Bozeman Magazine

Joseph Lindley and His Park

Rachel Phillips

These days, when one thinks of the Sweet Pea Festival, Lindley Park usually comes to mind. While the celebration is itself a Bozeman icon, so too is the popular city park that has been the Sweet Pea Festival’s home for the last 43 years. The…

Riding High: Memories of Yellowstone Travel by Horse

Rachel Phillips

In today’s world, traveling in Yellowstone National Park usually includes plenty of time sitting in traffic jams. For the last one hundred years, cars have dominated park transportation, but prior to 1916, sightseeing depended on the help of…

Elevation

Steve McGann

Maps are fascinating. They are factual and authoritative. Roads and trails, place names and locations are described and believed. Maps depict the relationship of one place to another and chart the distance between them for us. They are indispensible…

Top 10 Sights to See in Yellowstone

Christopher Dyrland-Marquis

With awe-inspiring geologic features and humbling natural phenomena, Yellowstone National Park stands out as one of the country’s greatest swaths of preserved wilderness. Whether visiting to learn about its impressive geothermal systems, spot…

Who Killed Harry Walker?

Kelly Hartman

On the 4th of July 1920, a farmer fishing the Madison river about six miles above Three Forks came across the grisly scene of a body lodged in a pile of driftwood. Stripped of most of its clothing and much of its flesh, the body was difficult to…

Spirit and Industry: The Montana State College Class of 1918 and Their “M”

Rachel Phillips

One of Bozeman’s most well-known and visible icons would undoubtedly be the College “M” emblazoned on the side of Mount Baldy in the Bridger Mountains. Easily visible for miles, this oft-photographed landmark is an integral part of…

The World Has Never Seen the Equal of This People

Kelly Hartman

From 1870 to the 1930s, the town of Cooke City, lying just outside Yellowstone National Park at the Northeast Entrance, fought a long and hard battle for adequate transportation of its mining ore. The railroad never came, but the fighting spirit of…

The Block That Was Rocked

Rachel Phillips

Shortly after 8:00 am on March 5, 2009, a natural gas explosion rocked downtown Bozeman. The initial blast and resulting fire destroyed and damaged several historic buildings on the north side of Main Street, just east of Bozeman Avenue. Tragically…

Top 10 Iconic Women in Bozeman History

Rachel Phillips

Our community’s past is filled with iconic women, so while it is impossible to pick one over another, here are ten ladies who stand out as Bozeman history icons. Audrey AndersonBozeman’s favorite red-haired restaurant owner Audrey…

Bachelor’s Clubs in the Gallatin Valley ”Girls Are Certainly Favored Out Here”

Rachel Phillips

On a pleasant Sunday in July 1910, sixty-nine single men gathered in Manhattan to commiserate with each other on their lonely conditions. According to the Manhattan Record, ‘Brooks’ Duff, Charles Duffin, Al Oliver, Bill Perks, and George…

Gallatin’s Gateway Community

Rachel Phillips

The community of Gallatin Gateway is one of the older settlements in Gallatin County and had its beginnings in the 1860s. Zachariah Sales relocated his family from Wisconsin to the Gallatin Valley in 1865, and they began ranching. Because of the…

Winter Weavings

Kelly Hartman

Winters are long in Montana, especially when you grow up in the mountains at Silver Gate, Montana, like I did. For those with an artistic bent (I went to college for art), a long winter can be a joyous time for cozying up with your favorite crafts…

The Pandemic of 1918 Still Affects Me, And I Didn’t Even Exist Then

Was there anything good about the flu outbreak of 1918?

I have been thinking about my mom, Gudruda Berg (1902-1996), and the flu epidemic (more correctly pandemic) of 1918. That autumn, my mom was sixteen-years-old and living in Montana State College’s Hamilton Hall in Bozeman. She had just started…

The Screeching Ghost...And Other Little Mysteries At The Museum

Kelly Hartman

When one steps foot into the Gallatin History Museum, one is stepping into history itself. The building, constructed as the Gallatin County Jail, officially opened December of 1911. While much of the interior has been altered since the change from…

Defining Nuisances: Bozeman’s 1883 City Ordinances

Rachel Phillips

When the city of Bozeman incorporated on March 26, 1883, John V. Bogert was elected the city’s enthusiastic first mayor. The new city leader and his aldermen immediately began passing ordinances regulating everything from business signs to…

Our Historic Neighbors The McDonald Family Let’s Get to Know Them

Crystal Alegria

Isabel Wilkerson, the author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, speaks about the importance of humanizing history and recognizing historical figures as our neighbors. I love this idea and think it would go…

Banquet of Champions The 1954 National Soap Box Derby

Kelly Hartman

In 1933, the soap box made its debut on a bumpy hill in Dayton, Ohio. What started with three boys quickly escalated up to hundreds of homemade crate cars and nearly 40,000 spectators by the end of the summer. It was in the heart of the Great…

Top 10 Classic Bozeman Businesses

Angie Jamison

Western CafeThis one is getting a fresh burst of popularity thanks to the younger generations having found out about it.  It’s also where everyone wants to bring visitors to give them the “Montana” experience.  What we…

Theatre Culture in Bozeman

Kevin Brustuen

Gary Cooper, Hollywood star of the 1940s and 50s born in Helena and former student at Montana State College (today’s MSU), is enshrined in Bozeman’s history with a star embedded in the sidewalk near the Rialto Theatre in downtown Bozeman…

Sharing Your Story For The Sake of the Future

Carmen Dunn

Spanish-born philosopher and poet George Santayana’s famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” has been paraphrased several ways, all with a focus on being aware of, appreciating, and respecting the…

Murder Along the Yellowstone Trail

The Execution of Seth Danner

Kelly Hartman

Q.  Now, if you will, continue and tell us in your own way, Mr. Smith, what events followed. A.  Well, then, the next morning we were supposed to meet there at 11 o’clock in the forenoon, but we were busy, and we met down there…

Bozeman’s Medical Heroes

Rachel Phillips

In the late 1860s, only a handful of doctors lived in the Gallatin Valley, and most split their time between practicing medicine and other more lucrative careers. Today, our community supports a large regional hospital that employs hundreds of…

Gallatin Valley Pioneer: Jerome Waterman

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…

Names in Bozeman’s Backyard: The Madison, The Gallatin and The Bridger Ranges

“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…

10 Ways Bozeman Has Changed in 10 Years

Kate Hulbert

Tourism Took OffIf you’ve been in Bozeman long enough, you’ll remember the days when Bozeman became a ghost town in the summer. Once the MSU students cleared out, you could practically hear crickets on Main Street. But now all that has…

Gallatin History Timeline

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…

Verge Theatre: 25 Years In Bozeman

Kevin Brustuen

Bozeman was a quiet sleepy little mountain town of about 23,000 people in 1990. Bozemanites would hike empty trails, go out to eat at Black Angus, have a couple drinks and maybe dance at the Cat’s Paw, and sometimes go see a play at the…

Wires in the Sky: A Short History of Telephone Service in Bozeman

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…

Bozeman Pioneers: William and Ellen Flannery Arnold

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…

Sunday Sinnings

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…

A Taste of History Exploring Bozeman’s Past Through Recipes

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…

Not Just a Collection of Curios

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…

Bozeman’s Week of Horror

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…

Hotel Trends That Have Shaped the Bozeman Area Over The Century

Shawn Vicklund

Bozeman is booming today and is ranked as one of the fastest growing areas of its size in the nation. It has long been a favorite travel destination for Montanans and out-of-state tourists with world-class skiing, Yellowstone and Glacier National…

Galloping in the Gallatin

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…

Bozeman Pioneers: Christopher & Catherine Waterman

Chris Marie Forest

My great-great-grandparents, Christopher Hilliard Waterman and Catherine Boyle Waterman, were two of the founding pioneers of Bozeman, Montana. Their amazing pioneer stories were preserved and told to their children and grandchildren. Much of the…

Small Town Big Event

Bozeman’s Boxing Brawl 1960 National Boxing Association Middleweight Championship

Cindy Shearer

On April 20, 1960, Bozeman Montana made national news when a young MSU Fieldhouse hosted what would later make headlines around the world when the National Boxing Association Middleweight Championship title match between Champion Gene Fullmer and…

Escape From the Jail!

Kelly Hartman

On the morning of December 22, 1911, all were surprised to find that six prisoners had escaped from the brand new $35,000 jail, which had been believed to be “escape proof.” The individual cells holding the prisoners were not locked…

Raining in the AM Snowing in the PM Colder than Hell

The History of Quin Blackburn

Kelly Hartman

In August of 1923, three college students decided to climb the Grand Teton on a whim. Quin Blackburn, the leader of the party, would go on to lead the Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1934. The other two, Andy DePirro and David DeLap were nearly lost…