Terry, the seat of Prairie County, is an often forgotten, bypassed part of the Yellowstone River valley. Yet it has long been one of my favorite places, beginning with my first exploration of its history and landscape in 1984.
The valley is stunning—the river is wide and commanding buttes and badland outcroppings flank either river bank, as do the tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad (now Burlington Santa Fe) on the river’s south side and the later automobile Yellowstone Trail (old U.S. 10).
Once from 1997 to c 1980 the tracks of the Milwaukee Road ran along the north side of the river, from east of Terry into Miles City. Today you can still see traces of its roadbed and right of way.
In the 1980s residents impressed me greatly with their sense of, and pride in, their settlement past.
For my work on the state historic preservation plan in 1984, I held a community meeting in Terry, at the recently established Prairie County Museum.
It was a converted State Bank Building, an architecturally impressive 2-story Classical Revival-style building, anchoring one of the corners of the business district. The historical society had basically just moved in and kept many of the ban’s interior details and furnishings and used them to place objects on.
The meeting was a lot of fun, at least for me. And I learned a valuable lesson—listen and observe, don’t immediately judge. The example was a small graveyard, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers, where the museum had installed a low fence and basic interpretive sign.
I acknowledged that this site was clearly significant but offered that without an interstate highway sign (an exit was less than a mile away) or a marker on old U.S. 10, which was adjacent to the cemetery), “no one knows that it exists or where to find it.” One resident then remarked: “son, we know where it is and what it means.” I have never made that boneheaded mistake again.
In the 1980s, another museum devoted to the amazing photography of Evelyn Cameron was established, in a historic building next to the museum.
The impressive preservation work already underway in Terry was not the only reason I liked Terry. It was a “double railroad” town, that still had its northern Pacific depot at the top of the “T” in the classic t-town plan found in some many Montana towns.
Then its county courthouse was one of the most unassuming public buildings in the state.
Plus there were two can’t miss heritage tourism experiences. The historic Kempton Hotel, a huge rambling, fascinating place is where I spent a night.
And I probably had too much to eat and drink at the local bar/cafe, Bud ‘n’ Bette’s. Bud and Bette Goplen owned and operated the place. Bud died in the 1990s but Bette kept it going until the end of the century. Not only were the pours generous and the beer cold, but they sold one of the best caramel rolls in the valley. And yes it did have prints of C.M. Russell paintings plastered along the walls and a fairly size-able Jim Beam decanter and bottle collection. What a place!
Little did I know that when I visited Terry in 1984, 1985, and 1988, it was during its height. Today the town’s and county’s population is about half of what it was in the 1980s.
The county courthouse has been modernized and enlarged while the Northern Pacific depot has been moved to the museum’s block.
Much had changed in the 20 years between visits in 1994 and 2014. When I had the chance to stop for a moment in 2026, I was concerned with the condition of the Northern Pacific caboose.
At the same time I was very happy to see the excellent condition of the early 20th century Terry school. It is a great building, so expressive of the founders’ hope for the town and county. 100 years ago.
I already noted in an earlier post the transformation of the hunters graveyard along old U.S. Highway 10–it is now one of the best interpreted sites along the Yellowstone River. Along the interpretive panels there is a short-distance walking trail with great views of the river plus you can easily see both the historic bridges over the Powder River at the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers.
And residents of Prairie County are not done. In partnership with the Montana History Foundation, the state historical society, and the county economic development office, they have added other markers about the deep history of this place in the Yellowstone valley.
Just wish I had a caramel roll from Bud ‘n’ Bette’s!
metal like Thunder jack in the Shields Valley on U.S. 89 north of Livingston. There’s always a wave and friendly greeting!
and consider those who have passed before with the many historical markers.
The vastness and diversity of the Big Sky Country is amazing, with so many bridges to
Beaverhead County Montana is huge–in its area it is bigger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, and is roughly the size of Connecticut. Within these vast boundaries in the southwest corner of Montana, less than 10,000 people live, as counted in the 2010 census. As this blog has previously documented, in a land of such vastness, transportation means a lot–and federal highways and the railroad are crucial corridors to understand the settlement history of Beaverhead County.
This post takes another look at the roads less traveled in Beaverhead County, such as Blacktail Creek Road in the county’s southern end. The road leads back into lakes and spectacular scenery framed by the Rocky Mountains.
But along the road you find historic buildings left behind as remnants of ranches now lost, or combined into even larger spreads in the hopes of making it all pay some day.
Birch Creek Road was shaped by the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s as the Corps carried out multiple projects in the national forest. This road has a logical destination–the historic Birch Creek C.C.C. Camp, which has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The University of Montana Western uses the property for outdoor education and as a conference center that is certainly away from everything.
In the early posts of this exploration of Montana’s historic landscape I spoke of the transformation that I encountered when I revisited Glendive, the seat of Dawson County, for the first time in about 25 years, of how local preservation efforts had kept most of the town’s railroad era landscapes alive while leading to the revitalization of its amazing number of historic residences from 1900 to 1950.
Let’s now turn our attention to public landmarks, old and more recent, that also deserve notice, starting with the magnificent Classical Revival-styled City Hall, one of the anchors of the Merrill Avenue historic district, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1914, this all-in-one municipal building is an impressive architectural
statement by the second generation of Glendale’s leaders that the town would grow and prosper during the homesteading boom of the first two decades of the 20th century. The architect was Brynjulf Rivenes of Miles City. His firm had so many commissions coming from eastern Montana and Yellowstone Valley patrons that by this time Rivenes operated offices in both Glendive and Miles City.
Rivenes had earlier marked Glendive’s new emerging townscape with his Gothic design for the First Methodist Church, in 1909. Fifteen years later, he added another landmark church design with the Romanesque styled Sacred Heart Catholic Church (1924-1925).
With recovery and the arrival of more and more automobile traffic from the late 1930s to the 1950s, many of the older buildings received mid-century updates. The remodels could
The 1950s and 1960s brought many changes to Glendive. Post World War Ii growth both in the town and the many surrounding ranches led to expansion and remodeling at the historic Glendive Milling Company in 1955. When the historic districts for Glendive were designated in the late 1980s, preservationists questioned the inclusion of this important industrial/agricultural complex due to the changes of the 1950s. Viewed today, however, the mill complex is clearly a very significant historic site.
More contemporary styled church buildings were also dedicated in the mid-century, such as the classic “contemporary” styling of the Assembly of God building, with classrooms at
at the front rather than the rear, or the modified A-frame style of the First Congregational Church, which I shared in an earlier post on Glendive.
Glendive is very much a blending of different 20th century architectural styles, reaching back into the region’s deep, deep past, as at Makoshika State Park, where the visitor
center/museum is an excellent example of late 20th century modern style–clearly a building of the present but one that complements, not overwhelms, the beauty of the park itself.
Conrad, the seat of Pondera County, is a railroad town, although the town’s close proximity to Interstate I-15 means that so many have forgotten the importance of this Great Northern Railway spur line that stretches from Shelby on the main line south to Great Falls.
The town’s 1920s Arts and Crafts/ Chalet style Great Northern passenger station, along with grain elevators, serve as a reminder of the railroad’s importance to transporting the grains from neighboring ranches.
Facing the depot is a combination symmetrical town, with one story brick buildings, several of them classic western bars, and then a block long T-plan that connects to the historic federal highway U.S. 87.
