On Feb. 2, 1989, temperatures plummeted to minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit as 49 runaway train cars barreled down Mullen Pass above Helena, Montan…
On Feb. 2, 1989, temperatures plummeted to minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit as 49 runaway train cars barreled down Mullen Pass above Helena, Montan…
Here’s what people are uncovering in Independent Record newspaper archives. Search our historical issues for obituaries, marriage and birth an…
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 o…
Take a look at the history behind Montana's statehouse, the Montana State Capitol, from its original (and abandoned) design, to its status tod…
Vintage postcards of mines from the past.
The "World Famous" Miles City Bucking Horse Sale has been an annual event since 1951, but was canceled in 2020 due to the global coronavirus p…
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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 …
Due to health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, Helena Public Schools has canceled the annual Vigilante Day Parade for the first time since…
Fifty years ago, much of old Helena south of Sixth Avenue was leveled in an effort to reinvigorate the downtown. People who remember urban ren…
With a $6,000 grant from the Montana History Foundation, the city of East Helena and the Montana Preservation Alliance are working to restore …
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 le…
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…
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 significa…
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 t…
Montana has had higher education opportunities since before it became a state. Some institutions have seen thousands of students graduate over…
In late 19th- and early 20th-century Helena, local stone was a favored construction material. Approximately one dozen quarries operated within…
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 th…
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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…
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 Sa…
The tragedy that unfolded on Aug. 5, 1949 in a remote gulch north of Helena stands as the smokejumpers’ deadliest day.
On Aug. 6, 1949, the U.S. Forest Service sent a recovery mission to the site of the Mann Gulch fire after tragedy struck the smokejumpers the …
Most historians might argue that we have a duty to remember the sacrifice, determination and courage of those who undertook particularly darin…
The months of May and June mark, among other annual celebrations, that rite of educational passage referred to as graduation.
Thomas Cruse, known as Tommy to his friends, was a stubborn Irishman who came to the Helena area in 1867. While he slept on the streets his fi…
