Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Barry Swackhamer
Taken: September 15, 2020
Caption: How the Railroad Shaped Our Town Marker
Additional Description: Captions: (middle right) Evidence of the railroads overlapping section lines is still seen in downtown Billings. Highlighted in red are the original section lines given to the Railroad. Grand Avenue is the baseline of survey. Division Street is the southwestern edge, and State Avenue is the southern section line. Note how the rail line cuts through the center of these two sections.; (lower left) Portrait of our town's namesake, Frederick Billings. A native of Woodstock, Vermont, Billings was the Northern Pacific Railway president from 1879-1881.; (lower center) An early map of Billings with designated subdivisions. At Billings' founding in 1882, it was located in Custer County and Montana was still a territory. Yellowstone County was formed a year later in February of 1883 and Montana became a state in 1889.; (lower right) The Headquarters Hotel, served as Billings' first depot. It was located on Montana Avenue and 28th Street North, later renamed North Broadway. The Headquarters Hotel served Billings from 1882 until a fire destroyed it in 1891.
Submitted: March 5, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p571640
File Size: 3.183 Megabytes

To see the metadata that may be embedded in this photo, sign in and then return to this page.