Bozeman Magazine

From Sunset to Sunrise: The Path of Discovery to the Samuel Lewis House

“Security and peace do not lead to discovery.” - Carl G. Jung As a child, my vivid imagination helped me stay open to attract synchronistic occurrences. We all have stories to share, and these coincidences helped to shape my life’s…

Baseball and The Big Sky: America’s Pastime in the West

Part Two: Minors & Majors

Topher Sedlak

​...the debut year of the Louisville Slugger and legal overhand pitches, and bested Miles City in many following games. That summer, the Sun River Sun reported Glendive had a women’s club, a decade before The Bloomer Girls. Glasgow and others…

A Bicentennial Memory on America’s 250th Birthday

Pat Hill

Fifty years ago Bozeman was a much different town; smaller, slower, and very special to me. The divisions that seem to be part of American life these days were not as obvious. In fact, part of what was so special to me back then was that we all got…

Bozeman’s Historic Community Quilts

Rachel Phillips

Over the course of the last two years, local quilters from the Gallatin Quilt Guild met regularly at the Gallatin History Museum to organize the quilt collection. Once the quilts were cleaned, evaluated, and properly stored, the group chose three…

The Story of Adam Bronken Fields Part 2

How a Tragedy, a Cow Pasture, and One Man’s Determination Created One of Montana’s Most Important Soccer Facilities

A Community Steps UpOne of the most remarkable parts of the Adam Bronken story is how many businesses agreed to help. Local businesses donated equipment. Contractors contributed labor. Suppliers discounted materials. Friends showed up with tools and…

Baseball and The Big Sky: America’s Pastime in the West Part One: Roots and Sticks

Topher Sedlak

Montana might not be first place you envision when hearing baseball. The earliest game using modern rules took place in New Jersey across the Hudson River from New York City. But that’s only part of the story. The Old West was chock full of…

The Prettiest Place in the World: Flora Gardner’s Journey to Bozeman Part IV

Rachel Phillips

In the spring of 1879, Flora Gardner traveled from Kansas to Bozeman with her family, via steamboat and wagon. Once settled in her new home, Flora sent a letter to friends in Kansas describing the trip’s adventures. This is the final…

The Alder Gulch Gold Rush

Pat Hill

On June 6, 1863, the rush began along a 16-mile stretch of stream in present-day Southwest Montana 5It would also become one of the richest placer gold discoveries ever recorded (if not the richest), eventually yielding nearly $3 billion in gold at…

The Prettiest Place in the World Flora Gardner’s Journey to Bozeman Part III

Rachel Phillips

In the spring of 1879, Flora Gardner traveled from Kansas to Bozeman with her family, via steamboat and wagon. Once settled in her new home, Flora sent a letter to friends in Kansas describing the trip’s adventures. This is the third of a…

National Geographic’s National Parks Cookbook

Katie Thomas

What foods do you associate with Yellowstone National Park? Dining is generally not the goal of a park trip, but after some geyser-watching, hiking, and wildlife viewing, you’re likely to become a little peckish. For many folks who have been…

Reawakening Main Street :Two Icons Enter Their Next Chapter

Kathleen Johns

In a season marked by cranes (building, not whooping), scaffolding, and quiet transformation, Downtown Bozeman is once again redefining itself. Along its ever-evolving Main Street, two of its most iconic architectural anchors are stepping into new…

The Prettiest Place in the World: Flora Gardner’s Journey to Bozeman Part II

Rachel Phillips

In the spring of 1879, Flora Gardner traveled from Kansas to Bozeman with her family, via steamboat and wagon. Once settled in her new home, Flora sent a letter to friends in Kansas describing the trip’s adventures. This is the second of a…

Flora Gardner’s Journey to Bozeman Part I

The Prettiest Place in the World

Rachel Phillips

In the spring of 1879, Flora Gardner traveled from Kansas to Bozeman with her family, via steamboat and wagon. Once settled in her new home, Flora sent a letter to friends in Kansas describing the trip’s adventures. This is the first of a…

Dorothy M Johnson: Montana's First Lady of Letters

Steve McGann

Montana has an outstanding literary legacy. The names A B Guthrie, Norman MacLean, and Joseph Kinsey Howard come to mind. There are many more men on the list. A name not often mentioned is Dorothy M Johnson, most likely because she was a woman. Yet…

The Milwaukee Road

Topher Sedlak

Three Forks, Montana 1974. Little Joe #77 works during the last week of electrification. Courtesy A. Burns at American Rails. Behind a curtain of forest, at a spot called Ravenna, a lone building stares out in silence. Its red-brick body is a…

Moving Through Yellowstone In Time

Lisa Vandenbos

Riding west on Interstate 90 one summer day in 2024 between Bozeman and Belgrade, I saw an extraordinary two-truck convoy of bridge girders. They were destined for a project going on in Yellowstone National Park. One of the many complicated aspects…

A Hot Contest: The 1908 Gallatin County High School Women’s Basketball Team

Rachel Phillips

With thousands of images in the Gallatin History Museum collection, it is easy to spot one that grabs your attention. Researching the story behind a photograph is a challenging but rewarding exercise that brings the image to life. One of the many…

Bozeman and Bridger

Steve McGann

A quick study of the names used for places and features around our town—creeks, streets, mountain passes, businesses, a mountain range, and the city itself—would give the impression that persons named Bozeman and Bridger were the most…

Spring Fever

Phil Knight

Spring fever has hit me… in early February. Somehow, with the severe lack of snow and bizarre warmth of this odd winter, it feels all wrong. After forty winters in Montana, I admit I have certain expectations about the season—lots of…

With Lots & Acres Of Love: The Cooper Family of Bozeman

Rachel Phillips

Walter and Mariam Skeels Cooper and their daughter, Mariam Cooper Bunker, were a fairly typical early Bozeman family. Like most, they experienced their shares of ups and downs. The letters, diaries, and photographs they left behind offer a glimpse…

What's Your Beef? Town of Virginia City Letter to the State of Montana

Re: The Montana Department of Commerce and the Montana Heritage Commission and their recent actions in Virginia City

The irony of penning this letter as a Lewis and Clark County district judge is currently deciding the fate of a Montana Department of Commerce (DOC)/Montana Heritage Commission (MHC) employee and a Reeder’s Alley contractor for embezzling and…

A Sure Cure For The Winter Blues

The Montana State College Ski Carnival

Rachel Phillips

In 1954, the Montana State College Ski Club introduced an event to celebrate the sport they loved, and to boost student morale. Held annually in January or February, the Ski Carnival was a welcome mid-season break for students. Activities and events…

The Christmas ‘Copter: Santa’s Visit to Bozeman in 1948

Rachel Phillips

On Friday, December 10, 1948, an intriguing invitation to local children appeared in the Bozeman Courier newspaper. Underneath a photo of the popular bearded and bespeckled holiday celebrity was printed the following message: “Meet me at 2…

Top 10 Holiday Traditions for Local Businesses & Organizations

Josi Hinds

The holidays are here! It’s time to break out the hot cocoa, the decorations and festive music, and gather family and friends to celebrate the season. It also means it’s time to take part in traditions that make this time of year extra…

Our Valley’s Namesake: Gallatin, the Genevan Tom Sawyer

Topher Sedlak

We’re surrounded by places named for historic figures—John Bozeman, Sacajawea, Charles & Angelique Anceney, Nelson Story. However, the namesake of our valley is largely invisible. Many locals know that Meriwether Lewis and William…

Our Larry: Bozeman’s Legendary Motorman

Rachel Phillips

For nearly thirty years, from 1892 to 1921, Bozeman residents enjoyed reliable and convenient streetcar transportation. Trolleys moved commuters between the Northern Pacific passenger depot on Bozeman’s north side and the college campus to the…

Honor, Service, and Story: A Veterans Day Celebration

This Veterans Day, as our nation pauses to honor the courage and sacrifice of its military service members, Bozeman will host a unique and deeply personal tribute. On Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 6-8 PM,  at the historic Baxter Hotel in downtown…

An Unlikely Friendship with Lucy Pike

Mary Ellen Fitzgerald

In Bozeman history, the names Mary Doane, Emma Weeks Willson, Ellen Story, and Julia Martin are recognized, but when the community was in its infancy, many unknown women helped make this a great place to live.I had the pleasure of being acquainted…

An Interview With The Bozeman Paranormal Society

Kathleen Johns

Traditionally, October’s edition of Bozeman Magazine revolves around all things haunted and supernatural. It’s been a while since we have published an interview with the Bozeman Paranormal Society, so let’s reconnect with the BPS…

Top 10 Neon Signs In Bozeman

Angie Ripple

French engineer Georges Claude invented the first neon sign in 1910 by passing electricity through neon in a glass tube, creating a bright red-orange glow. In Montana, the first producer of neon signs was The Electric Products Corporation (EPCON)…

The Geologist, the Digger, and the Guide

A Retrospective of 50 years in the Greater Yellowstone

We live in a magical and mysterious location on planet Earth, the Greater Yellowstone, a land where the First People hunted buffalo and raised their families; a place near a super volcano that would be like a Hawaiian island if it weren’t in…

Lions, Boxing and Bears: The Story of David Angus “Kid” Johnston

Rachel Phillips

In June 1926, David Angus “Kid” Johnston and his trained mountain lion performed several stunts for a Universal Film Corporation film crew in Manhattan, Montana. According to a Gallatin County Tribune and Belgrade Journal report…

Preserving the Past at the Living History Farm

Alexsandra Morawic

Just south of the main buildings of the Museum of the Rockies lies an area that feels like it belongs to another century. The Living History Farm provides visitors with a glimpse into what life would have been like in late 19th-century Montana. The…

Bozeman’s 5 Favorite Museums

Jessica Cairoli

It’s impossible to fully understand and appreciate Montana without having a grasp on its history. Everything from the cutthroat age of dinosaurs to modern computing technology has served to shape the state into the location it is today. Luckily…

75 Years of Stories: Celebrating MSU’s Renne Library

The sound of turning pages mingles with the click of a mouse and the echo of fingers tapping keyboards. In the sensory seeking space, students lounge in beanbag chairs and chat, while in the nearby game corner others work to solve a puzzle. On the…

Above All A Gentleman: The Legacies of Fred Willson and Richard Brown

Rachel Phillips

Bozeman architect Fred F. Willson, 1929. Photograph courtesy of the Gallatin History Museum Some people have a mind and a passion for history that has a mysterious way of making the past come alive for everyone around them. Richard Brown was one…

Naya Nuki

Katie Thomas

Once upon a time, I was working as a freelance editor and copywriter. Equally distant in my memory is that I was also friends with a developer and her spouse. This couple asked me to write some marketing copy for their firm’s website and…

A Christmas Feast in July

Bozeman’s Grand Hotel and its 1891 Christmas Menu

Rachel Phillips

It’s hard to believe, but there are only six months until Christmas. Christmas in July celebrations have roots dating back to the 1930s and include retail sales, a resurgence of Christmas movies, and for some, a revival of holiday food. This…

A Way Of Life: Gallatin Canyon Dude Ranching

Rachel Phillips

Gallatin Canyon has played host to summer vacationers for well over one hundred years. In the early 1900s, several dude ranches in the canyon offered outdoor paradise to eastern visitors unaccustomed to ranch life but yearning for a taste of the…