NR Listed! 2025-2026
The following Montana properties have been approved and accepted by the Keeper for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Accepted nominations are included in Montana SHPO’s interactive map of NR properties and National Archives (https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/). Explore https://historicmt.org/ website and/or the SHPO blogsite to explore featured articles.
Listed in reverse chronological order. Summary and links to nomination forms are added as they become available.
2026
State Bank of Terry
PRAIRIE COUNTY, 101 S. Logan Avenue, Terry, SG100013305, LISTED, 8/3/2026
Missoula Downtown Historic District Addendum II, Northern Pacific Engine 1356
MISSOULA COUNTY, ACCEPTED
Mountain Brook School
FLATHEAD COUNTY, 2353 Foothill Road, Kalispell vicinity, SG100012817, LISTED, 3/16/2026
2025
Carpenter Paper Company
YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, 2019 Montana Avenue, Billings, SG100012486, LISTED, 12/29/2025
Billings First Congregational Church
YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, 310 North 27th Street, Billings, SG100012464, LISTED, 12/29/2025
Shy Brothers Mercantile
ROSEBUD COUNTY, 104 Main Street, Ashland, SG100012384, LISTED, 12/22/2025
Milk River Bridge
PHILLIPS COUNTY, Northside of Malta in Trafton Park, Malta vicinity, MP100012497, LISTED, 12/29/2025 (Montana's Historic Steel Truss Bridges)
Commercial District (Additional Documentation)
PARK COUNTY, Roughly bounded by Park, C, Clark, 3rd, and Callendar Sts., Livingston, AD79001409, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION APPROVED, 12/29/2025 (Livingston MRA)
Musselshell River Bridge
GOLDEN VALLEY COUNTY, Two miles east of Ryegate on Buffalo Trail, Ryegate vicinity, MP100012496, LISTED, 12/29/2025 (Montana's Historic Steel Truss Bridges)
Albright Historic District
CASCADE COUNTY, 38 Evans Riceville Road, Belt, RS100012017, LISTED, 11/14/2025
In 1894, William Albright started a limestone mine in the narrow confines of the Belt Creek Valley where it runs through present-day Sluice Boxes State Park. The history of gold, silver and copper mining in Montana overshadows that of non-precious metals mining, but the Albright Historic District is a rich resource for this underrecognized part of Montana’s industrial history.
The Montana Central Railway introduced a spur line that ran north through the Belt Creek Valley in 1891. A few years later, Albright started a limestone mining operation that took advantage of the spur line’s easy transport to the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company smelters in Great Falls.
The tiny town of Albright, also known as Limedale, grew to support the operation of the mine. A commissary, dorms, and private homes went in, and a rail stop and post office were built in 1898. By the next spring, the Great Falls Tribune reported that William Albright was loading 225 tons of limestone every day for the Boston and Montana Smelter.
Albright’s mining operations continued to expand while he, his employees and their families dealt with regular setbacks. Belt Creek flooded, destructive winds swooped down the canyon, and the 1918 flu wreaked havoc in the town of 200 people. Increased wartime production at the Great Falls smelter meant limestone extraction at Albright went into overdrive. Production peaked in 1920, with the number of employees and output both gradually decreasing over the next two decades.
Castle Rock Lodge
SILVER BOW COUNTY, 665 Little Basin Creek Rd, Butte, SG100011341, LISTED, 1/28/2025
The architectural centerpiece of the historic Girls Scout camp at Castle Rock, the Castle Rock Lodge sits at 6,000 feet in the Highland Mountains southwest of Butte. Castle Rock is only one of two remaining resident camps owned by the Girl Scouts in Montana (the other one being Timbercrest Camp outside Red Lodge).
Built in 1928, the lodge exhibits several key traits of vernacular rustic architecture, including exposed rafter tails, horizontal peeled logs, and a granite cobble foundation. Inside, the rustic mountain vibes continue into the open gathering room with exposed rafters and trusses. A kitchen sits on the main floor, and two split-log staircases access an upper loft.
The Girl Scouts established a Butte chapter in 1922, and in 1923 were donated the 100-acre parcel that would become Camp Castle Rock. Though plans for the lodge started almost immediately, funds had to be raised for its construction. In the meantime, other infrastructure went up, including a pool and tennis courts, and the Girl Scouts slept in tents when hanging out at their camp.
Once erected, the lodge hosted award ceremonies, classes, and holiday parties. By the early 1930s, annual attendance at summer camps exceeded 250, and Castle Rock was deemed one of the best-equipped Girl Scout camps in the country. The Girl Scouts continue to make use of the property today; 160 campers made their way to Castle Rock in 2023.
Farmers Trading Company
CARBON COUNTY, 120 South Main Street, Bridger, SG100011503, LISTED, 3/10/2025
One of three general stores that set up shop in the small town of Bridger, the Farmers Trading Company provided groceries and supplies to Bridger residents and to outlying ranches, farms, and mines. Built of sandstone in the Western Commercial style, this historic mercantile makes a strong visual statement on Bridger’s Main Street.
As the northern terminus of the Yellowstone Park Railway, Bridger sprung up from the landscape thanks to interest in William A. Clark’s nearby coal mine, settlement from the 1909 Enlarged Homestead Act, and the discovery of oil in the Clark Fork Valley in the 1920s. The townsite of Bridger itself was platted in 1902, but for the first few years, Main Street was lined with nothing more substantial than tents and wooden shacks.
When it opened on Christmas week in 1906, the Farmers Trading Company advertised itself as a purveyor of “general merchandise, dry goods, boots, shoes, hats, caps, and groceries.” Serving the small 500-person town of Bridger, Farmers Trading Company occupied the building until 1919. Between 1919 and 1961, a variety of home goods and grocery stores continued to occupy the storefront. Today, the building houses an art gallery.
Tags: Bridger, sandstone buildings, historic preservation, Montana history
Zortman Ranger Station Historic District
PHILLIPS COUNTY, Northwest End of Whitcomb Street, Zortman, SG100011723, LISTED, 4/28/2025
The Zortman Ranger Station Historic District consists of a building cluster at the end of Whitcomb street in Zortman (population 82), a once-bustling mining town in the Little Rocky Mountains south of Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Established in 1908, the Zortman Ranger Station was an administrative center of the Jefferson National Forest (today the Lewis & Clark National Forest) and galvanized local firefighting efforts in 1936 and the 1950s-1960s.
In 1908, the U.S. Department of Agriculture established a new national forest in central Montana. The Little Rockies, Little Belt, Snowy Mountain, and Highwood Mountains National Forests were all combined to create the Jefferson National Forest, which was made up of seven ranger districts and headquartered in Great Falls.
A district-level headquarters from 1908 to 1966, the Zortman Ranger Station consists of nine buildings, six of which are considered contributing resources to the historic district. Given the simplicity and roughness of their construction, it is likely that the buildings were already extant and simply repurposed by the Forest Service for federal use.
Only two contributing buildings remain standing: the office/bunkhouse, rehabbed by the Forest Service’s historic preservation team in 2010-2013 and still in possession of its historic windows and doors; and the storehouse, which sits northwest of the office/bunkhouse.
A wood flagpole, root cellar, outbuilding foundation, and the remains of the ranger dwelling round out the contributing resources that make this property eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Tags: Lewis & Clark National Forest, historic ranger station, central Montana
Gardiner Bridge
PARK COUNTY, Milepost 0.1 on U.S. Highway 89/Second Street, Gardiner, SG100011446, LISTED, 2/6/2025
For such an unassuming structure, the Gardiner Bridge has a surprisingly contentious history. Built in 1930 to accommodate increased auto traffic into Yellowstone National Park, the bridge effectively bypassed Roosevelt Arch on its way into the park, which provoked the ire of the National Park Service.
Spanning the Yellowstone River on Highway 89 (Second Street) in the small gateway town of Gardiner just north of Yellowstone National Park, the five-span Pratt deck truss bridge went up in 1930 after years of bickering between the National Park Service (NPS), the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), and the Montana State Highway Commission.
In 1928, BPR and the highway commission planned for the bridge to go in at its present location. The updated bridge would link the new highway on the east side of the Yellowstone River with Yellowstone National Park’s north entrance. A rickety trestle bridge already crossed the river at Second Street, but it was unfit for the amount of auto traffic that would pour down the Paradise Valley once the new highway cut through town.
Putting in a bigger bridge on Second Street would entail bypassing the park’s grand entrance at Roosevelt Arch, which since 1903 had welcomed rail and stagecoach passengers into Yellowstone in grand fashion—and therein, for NPS, lay the problem.
Agency chief Horace Albright protested the bridge’s proposed location on “aesthetic” grounds. He didn’t want to see the Roosevelt Arch overshadowed for the sake of motorists’ convenience. Everyone else took issue with Albright’s stance, including local business owners, but Albright held fast for two years, even suggesting a much more expensive alternative that involved a railroad underpass further downstream.
True to bureaucratic fashion, the matter resolved itself after an in-person meeting. To appease Albright, BPR and the highway commission pledged to landscape the approach to the Second Street bridge. They also promised to eventually put in a second crossing at Albright’s preferred location downstream. When you cross the Yellowstone River in Gardiner, you will notice no second bridge, as it was never built. The Gardiner Bridge was widened in 1975, but apart from that change, its appearance remains largely the same.
Tags: Gardiner, Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Horace Albright, Roosevelt Arch
Herbert Summer Cabin
PARK COUNTY, West Boulder tract, Big Timber vicinity, SG100012056, LISTED, 8/4/2025
Tucked into a clearing above the West Boulder River and crafted of logs and stone gathered from nearby, the off-the-grid Herbert Summer Cabin complex has been managed by only four owners over the last century. The 1935-built cabin and its four ancillary buildings hold historic significance for association with the development of New Deal period recreation residences in the former Absaroka National Forest (today the Custer Gallatin National Forest).
Believed to have been built by Norwegian carpenter Tostin “Tosti” Stenberg of Melville, Montana, the main cabin exhibits a vernacular style mimicked by the surrounding buildings. The stone chimney, saddle notching, screened porch, and red-painted half-logs that frame the windows all lend a rustic yet harmonious feel to the main cabin.
When photographer Charles Herbert and his wife Lucile chose their cabin location, they applied for a recreation residence special use permit through the Absaroka National Forest. The interwar surge in these permits was fueled by the New Deal-era investment recreational infrastructure across the National Forest system. While these projects focused on infrastructure that benefited the wider public, private homeowners benefited indirectly from increased access afforded by more numerous and improved roads.
Tags: Forest Service cabins, rec residences, recreational residences, Custer Gallatin National Forest, log cabin
Franklin School
CASCADE COUNTY, 820 1st Avenue SW, Great Falls, SG100012075, LISTED, 8/8/2025
Comprised of two side-by-side brick buildings in northwest Great Falls, Franklin Elementary School served the city for 75 years before being converted into low-income housing in 1989. Franklin School’s association with the Native American community at Hill 57 makes for a complex and fascinating history.
Franklin Elementary School started as a single building, when neighborhoods west of the Missouri River were booming. The north building of the current Franklin School complex, a restrained example of the Neoclassical Revival style, went up in 1910. Most students were children of European immigrants.
In 1916, another population boom spurred the construction of an annex to the south, connected to the original building by a second-floor hyphen. By the 1930s, a need for even more space compelled the school board to fund with Public Works Administration funds an addition to the 1916 annex.
Off-reservation (Landless) Native Americans unassociated with any federally-recognized tribe had by 1920 been driven to an undeveloped area within city limits known as Hill 57. Hill 57 constituted a tightknit community of Canadian Cree, Little Shell Chippewa, and Chief Rocky Boy’s Chippewa. The area lacked public utilities, and homes were made of found materials.
By 1929, Native children from Hill 57 were attending Franklin School, where they were segregated from the other students in the Indian Opportunity Room, deemed by the Indian Service the only school of its kind in the country. On top of a regular curriculum, students were trained in trades like dressmaking and carving.
Many white citizens in Great Falls took offense at Native American students attending the city’s established public schools, but grassroots efforts to establish a wholly-segregated school for Native students floundered.
By 1944, allegations of inequal treatment at Franklin School became public, with the Great Falls Tribune reporting that Native students were kept in separate classrooms, relegated to separate recesses, and received subpar instruction. The school district denied the allegations, and a congressional committee dismissed the allegations as a local and state problem rather than a federal matter. By 1951, segregated classrooms at Franklin School were reportedly nixed.
With the physical fabric of the neighborhood on Hill 57 long gone, Franklin School remains as one of the only remaining local buildings where the history of this community played out.
Tags: Public schools, Native American education, Hill 57, Neoclassical Revival, Public Works Administration, rehabilitation, adaptive reuse, low-income housing
The Bridges of Poindexter Slough Historic District
BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, Milepost 2.65-2.90 on Montana Secondary Highway 222, Dillon vicinity, SG100011992, LISTED, 7/7/2025
Built by the Montana Highway Department between 1929 and 1936, the bridges and highway segments of the Poindexter Slough Historic District exemplify the kind of “make work” projects funded during the Great Depression in Montana.
Spanning the Oregon Short Line Railroad and an overgrown channel of the Beaverhead River, the district comprises three historic bridges and two historic highway segments. All three bridges are of the T-beam style and built of reinforced concrete, with concrete abutments and concrete guardrail posts. Two of the bridges exhibit decorative endposts with bush-hammered grooves and panels typical of Art Deco architecture, while the third bridge displays simpler endposts with no ornamentation.
An active, paved segment of U.S. Highway 91 (Montana Secondary Highway 222) and an abandoned, dirt and gravel segment of U.S. Highway 91 round out the contributing structures in this district. The abandoned highway segment was incorporated by Fish, Wildlife & Parks into the design of the Poindexter Fishing Access Site in the 1990s.
The development of both the Poindexter Slough bridges and the current alignment of U.S. Highway 91 are owed to the Great Depression-era highway construction boom that “essentially brought Montana out of the mud” with a modern paved highway system.
Tags: Montana Highway Department, Great Depression, New Deal, historic bridges, historic roads, historic highways
Tags: NATIONAL REGISTER
