49. Park County

Created from neighboring Gallatin County (# 6) on February 23rd, 1887, Park County was present for Montana's admission as the 41st state in 1889.  On March 1st, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Congressionally passed law creating the world's first national park, Yellowstone.  While most of the park is in the state of Wyoming, three of the park's entrances are in Montana, and two are in Park County (the North Entrance at Gardiner and the Northeast Entrance west of Cooke City).  Park County is one of twenty-two counties/parishes in the United States to share a border with a similarly named county in another state.  Park County, Wyoming is on the other side of the state line.  The county officially added almost 147 square miles in 1997 when that part of Yellowstone located in Montana was transferred to the jurisdiction of Park and Gallatin Counties.  Prior to that, the park itself handled county functions within the park's boundaries.  Today, Park County covers 2,813 square miles, laid out in a mostly north-south rectangle, and counts 15,682 people as residents (2013 census estimate).  This number is slightly smaller than the 2000 Census and in a growth pattern unusual in Montana, Park County has grown in population steadily since its formation.  The 1890 Census showed 6,881 county residents which increased to 15,694 in 2000.  Only in three decennial census counts has the number dropped, most drastically in 1970, which showed a 15% decrease from the 1960 count.  I have been unable to ascertain just what happened.  The Summary Report on Land Use Priorities and Possibilities, submitted on November 19, 2014, gives one possible hint on page 36 where the people of Clyde Park noted that at that time (1960s and 70s), "Cattle market went to hell- people who had borrowed money- lost due to low cattle prices."  But I doubt that would account for nearly 2,000 people leaving the county.

The Northern Pacific Railway reached what is now Park County in 1882, building a station and plotting the town that would become Livingston.  The name comes from a Northern Pacific director, Johnston Livingston.  As a side note, Livingston the man partnered with William G. Fargo and Henry Wells in the building of not only Wells-Fargo but also American Express.  The biographical article written by Sylvie R. Griffiths, linked above, makes no mention of either Livingston, Montana nor the Northern Pacific Railway, unfortunately, but is a fascinating read, none-the-less.

The City-County Complex

Livingston, Montana

October 4th, 2009

Straddling the Yellowstone River, Livingston has always been the Seat of Park County.  Meriwether Lewis camped near here on his way back from the coast in 1806.  A trading post named Benson's Landing sprang up along the river bank, a location the railroad renamed Clark City and then Livingston.  The town grew quickly as the railroad built a major repair facility next to the depot.  The depot itself dates from 1902 and was designed by the same firm that designed New York's Grand Central Station. Passenger trains no longer follow the southern route across Montana; Burlington Northern, Northern Pacific's successor closed the shops in 1986; and the Depot now houses a museum dedicated to the rail history of the area.  It also serves as the starting point for a walking tour of Livingston's historic downtown, an area that has more buildings on the National Register of Historic Places than many much larger cities--at least on a per capita basis.  The city is small enough that you can easily walk through the historic business and residential areas, or in the summer, you can catch a yellow Yellowstone Park bus and take a tour of historic Livingston.  Brad Bunkers has put together a good website called GoLivingston with the stories of many of the historic buildings in town.

Roosevelt Arch, Northern Entrance to Yellowstone National Park

Gardiner, Montana

October 4th, 2009

Since Yellowstone Park predates both Livingston and Park County, the railroad quickly capitalized on the scenic attraction by building a spur line from Livingston to the northern entrance to the Park at Gardiner.  Livingston thus became the first portal to the park and over the years a good number of tourists have passed through the city on their way to Yellowstone.  More than a few have chosen to stay either in the town itself, or in the Paradise Valley that connects Livingston and Gardiner, some 54 miles south.  Peter Fonda, son of Henry and brother of Jane, is perhaps one of the most famous residents of the valley, but many other well-known actors, singers, writers and artists have called the area home, at least for a short while.  There is probably no place less like Key West than Livingston, Montana, but Jimmy Buffett has written several songs about the area, not just "Livingston Saturday Night."  Thanks to all the creative energy, Livingston today is home to a lively arts scene.

U.S. Highway 89 heading south toward Yellowstone Park

Paradise Valley, Montana

October 4th, 2009

Perhaps the most controversial residents of the Paradise Valley were the followers of Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT).  While the movement, cult if you like, got its start decades earlier, and had its roots in Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy, the I AM movement, and even Christian Science, Prophet brought her faith and her followers to the Paradise Valley in 1986, saying that the Montana landscape was perfect for creating "the environment of your soul."  When Prophet sent out the word that the Soviet Union was about to launch a nuclear war against the United States, some 3,000 CUT adherents moved into the group's townships with their stockpiles of weapons and large fallout shelters.  Prophet died in 2009, and the group has dwindled in her absence, but the homes, shelters and communities still remain in the hills of southern Park County.

North of Livingston stretches the Shields River Valley, a productive agricultural area and home to the towns of Clyde Park and Wilsall.  Other than Livingston, Clyde Park is the only incorporated town in the county.  On a personal note, Clyde Park is home to my only blood relatives in Montana, the daughter of my mother's cousin Floyd Stephens, who followed my parents to Montana and served as a Methodist minister in various parishes across the state.  Clyde Park was quite a change from Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Floyd's seventeen year old daughter was not happy at first, giving up the city for rural life.  I suspect that it was very hard to make such a move during the summer before your senior year in high school, but apparently she got over it, as all these years later she still lives in Clyde Park and her son, Mark Hoffman, owns Crazy Mountain Motorsports there, building high end snowmobiles that are sold all over the world.

The Shields River Valley with the Crazy Mountains in the background

Wilsall, Montana

August 30th, 2011