For this week, we bring you a post from the archives, a celebration of the life of Sarah Bickford, a remarkable Montanan who arrived in Montana in 1870. Although small, there has been an African American population in Montana since well before it even became a territory, including E.T. Johnson the mayor of Helena in … Read more
“You could leave beer to cool in the river, and it would be so cold when you got back it wouldn’t foam much. It would be a beer made in the next town if the town were ten thousand or over. So it was either Kessler Beer made in Helena or Highlander Beer made in … Read more
Looking for an amazing event this weekend? You won’t be surprised to hear the Bannack State Park has you covered. Not only is Bannack among the oldest towns in Montana, it is one of the best preserved ghost towns in the state. It is central to the founding of the state, and we end up … Read more
Today, Virginia City is a nice peaceful place to visit. You can wander up and down the board wall streets, buy some candy, a few souvenirs, maybe go to a play, and not once worry if you are going to find yourself smack in the middle of a riot. Oh how the times have changed. … Read more
Every Wednesday in April and May, the Montana Historical Society in Helena is hosting a free lecture on a different part of Montana history. Over the two months, these lessons will cover roughly twelve thousand years of history. Of course, the historical record is pretty scarce for a lot of that time, so most of … Read more
In celebration of International Women’s day, we’ve perused our archives searching for the best stories about the remarkable women who have help to shape Montana, the nation, and the world. Of course, no such post could start without mentioning Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Despite her relative lack of … Read more
The stories of the Copper Kings are stories of Gilded Age ambition, impossible wealth, and devious political machinations. They are the stories of Butte, of Montana, and of the country. William A. Clark came to Montana on the cusp of the gold rush. He quickly found that he could make more money selling things to … Read more
Something about the crisp autumn air beckons exploration. Maybe it is our attempt to hold onto summer, with it being just warm enough to wander without a coat, or the deep colors of fall that beg us to connect, or the roads which are craving use before they become coated in snow and ice. For … Read more
The haunting of Grandstreet Theatre, which was originally the Unitarian Church built in 1901, is so famous that it is included in Haunted Places: The National Dictionary. Progressive Unitarians designed the church to double as public space, and so the sanctuary also functioned as a public auditorium with sloped seating, a beautiful proscenium arch, and … Read more
Bannack. The once-bright star of Montana, now a ruin. A town in arrested decay. The sun glints blindly off of the few remaining storefronts, stores with neither wares nor customers. The saloons do not hum with music, mule trains no longer clog main street, and the town’s five thousand plus residents no longer throng the … Read more