October 2017
James Thull
Montana and the Western United States are littered with Ghost Towns. Some, like the nearby Virginia City, have been partially restored and turned into a mix of tourist trap and living history museum; others remain in their various states of disrepair…
September 2017
Cindy Shearer
From day one, music has been played in Bozeman. Local kids and ladies and cornet players entertained Bozeman residents in the city’s early years, and as Bozeman was changing from a frontier town to a civilized city, local music changed as…
August 2017
Rachel Phillips
It’s summer—time for locals and tourists alike to cool off in ponds, lakes, rivers, and city pools. Today, families flock to water recreation areas like Hyalite and the Madison River, or visit in-town options like the Bozeman Swim Center…
July 2017
Rachel Phillips
It was the summer of 1919. The Elks Club was busy finalizing plans for their statewide convention—their first big meeting since gathering in Butte in 1916, just before World War I. The war had definitely put an end to large-scale entertainment…
July 2017
Mary Biehl
This summer, when you’re feeling the urge to head out of town on a nice hot afternoon, maybe drive from Bozeman through Norris and head towards Ennis. On the way you may stop for a waterski jaunt around Ennis Lake, but if you head through Ennis…
June 2017
Cindy Shearer
A look back at the history of our special places gives us the opportunity to engage in new ways and deepen our appreciation of those areas. The Hyalite region is a great example of how our early settlers and citizens saw the area both for its…
May 2017
Sugar, the Kaiser and Two Years Imprisonment
Kelly Hartman
On April 11, 1918 Frank McVey, a laborer from Illinois, stepped into a Logan restaurant, about 25 miles from Bozeman. His complaint about sugar and a comment in support of the Kaiser landed him in the local jail. He would spend the next three years…
April 2017
From Private Tourism to National Monument to State Park
Cindy Shearer
We know that Native Americans did know of the caverns hundreds of years ago, as the stories of the steaming mountain are mentioned in their oral histories. Although the caverns are now named for Lewis and Clark, we also know that Lewis and Clark…
April 2017
Seth Ward
We’re sitting on plastic stacking chairs in that little meeting room at the library when someone says it. A familiar refrain in these neighborhood meetings and public comment sessions where we occasionally cross paths. Not enough where I…
February 2017
Cindy Shearer
If you can find a quiet time to sit in the little park on the southwest corner of Main and Rouse in Downtown Bozeman, and if you listen close enough, you might hear soft echoes from the past--jail cells clanging closed, fire bells ringing and quite…
