April 2020
Chris Marie Forest
Jerome Byron Waterman, my great-great-uncle, led a very full, prosperous and somewhat tragic life in his short 48 years. He was born during the American Civil War on December 17, 1862 in Saginaw, Michigan to Christopher and Catherine Boyle…
March 2020
“Name, though it seem but a superficial and outward manner, yet it carryieth much impression and enchantment.” Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
As the Anglo-Europeans spread across the North American continent, the land became filled with…
February 2020
Rachel Phillips
Gallatin County is a unique place. Throughout our history, environmental and geographical attributes intersected and interacted with the people who lived here, creating new ideas and opportunities. This timeline showcases some of the important events…
January 2020
Rachel Phillips
Today, nearly everyone has a telephone tucked into their pocket. These amazing machines are not only capable of making a phone call, but with the touch of a button they provide convenient access to online banking, social media, and entertainment…
December 2019
Chris Marie Forest
My maternal great-great-grandparents, William and Ellen Flannery Arnold, were some of the earliest settlers of Bozeman, Montana. Both of them came separately in the 1860s and were from hearty farm families.William, the oldest son, was…
November 2019
Christie Selensky
Every holiday with my family is marked by the anticipation of the custard kuchen. The almost-sacred recipe has been handed down by my great grandmother. Kuchen’s a sort of fruit and custard dessert, lined with a buttery pie crust, topped with…
November 2019
Kelly Hartman
When one digs back into the history of the “Wild West,” one too often finds that culture predominated and most places were not as “wild” as we would probably hope to find. Even Cooke City, located at the Northeast Entrance of…
October 2019
It was a somber winter Sunday in the burgeoning town of Bozeman. The date was February 2, 1873, and a small procession accompanied a tiny coffin along the muddy streets toward the graveyard on the hill.
If not for a crowd gathering outside…
October 2019
Kelly Hartman
There are many wonderful stories to be told with items at the Gallatin History Museum. For years now, two items in particular have been on display in the old Jailer’s Office/Gallows Room: a wooden potato masher identified as a murder weapon by…
September 2019
Gallatin County first organized horse races in the 1870s. In November 1871, the Bozeman Avant-Courier announced four days of racing. By 1878, the Eastern Montana Agricultural and Mechanical Association purchased land, possibly the site of the…
