Old Montana Prison

Listing Overview:

Old Montana Prison is located in the Old Montana Prison Complex, which houses five unique museums inside its historic prison walls. The complex includes the Old Montana Prison, Powell County Museum, Frontier Montana Museum, Yesterday's Playthings and the Montana Auto Museum. One fee covers all museums.

Discover yesteryear when you step into the first Territorial Prison in the western United States. The prison was built by convict labor in the late 1800s. The gray sandstone walls of this immense structure are 24 feet high and buried 4 feet deep to prevent escape by tunneling.

You can visit the enclosed courtyard where the convicts exercised, and walk through their austere cell blocks and feel the chills of maximum-security cells. The last prisoners were moved in 1979 after which the facility was opened to the public.