The "World Famous" Miles City Bucking Horse Sale starts Thursday. It was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out these photos from the 1978 sale, when Billings Gazette photographer Larry Mayer covered the event.
Seven groups asked the U.S. Board of Geographic Names on Tuesday to rename three geographic places in Montana now named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederated States of America during the Civil War, and change them in honor of Indigenous people and Chinese immigrants.
On Feb. 2, 1989, temperatures plummeted to minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit as 49 runaway train cars barreled down Mullen Pass above Helena, Montana. The runaway cars crashed into another train just outside Carroll College, causing two explosions that forced evacuations of nearby residents and le…
On Feb. 2, 1989, temperatures plummeted to minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit as 49 runaway train cars barreled down Mullen Pass above Helena, Montana. The runaway cars crashed into another train just outside Carroll College, causing two explosions that forced evacuations of nearby residents and le…
Here’s what people are uncovering in Independent Record newspaper archives. Search our historical issues for obituaries, marriage and birth announcements, social pages and local sports. To see more and subscribe, visit https://helenair.com/archives.
Copper King William A. Clark established the Gardens in 1899 for the miners and city that helped feed his fortune. The park grew to 68 acres and entertained countless people before its closure in the 1970s.
Copper King William A. Clark established the Gardens in 1899 for the miners and city that helped feed his fortune. The park grew to 68 acres over the years and the carousel was added in 1923.
Take a look at the history behind Montana's statehouse, the Montana State Capitol, from its original (and abandoned) design, to its status today as one of the state's iconic symbols.
Vintage postcards of mines from the past.
Just a few years before Billings became the "Magic City," another town served as the area's commercial hub. Coulson was a riverboat town that sat right next to the Yellowstone River near what is today Coulson Park.
Due to health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, Helena Public Schools has canceled the annual Vigilante Day Parade for the first time since World War II.
Fifty years ago, much of old Helena south of Sixth Avenue was leveled in an effort to reinvigorate the downtown. People who remember urban renewal often start by talking of the Marlow, the old movie theater that was demolished so Broadway could connect to Park. Tony Henfrey starts instead wi…
With a $6,000 grant from the Montana History Foundation, the city of East Helena and the Montana Preservation Alliance are working to restore and display the historic Star of David windows from the smelter that was once a defining feature of the community.
Aug. 26, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, a milestone in equality that granted women the right to vote on a national level. In 2014, Montana celebrated its 100th anniversary of giving women the franchise and much was presented then about the state’s story. In honor of …
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. As we celebrate this milestone for equality in our country, we remember the courage and persistence of Montana’s women in their determination to give women the ballot.
On tap at the Montana Historical Society is a new exhibit tracing the state’s long history of brewing beer.
Helena’s historic Westside neighborhood is unique among Montana’s cities. Helena arguably has the highest density of architecturally significant homes clustered in one neighborhood. In addition to beautiful homes, the neighborhood features historic Western Clay brick sidewalks (manufactured …
The iconic Fire Tower on the crest of Tower Hill has stood watch over downtown Helena for 145 years. The existing fire tower is actually the third in a series of fire watch towers that have guarded the Gulch since the late 1860s. The current tower was originally constructed in 1874 at a cost…
Montana has had higher education opportunities since before it became a state. Some institutions have seen thousands of students graduate over the years, while some just aren't what they used to be. Check out some Montana colleges that won't be appearing on any more diplomas...at least, not …
In late 19th- and early 20th-century Helena, local stone was a favored construction material. Approximately one dozen quarries operated within a 15-mile radius of downtown, yielding marble, siltstone, rhyolitic breccia, granite, porphyritic granodiorite and limestone, among others. Some of H…
A few Helena Public School classes marked the city's first official Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday.
Among Helena’s most notable events are the great earthquakes that occurred on Oct. 18 and Oct. 31 of 1935. Those who grew up in Helena know the story well and some even remember the logistics of where they were, what they experienced, and how the Helena community came together in the afterma…
The Montana Historical Society’s newest exhibit takes visitors back 10,000 years and more to the time of mammoths, short faced bears and North America’s earliest people.
In late July of 1978, while Norman MacLean was doing research for his book "Young Men and Fire," he organized a trip to Mann Gulch with Bob Sallee and Walter Rumsey, the only remaining survivors of the Mann Gulch fire at the time. It was to be the first time the survivors would revisit the s…
The tragedy that unfolded on Aug. 5, 1949 in a remote gulch north of Helena stands as the smokejumpers’ deadliest day.