomadic…
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Great Falls began with an act of imagination. In 1882 entrepreneur Paris Gibson looked at the broad flat plain near the cataracts of the Missouri and envisioned a booming metropolis. By the next year,…
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Deer hunters first brought the spectacular system of subterranean caverns within Cave Mountain to public attention in 1898. Noticing steam flowing from a natural vent, they discovered passageways and…
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Few Montana places encompass as much varied history as Judith Landing. For millennia, Native peoples used this wide landing spot as a seasonal campground and burial site. Captains Meriwether Lewis and…
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As railroads expanded west in the late 1800s, Montana’s population boomed and so did crime. Towns like Bozeman developed rapidly to serve new homesteaders; Gardiner grew as tourists traveled to…
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In the 1870s, the U.S. Army dotted the territory with forts as it worked with brutal efficiency to confine Indians to reservations. With that mission well underway by the 1880s, it closed most of its…
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Whether sparsely maintained or meticulously groomed, Montana’s historic cemeteries often demonstrate a community’s permanence, cultural traditions, and respect for the dead. Burial traditions have…
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In the 1860s Euro-Americans poured into Montana, lured by stories of rich gold strikes and aided by the completion of the Mullan Road and the Bridger and Bozeman trails. As they encroached on…
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As Euro-American settlers moved west in the mid-1800s, demand for live entertainment followed. Early opera houses hosted traveling performances such as operas, stage plays, and musical variety shows…
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Saloons rank among the West’s most iconic buildings. Carried over by European colonizers, the term saloon was synonymous with other drinking establishments like bars and taverns. Use of the term…
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Healthcare in Montana first arose with Indigenous use of native plants, especially the Four Sacred Medicines — tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass — which treated various ailments, whether spiritual,…
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Butte was driven to life by the rich mineral resources that lay underground. Gold and silver mining brought the city's population of forty men and five women in 1866 to 14,000 by 1885. However,…
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Great Falls founder Paris Gibson was drawn to the power of the falls of the Missouri where he vowed to found an industrial center of “unsurpassed beauty.” Backed by railroad magnate James J. Hill,…
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Founded in 1846 as the fur trade transitioned from furs to buffalo robes, Fort Benton was both a trading post and a center for distribution of Indian annuities. In the early 1860s, Montana’s gold rush…
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This gracious, historic residential neighborhood illustrates Miles City's prosperity as it evolved from a frontier town into the livestock, transportation, commercial, and governmental hub of…
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The development of this elegant residential neighborhood reflects Miles City's second growth spurt in the early twentieth century. Although the population of this "cowtown" waned between 1890 and…
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The Main Street historic district reveals Miles City’s major growth periods of 1882-1887, 1905-1920, and 1935-1940. The first of these began with the arrival of the Northern Pacific in 1881, when…
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Mining significantly impacted Montana’s history and shaped the built environment. The first Montana Gold Rush in the early 1860s set the stage for massive change. Upon the discovery of gold, boom…
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Glendive took root as a steamboat landing on the Yellowstone River and as a railroad center in the middle of prime stock country. When the Northern Pacific reached Glendive in 1881, its first cars…
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Backed by the powerful San Francisco syndicate of Hearst, Haggin and Tevis, Marcus Daly built the world’s largest smelter (combined upper and lower works) on Warm Springs Creek between 1883 and 1889.…
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Attracted by the opportunity to work at Marcus Daly’s copper smelter, thousands of immigrants came seeking work in Anaconda. Many were from Ireland, like Daly himself, but skilled and unskilled…
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Marcus Daly watched with pride as Anaconda steadily gained momentum after its founding in 1883. While Daly’s social and political ambition was reflected in the elegant downtown Montana Hotel, Anaconda…
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In 1879, Metis—people of French and Chippewa-Cree descent—homesteaded in this area, near the army’s Camp Lewis. Many street names memorialize these settlers, who included Francis A. Janeaux and Paul…
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Lewistown’s elegant commercial district was constructed during central Montana’s most prosperous decades, from 1900 to 1920. That era of good weather, and railroad and government publicity, drew…
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In the dark days following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress appropriated massive defense appropriations. The US Army selected Great Falls, Montana, as the site of a major air…
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The surge of industrial activity near the end of the 19th century coupled with the arrival of homesteaders created a demand for transportation more efficient than stage coaches and freight wagons.…
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As the town of Kalispell ended its first decade in 1901, the Kalispell Bee reported that the “artistic and modern” residences would well ornament a much larger city. Dozens of spacious Queen Anne,…
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As the tracks of the Great Northern Railway inched westward from St. Paul to Seattle, Flathead Valley towns vied for designation as the railway’s division point. In the spring of 1891, however,…
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Small farms and orchards dotted the fourteen blocks of this residential neighborhood when the original townsite of Kalispell was platted in 1891. Soon a few wood frame buildings were constructed on…
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The elaborate homes of the Bon Ton Historic District reflect the tastes and aspirations of Bozeman’s economic and cultural elite. Its residents included the presidents and managers of successful…
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Impetus for the development of this late-blooming district began in 1890 with Bozeman's bid for designation as state capital. Instead, Bozeman received the state's agricultural college,…
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This diminutive neighborly district of thirty-four rather modest, early homes was surveyed and platted as Lindley and Guy's Addition in anticipation of the arrival of the Northern Pacific…
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Leading wagon trains to the booming gold camps of Bannack and Virginia City, miner-turned-guide John Bozeman recognized the agricultural potential of the Gallatin Valley. At his direction in 1864,…
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Philipsburg’s early-day fortunes ebbed and flowed with mining. Today, its historic district is one of Montana’s best preserved late-nineteenth-century mining towns, with commercial, public, and…
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The rapid expansion of American cities between 1890 and 1920 created a social environment which concerned many civic leaders. Efforts to counter the perceived vices of urban living included the…
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The Havre Residential Historic District represents Havre’s economic growth and social change from 1895 to the 1940s. Located primarily at the district’s northwestern edge, turn-of-the-century homes of…
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According to the United States War Department, Fort Assinniboine was established in 1879 “for the purpose of protecting the citizens of Montana from the hostile incursions of Indian tribes dwelling in…
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The crooked path of Last Chance Gulch, weaving between original mining claims, memorializes Helena’s chaotic beginning as a gold camp in 1864. Within a year of the placer gold discovery, a boomtown…
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This first permanent settlement of the gold camp at Last Chance Gulch offers a glimpse of early Helena from the late 1860s to the 1890s. By the 1870s, a Catholic cathedral, St. John's Hospital,…
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The physical link between the earliest settlement of Helena and the ceaseless efforts to fully exploit the area’s mineral potential is nowhere more clearly apparent than in this narrow district,…
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The spectacular gold deposit discovered in Alder Gulch on May 26, 1863, led to the rapid growth of this colorful and legendary gold camp town. Thousands of fortune‑seekers rushed to the area, and by…
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Missoula’s evolution from trading post to railroad center, university town, and federal government hub is revealed in this distinctive downtown residential neighborhood. Francis L. Worden, among…
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Fort Missoula, established in 1877 to provide military control over western Montana’s Indian tribes and protect local settlers, was the only permanent military post west of the Continental Divide.…
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Hi Bug was a schoolyard term coined in the 1920s in reference to the wealthy and high-society residents of north Red Lodge. Developed between 1890 and 1930, the area’s location north of the coal mines…
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Nestled in a watershed tributary of the Clark Fork River, Lower Rattlesnake drainage has a long and significant history. Salish Indians named Rattlesnake Creek Kehi-oo-lee, and Captain Meriwether…
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Ancestors of the Salish and Pend d’Oreille lived in this area for thousands of years, and tribal members continued to gather bitterroot in South Missoula into the 1960s. The neighborhood’s non-Indian…
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This colorful district charts Missoula's transformation from rough frontier town to established community. When the Northern Pacific Railroad chose Missoula as its division headquarters in the…
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Generations of Northsiders have grown up in the shadow of the railyards since the Northern Pacific Railroad’s arrival in 1883 transformed Missoula into a modern city. Accepting land as an enticement…
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An 1881 act of Congress granted the Territory of Montana seventy-two sections of land to use in funding a university. When the Montana legislature finally created the University of Montana in 1893,…
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Prominent business rivals C. P. Higgins and A. B. Hammond and others began to invest in this area during the late 1880s, platting additions and naming the streets after their children and associates.…
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As the Northern Pacific Railroad pushed its tracks westward in 1882, representatives arrived at this bend in the Yellowstone River to open a company store. They pitched a tent, stocking it with…
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Livingston was inextricably tied to the railroad, but its business community also influenced the town's character. After 1900, professionals and entrepreneurs built new homes on the Westside when…
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Long before fur trappers entered the Bighorn Valley, Crows, Sioux, and Cheyennes vied for the area’s abundant game. In 1876, Sioux and Cheyenne warriors defeated the U.S. Army at the Battle of the…
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Situated on a key gold rush trail, Deer Lodge grew into an important ranching and retail center during the 1860s. By 1869, the thriving village boasted grocery stores, harness and saddle shops, barber…
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Hamilton was born of the Anaconda Company’s voracious appetite for lumber, nurtured on the Bitterroot apple boom, and sustained by medical research. Copper King Marcus Daly—whose Big Mill cut millions…
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The architectural character of this pleasant district was initially shaped by copper king Marcus Daly. Between 1890 and 1905, Daly's Anaconda Copper Mining Company constructed substantial high…
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Captain William Clark trekked through this area on his journey down the Yellowstone River in 1806. By the time General George Armstrong Custer passed by en route to the Little Bighorn in 1876,…
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Founded for the railroad, Forsyth’s residential neighborhoods were platted in 1882 but much of the land lay undeveloped until the 1900s. Forsyth’s first-generation homes were simple dwellings rapidly…
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From its roots as a pre-1900s cattle town to a farming community after the turn of the century, Wibaux well illustrates the transformation borne by many small Montana towns. This historic district…
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Offering an eclectic architectural mix, Old Town tells the story of Billings’ growth. The Northern Pacific founded the community as a railroad hub in 1882, and by the end of 1883, some 400 canvas…
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At the turn of the twentieth century, Billings was ready to shed its frontier image as a rough-and-tumble cowtown and emerge as a regional commercial center. Billings was already at the juncture of…
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The federal government’s strategy for populating a newly claimed territory and limiting land use by Native Americans led to a series of Homestead Acts passed between 1862 and 1912. Under these acts…
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Upon arrival in what was then Idaho Territory, settlers and gold-seekers established quasi-governments to bring order and justice to the chaotic mining camps and isolated settlements of the territory.…
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The impact of transportation on Montana tourism cannot be understated. Boarding houses, hotels, liveries, and way stations supported nineteenth century travelers in Montana, while remaining an…
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Austin and Hattie North established the North Elevation Subdivision in 1905. Within walking distance of McKinley Elementary and Billings downtown, “the Elevation” was a commonsense extension for the…
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Montana’s gold rush and the lure of free farmland brought waves of fortune-seekers and homesteaders to Montana Territory between 1864 and 1918. The families who settled Montana’s rural areas…
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Rapid growth of the young town of Red Lodge coincided with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad’s branch line in 1889. The area became Montana’s leading coal mining region. Town lots were…
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The Great Depression came early to Montana, beginning in 1918 while the rest of the country thrived. Drought and reduced demand for agricultural products following World War I forced many farmers to…
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Struggling to tame the wild land in which they settled, Montana’s early settlers worked to establish Euro-American concepts of governance in their growing communities. Montanans moved quickly after…
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As the U.S. industrialized after the Civil War, logging and mining jeopardized the country’s vast western woodlands. Congress responded to the threat, authorizing the National Forest reserves in 1891.…
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From almost the beginning of the territory, Montana workers tried to organize themselves into unions to secure safer working conditions and better wages and to redress grievances. Where union locals…
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Fraternal societies flourished in Montana and throughout the United States in the mid to late nineteenth century, an era sometimes called the “Golden Age of Fraternalism.” By 1897, approximately six…
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Montana’s governmental landscape is an evolving political and cultural expression with deep roots. The seeds of the capital city were planted with local gold discoveries in 1864. Helena became…
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Miners north of Missoula Gulch struck silver in 1872, and three years later Rollo Butcher located the Alice, one of the richest silver mines on the Hill. Butcher is credited with building the first…
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Tightly clustered wooden houses built into the steep slopes of the Butte Hill characterize Centerville. Mostly constructed before 1900, the small Queen Anne cottages, hipped-roof workers’ houses, and…
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A catastrophic fire consumed much of Main Street in 1879, removing traces of Butte’s mining camp past and ushering in a new era of masonry and stone construction. In the 1880s, single miners remained…
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This historically Catholic neighborhood appropriately takes its name from St. Mary’s parish, which included the Irish communities of Dublin Gulch (since leveled) and Corktown. Known as the “miner’s…
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John Noyes arrived from California in 1866 and purchased several mining claims just north of today’s Front Street. After he and his partners, including David Upton, “put in a ground sluice,” they…
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Discovery of rich silver deposits at the Travona, whose head frame still stands at the district’s west end, sparked Butte’s 1870s hard-rock mining boom. Most South Central buildings date from the…
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The East Side neighborhood is bordered on the east by the Berkeley Pit, on the south by the upper yards of the Northern Pacific Railroad, on the west by the east side of Arizona Street, and on the…
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The Northwest-Big Butte Neighborhood occupies the northwest corner of the NHL district just below the 500-foot-tall Big Butte, the conical extinct volcanic plug from which the city takes its name. The…
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Butte's West Side neighborhood was constructed on the side slopes of Missoula Gulch, which cleaves the heart of this hilly neighborhood. The neighborhood is bounded by Quartz and Copper Streets…
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Butte's Southwest Neighborhood is a large residential neighborhood spanning Missoula Gulch, and occupying the southwestern-most corner of the Butte-Anaconda Historic District. The oldest settled…
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In 1865, Christopher Higgins, Francis Worden, and David Pattee constructed grist and lumber mills near where the Mullan Road (now Front Street) intersected with present day Higgins Avenue. Worden’s…
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Optimistic about Great Falls’ future, town founder Paris Gibson authorized the plat of the Third Addition—the area that contains the East Side Neighborhood—in 1890. The Crash of 1893 slowed…
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Born in Germany and raised on a farm in Indiana, Bartholomew Gehring left home in 1862 at the start of the Civil War. By 1865, he had arrived in the Helena area, where he began raising cattle to…
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