January 2025
Steve McGann
Last November, in a baffled state of mind, I gazed at a political map of Montana and realized the reason for one of the sparse blue sections. Hoping for some inspiration, some hope, I searched the bookcase for a biography of the most respected…
January 2025
Mary Ellen Fitzgerald
Montana winters vary. Some can be cold and miserable and others warm and balmy. Having lived in Gallatin County all my life, I have experienced all kinds. On Christmas Day 1969 there was no snow on the ground and, with the rain, it felt like a spring…
December 2024
Rachel Phillips
On December 6, 1956, the Gallatin County Tribune and Belgrade Journal announced the official beginning of the Christmas season. “Coincident with the drop in temperatures there was an appreciable rise in that intangible thing called Christmas…
November 2024
Memories of Early Montana Politics
Rachel Phillips
This Election Day, voters may appreciate a brief respite from current campaigns to hear about local politics in the early twentieth century. Roy Keister, a Democrat, and George Sinton, a Republican, were both interviewed by Lee Cooper in 1975 as part…
October 2024
Sydney Jones
On a cold fall night in Deer Lodge, Montana, the Old Montana Prison glows softly from the inside out. You can’t help but notice the enormous brick structure, sitting directly on Main Street in a small town of only 3,000. A chill greets your…
October 2024
Attempting to Solve a Historical Mystery
Rachel Phillips
The old 1911 Gallatin County Jail on Main Street is full of secrets. During its seventy-year use, the castle-like structure housed thousands of unwilling occupants during some of the grimmest times of their lives. When prisoners were relocated to a…
September 2024
Ken Walcheck
I’m a member of the Silent Generation, (1927-1945), a slice of history sandwiched between the Great Generation (1901-1926), and the Baby Boomers, (1946-1964).A 1951 essay in Time magazine coined people in the 1927-1945 age group as the Silent…
September 2024
Rachel Phillips
As automobiles became popular and affordable for Bozeman’s middle class in the first half of the twentieth century, a new type of business emerged that changed the local cityscape. Automobile service stations sprouted up around Bozeman –…
September 2024
East Side School to Art Deco Hub
Hawthorne School is a familiar sight to both locals and visitors alike. It sits at the prominent corner of Rouse and Mendenhall streets, visible to anyone heading into downtown from the north side or heading towards the Bridger mountains from Main…
August 2024
Rachel Phillips
One day in August of 2023, a man wandered into the Gallatin History Museum research center and introduced himself as Raphael Lang. He was trying to find information on his great-great-grandmother and asked if we could help him. He explained that he…
