The City Cemetery is one of the oldest public institutions in Lewistown, the seat of Fergus County. Residents incorporated the city in 1899. Almost immediately citizens banded together to establish the Lewistown Cemetery Association. The association filed its articles of incorporation with the state c. 1901.

The population of Lewistown and Fergus County boomed for 20 years. Just over 1,000 people lived there in 1900; by 1920 the city had well over 6,000 residents. Such supercharged growth, fueled by homesteaders, railroads, and mining, meant that demands on the Cemetery Association were too much for a private organization. In 1918 the association transferred the property to the city.

The heart of the cemetery is reserved for veterans, where the setting is low-key, dignified and effective. A gravel drive divides two sections reserved for veterans.

One veteran marker that catches your eye is for “Col. Joe” Montgomery. He proudly bragged: “Soldier, Gambler, Landman, and Weather Predictor. I never voted wrong. Powder River Let ‘em buck.” What a summation. And he had every right to brag. A veteran of the Spanish American War, he was 107 years old when he died in 1984. He first came to the area to work in the Kendall mines in 1894. A true Montana original.

Most of the city’s prominent Protestant leaders are buried here, as are thousands of other citizens who have made Lewistown work and progress for the last 100 years.