On State Highway 59 at milepost 30 at Powderville Road, on the left when traveling south on State Highway 59.
A small community, called Beebe, once existed in this remote, sparsely settled country. It owed its existence to A. J. Maxwell, owner of the Deadwood Stage Line. Maxwell established a stage station here where the Simonson-Patterson Cattle Company . . . — — Map (db m202900) HM
On Jail House Lane near North 1, on the right when traveling south.
Ismay’s bustling business, wicked ways, and itinerant population of cowboys and railroad men earned it the nickname “Little Chicago.” This town, born with the construction of the Milwaukee Road across Montana, began in 1908 with the name . . . — — Map (db m164230) HM
On Whitney Creek Road at Ismay Road, on the right when traveling east on Whitney Creek Road.
On the Bismarck-Ft Keogh Trail, at various time periods trail was known as Sandstone Bismarck - Ft Keogh Ft Lincoln - Ft Keogh Army Trail during 1879 - 1881
(?) 1873 by civilian freighters and used until the building of Northern Pacific R.R. and . . . — — Map (db m164543) HM
On U.S. 12 near Powder River Road, on the left when traveling east.
This is the river that many claim is a mile wide, an inch deep, and runs uphill. That statement may be exaggerated, but Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition commented on its color and called it "disagreeably muddy." Clark named it the . . . — — Map (db m164270) HM
On Palmer Street at North 10th Street, on the left when traveling east on Palmer Street.
E. H. Johnson, state legislator and Miles City’s first mayor, built this impressive modified Queen Anne style home in 1887. Attributed to Miles City architect Byron Vreeland, the irregular plan originally featured an elaborate arched porch and an . . . — — Map (db m164045) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near South Jordan Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
High maintenance steam engines required railroads to locate large repair shops every two hundred miles. After the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad chose Miles City for a division point in 1907, the town grew rapidly. Population . . . — — Map (db m164145) HM
Near Cemetery Road, 0.2 miles west of Frontage Road (State Highway 59), on the right when traveling west.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, . . . — — Map (db m202899) HM WM
On Palmer Street at North 11th Street, on the left when traveling east on Palmer Street.
Nannie Alderson came to Montana from Kansas with her husband Walt in 1883. They operated a cattle ranch for a decade but moved to Miles City in 1893 so their children could attend school. In 1895, Walt died from head injuries after he was kicked by . . . — — Map (db m164048) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near North Strevell Avenue, on the left when traveling east.
Real estate speculation abounded in the East Main district when carpenter Ernest Anderson built this lovely one- and-a-half-story bungalow in 1916. Its large front porch, supported by heavy, tapered columns, and its low- pitched roofs with . . . — — Map (db m164150) HM
On Pleasant Street at North 10th Street, on the right when traveling east on Pleasant Street.
This gracious, historic residential neighborhood illustrates Miles City's prosperity as it evolved from a frontier town into the livestock, transportation, commercial, and governmental hub of eastern Montana. Businessmen and community leaders built . . . — — Map (db m164093) HM
On South 8th Street at Bridge Street, on the right when traveling south on South 8th Street.
The transformation of Miles City in the early 1900s into the economic, social, and governmental center of the valley precipitated the decision to build a permanent city hall. Ed Arnold, tailor and businessman, became one of the motivating forces . . . — — Map (db m164043) HM
On M (State Highway 59) near South Strevell Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
The steamer Far West carried Irish immigrant James Coleman to Fort Keogh in 1876. After working for the army sutler, Coleman moved into Miles City, where he managed a saloon frequented by army regulars. In 1882, he married his Irish bride, Margaret . . . — — Map (db m164146) HM
On Main Street near North 5th Street, on the left when traveling east.
The I. Orschel and Brothers clothing firm first located on this site in 1878 in a small wood-frame building. Following a disastrous fire that leveled much of the block, local businessmen formed a syndicate to build this four-part commercial building . . . — — Map (db m163978) HM
On Main Street near North Cottage Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
Hardware store owner, banker, and real estate developer George Miles, nephew of Colonel Nelson A. Miles, hired a contractor to build this hipped-roof cottage around 1910. Following completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad . . . — — Map (db m164215) HM
On Water Plant Road near Logan Drive, on the left when traveling north.
Custer's first encounter with the Lakota occurred on August 4, 1873 near the confluence of themTongue River, At this time, the Seventh Cavalry was assigned to Colonel David Stanley's command to protect Northern Pacific railroad surveyors operating . . . — — Map (db m189166) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) at North Merriam Avenue, on the left when traveling east on Main Street.
A sophisticated blend of Classical elements characterizes this intimately elegant residence that, despite its modest size, easily rivals the district’s grander “high style” homes. Built in 1907, the residence was then “out in the country,” its . . . — — Map (db m164168) HM
On Main Street (Business Interstate 94) near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
Dr. Robert G. Redd served as an army surgeon at Fort Keogh in the 1870s. Redd resigned in 1881 to assume a private practice. He served as county physician, coroner, and surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad as well as mayor from 1889 to 1900. He . . . — — Map (db m163878) HM
On Main Street near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
By late 1880s breeders in the Miles City area produced cow ponies, saddle horses, cavalry mounts, carriage horses, draft animals for farming and freighting, some polo ponies, and race horses.
In 1883, the Custer County Assessor estimated . . . — — Map (db m163879) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near North Winchester Avenue, on the left when traveling east.
Wealthy Miles City residents looked to the undeveloped area east of the Northern Pacific tracks to build their homes in the early twentieth century. Among them were Ed and Doris Love who had this Prairie Style home constructed in 1916. Its bands of . . . — — Map (db m164149) HM
On North 11th Street at Palmer Street, on the right when traveling north on North 11th Street.
An eclectic blend of Romanesque, Gothic, and Queen Anne architectural styles, this 1886 church survives as designer Byron Vreeland’s most significant building in Montana. Vreeland blended these styles as his architectural signature in many of his . . . — — Map (db m164049) HM
On Main Street (Business Interstate 94) at North Montana Avenue, on the left when traveling east on Main Street.
Charter members George and Helen Miles bestowed this land on the church in 1882. Since that time the First Presbyterian Church has occupied this space. Church trustees met in 1911 to discuss the construction of a larger $30,000-$40,000 church. . . . — — Map (db m164116) HM
Following the defeat of General Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at Little High Horn on June 25, 1876, Congress appropriated $200,000 to establish two forts in Montana Territory. The U.S. Army selected one site along the Tongue River, a mile and a . . . — — Map (db m164231) HM
On Main Street (Highway 59) near South Custer Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
This American foursquare style home appears to have been designed by prominent architect Brynjulf Rivenes. Built between 1910 and 1914 for businessman George Foster, its compact simplicity is an elegant, individual statement of the prosperity Miles . . . — — Map (db m164119) HM
Born in Wisconsin, Al Furstnow settled permanently in Miles City in 1894 and became the major saddler in the northwest. In 1895, Furstnow commissioned Byron Vreeland to build this Queen Anne style home, unusual because the architect usually designed . . . — — Map (db m164091) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) at South Lake Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Main Street.
Cabinet and furniture makers also made caskets, and so the two businesses often went hand in hand. Furniture dealer James E. Graves purchased H. C. Plimpton’s long-established furniture and undertaking business in the 1920s. In 1929, Graves moved . . . — — Map (db m164118) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near South Jordan Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
The stylistic versatility of architect Brynjulf Rivenes is well demonstrated in this distinguished home built for Miles City businessman Harry J. Horton. The simple foursquare plan combines wide eaves, a low hipped roof, and massive brick pillars, . . . — — Map (db m164121) HM
In the 1880, railroad company promotional campaigns lured farmers to Eastern Montana. They arrived with the idea of transforming the planes into rich fields of grain. However big wheat yields did not last long. The drought and dust storms of 1919 . . . — — Map (db m164404) HM
You stand about 500 miles from where the Yellowstone's 670-mile journey begins from its headwater in Yellowstone National Park to the confluence with the Missouri River. The last of America's free flowing rivers, the Yellowstone drains 70,100 square . . . — — Map (db m164403) HM
On North Jordan Avenue near Clark Street, on the right when traveling north.
A converted two-story house served as the county hospital in 1907, a year before the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad arrived in Miles City. With encouragement from the railroad, which needed a place to treat injured workers, the . . . — — Map (db m164171) HM
The New Deal’s National Recovery Administration provided funds for the construction of several significant buildings at the fort in the 1930s. These included a dairy barn, milk house, cattle sheds, and this large horse barn. Designed and built in . . . — — Map (db m164265) HM
On Main Street (Business Interstate 94) near South 8th Street, on the right when traveling east.
The Jackson Block’s spare façade bears witness to those watchwords of modern architecture, “form follows function.” The two-story building suggests ways that urban architectural trends were translated and adapted in small communities. Its main . . . — — Map (db m164044) HM
On Pleasant Street at North 9th Street, on the left when traveling east on Pleasant Street.
Complex rooflines and decorative details define this wood-frame residence. Particularly noteworthy are the ornamental bargeboards fastened to the roofline and the unique bull’s-eye pattern decorating the front gable. Other details include windows . . . — — Map (db m164095) HM
On North Cottage Grove Avenue near Main Street, on the left when traveling north.
Sometimes called “labor’s aristocracy,” locomotive engineers were the highest paid workers on the railroad. That fact gave William Kelly, an engineer for the Milwaukee Road, the means to purchase this one-story home. In 1920 he lived here with his . . . — — Map (db m164172) HM
On Main Street (Business Highway 94) near South 6th Street, on the right when traveling east.
This popular gathering place, one of Miles City’s oldest established businesses, has been proclaimed by connoisseurs the perfect bar. Originally a saloon (1893), then a fine saddlery (1900-1907), businessman James Kenney purchased the property in . . . — — Map (db m163980) HM
On North 11th Street near Palmer Street, on the right when traveling north.
The end of the 1880s witnessed development of Miles City’s north side, with expensive homes being built on generous tracts of land. As land became scarce, parcels were carved from spacious lawns and working families became the neighbors of prominent . . . — — Map (db m164090) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) at South Stacy Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Main Street.
Built for C. N. and Louise E. Lukes in 1911, the home is also known as the Ed Love House. Lukes was cashier of the Commercial State Bank and after the deaths of C. N. and Louise in 1929, ownership passed to their daughter, Doris Lukes Love, and her . . . — — Map (db m164148) HM
On Palmer Street near North 11th Street, on the left when traveling east.
Nestled amidst grand Queen Anne style houses is this early folk residence. The wooden home, constructed for Scottish immigrant John McAusland, appears on an 1883 bird’s-eye map of Miles City. A steeply pitched side-gable roof and a small dormer . . . — — Map (db m164046) HM
On North 11th Street at Pleasant Street, on the right when traveling north on North 11th Street.
In 1910, the Methodists hired a New York fundraising firm to raise funds for a new, larger church to replace the 1883 building. The growing congregation raised $14,000 and neighbor C. J. Wagenbreth donated the needed capital to complete the project, . . . — — Map (db m164092) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near South Jordan Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
The development of this elegant residential neighborhood reflects Miles City's second growth spurt in the early twentieth century. Although the population of this "cowtown" waned between 1890 and 1905, the advent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. . . . — — Map (db m164120) HM
On Main Street (Business Interstate 94) near South 6th Street, on the right when traveling east.
The Main Street historic district reveals Miles City’s major growth periods of 1882-1887, 1905-1920, and 1935- 1940. The first of these began with the arrival of the Northern Pacific in 1881, when imposing brick business blocks began to replace the . . . — — Map (db m163979) HM
On Main Street near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
In 1889 Evelyn Cameron (1886-1928) and husband, Ewen came from England and a privileged life to settle on various ranches near Terry, Montana. Evelyn documented life in eastern Montana both in her diaries and in her photographs. She . . . — — Map (db m163969) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) near South Custer Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
A low-pitched hipped roof, an asymmetrical open front porch with massive square porch supports, clean lines, and wide overhanging eaves mark the two-story Pope residence as a classic example of the Prairie style. Builder Thomas Burton clad the . . . — — Map (db m164117) HM
On U.S. 12, 24 miles east of U.S. I-94, on the left when traveling east.
This is the river that exuberant parties claim is a mile wide, an inch deep, and runs up hill. The statement is exaggerated. Captain Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, named it the Redstone in 1806 and afterwards found out that the Indians . . . — — Map (db m155578) HM
Breaking and training thousands of horses at Fort Keogh for the U.S. military and Allied French and British forces was crucial during World War I because of the military’s reliance on horse-drawn transportation. This two-story mess hall served . . . — — Map (db m164233) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) at North Jordan Avenue, on the left when traveling east on Main Street.
Nature, comfort, simplicity, honesty, and integrity were ideals incorporated into early-twentieth-century architecture. This Craftsman style bungalow is an exceptional expression of those ideals. Its compact floorplan and modestly adorned exterior . . . — — Map (db m164169) HM
Near Main Street near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
Before there was a Miles City, before there were railroads or even crude trails, there were the rivers. And the mighty Yellowstone would, for a few years, serve as the highway that brought people and their necessities to Miles City. Perhaps the best . . . — — Map (db m163971) HM
On Main Street (State Highway 59) at South Strevell Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Main Street.
Determined to bring the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad to Miles City, land developer, cattleman, and banker Lorenzo Stacy organized his fellow businessmen to secure and donate property for the railroad’s right-of- way. In 1908, the . . . — — Map (db m164147) HM
On Main Street near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
By the 1920s the horse industry was thriving in eastern Montana. "There were horses on every knoll and hill in sight." In the 1930s the Great Depression combined with drought drove people to abandon their farms and ranches, turning lose (sic) their . . . — — Map (db m163880) HM
On Main Street near South 5th Street, on the right when traveling east.
The modern day horse found its way to the Americas on Spanish ships around 1680, landing on Mexican shores. Some horses escaped the Conquistadors, and Native Americans quickly discovered the utility of the horse. The Plains Indians became experts at . . . — — Map (db m163882) HM
On Main Street at North 5th Street, on the left when traveling east on Main Street.
Since the 1880s, Miles City has been the trade, service, and social center for Eastern Montana ranchers. After its famed McQueen House burned down, town booster Joseph Leighton built the Leighton, 1898-1899, which became an area landmark. Within a . . . — — Map (db m163974) HM
On Business Interstate 94 near Garryowen Road, on the right when traveling south.
Captain Wm. Clark and ten others camped near the mouth of the Tongue River on July 29, 1806. Clark noted the great number of buffalo in the area and reported that the river was so muddy and warm that it was "very disagreeable to drink." Clark . . . — — Map (db m163877) HM
On South Strevell Avenue at Stower Street, on the right when traveling north on South Strevell Avenue.
Armed with a degree from the Ontario Business College, Canadian-born Thomas Shore arrived in Miles City in 1896. He and former cowboy Wirt Newcom formed a partnership and opened a department store on Main Street in 1900. The store flourished, . . . — — Map (db m164174) HM
On Pleasant Street at North 10th Street, on the left when traveling east on Pleasant Street.
The elegance of this magnificent Neoclassical style mansion belies the humble roots of its first owner, George H. Ulmer, the Pennsylvania-born son of a German immigrant. Ulmer came to Miles City in 1883, and by 1889 partners George Miles and Charles . . . — — Map (db m164094) HM
On South Lake Street (Avenue) at Dickinson Street, on the right when traveling north on South Lake Street (Avenue).
Log cabins and canvas tents lined Miles City’s Main Street when Walrond Snell and William Ladd opened their crockery business in the late 1870s. Snell sold his interests in 1883, returning to his native England to marry his sweetheart, Elizabeth . . . — — Map (db m164173) HM
Hundreds of military and civilian residents at Fort Keogh made the fort’s water supply a primary concern. By 1879, two thousand feet of pipe had been laid and seven cisterns installed. A converted boiler pumped water from the Yellowstone River for . . . — — Map (db m164264) HM
D. J. O’Malley grew up living at frontier forts because his step-father served in the 19th Infantry. He lived at Fort Keogh, near Miles City, for five years before going to work in 1882 at age 16 for the Home Land and Cattle Co. (N-Bar-N) for $45 a . . . — — Map (db m155046) HM
