The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Billings, Montana, USA.
Prior to 20th century
edit- 1877 – Homesteaders arrive.[1]
- 1882
- March 24, 1882: Incorporation date of the Minnesota and Montana Land and Improvement Company.[2]
- First church established.
- Billings Depot built.
- Billings Herald newspaper begins publication.[3]
- Billings Cemetery established.
- 1883
- 1885 – Billings Daily Gazette newspaper begins publication.
- 1889 – Town becomes part of new State of Montana.
- 1891 – The Weekly Times newspaper begins publication.[3]
20th century
edit- 1901 – Public Library established.[5][6]
- 1902 – Billings and Northern Railroad in operation.[citation needed]
- 1903 – Moss Mansion (residence) built.
- 1904 – Northern Hotel in business.
- 1906 – Babcock Theater built.[7]
- 1908 – Billings Polytechnic founded.
- 1910
- Masonic Temple (Billings, Montana) built.
- Population: 10,031.
- 1912 – Billings and Central Montana Railway in operation.[citation needed]
- 1917 – Cereal Food Processor Building constructed.[citation needed]
- 1927 – Eastern Montana Normal School founded.
- 1928 – Billings Municipal Airport begins operating.[8]
- 1929 – Yale Oil refinery begins operating.[9]
- 1931 – Fox Theater opens.
- 1932 – Cobb Field baseball park opens.
- 1935 – Intermountain Union College relocated to Billings (approximate date).[citation needed]
- 1937 – Pictograph Cave excavation begins near city.
- 1940 – Billings Senior High School opens.
- 1944 – St. Patrick's High School established.
- 1947
- Rocky Mountain College established.
- Carter Oil Company refinery built near Billings.[10]
- 1948 – Billings Mustangs baseball team formed.
- 1950
- Billings Symphony Orchestra founded.
- Shrine Auditorium built.[citation needed]
- Population: 31,834.
- 1953 – Billings Studio Theater company founded.
- 1957 – Yellowstone County Courthouse built.
- 1958 – June 2: Tornado.
- 1959 – Billings West High School established.
- 1962 – Kampgrounds of America headquartered in Billings.
- 1964 – Yellowstone Art Center opens.
- 1969 – Billings Vocational-Technical Education Center (BVTC) opens.
- 1971 – Western Heritage Center opens.
- 1974 – Sage Tower built.
- 1975
- Montana Entertainment Trade and Recreation Arena opens.
- Granite Tower built.
- Rimrock Mall in business.
- 1977 – Norwest Bank built.
- 1980
- Sheraton Hotel built.
- City covered in ash from 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
- Population: 66,798.
- 1982 – Rocky Plaza condos built.
- 1985 – First Interstate Center built.
- 1986 – Flag of Billings, Montana design adopted.
- 1987 – Skyview High School established.
- 1988 – City filled with smoke from Yellowstone fires of 1988.
- 1990 – Population: 81,151.[11]
- 1992 – December 18: Airplane crash.[12]
- 1993
- Billings Bulls ice hockey team formed.
- Community members protest antisemitism, launching the Not In Our Town movement.
- 1994
- Montana Women's Prison in operation.[13]
- Eastern Montana College and the Vocational-Technical Education Center become Montana State University Billings.
- 1995 – ZooMontana opens.
- 1996 – Charles Tooley becomes mayor.[14]
- 1999
- Four Dances Natural Area acquired by US Bureau of Land Management.[15]
- City website online.[16]
- Mormon Temple dedicated.
21st century
edit- 2000 – Population: 89,847.
- 2002 – Skypoint awning/sculpture installed.[17]
- 2007 – Billings Dharma Center dedicated.[18]
- 2008 – Dehler Park (stadium) opens.
- 2009
- Magic City Rollers roller derby league formed.[19]
- Tom Hanel becomes mayor.[20]
- 2010
- June 20: 2010 Billings tornado.[21]
- Population: 104,170.
- 2011 – July: Oil pipeline bursts near city.[22]
- 2012
- New federal courthouse built.[23]
- Northern Hotel reopens.
- 2014 – New public library built.[24]
- 2017 – Bill Cole becomes mayor.
- 2020 – Population: 117,116.
- 2022 – Shrine Auditorium reopens as the Eagle Seeker Community Center.[25]
- 2023 – Rocky Vista University Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine opens.[26]
- 2024
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Wishart 2004.
- ^ "Minnesota and Montana Land and Improvement Company". opencorporates.com. OpenCorporates. 31 March 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- ^ a b "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ Campbell 1915.
- ^ "Parmly Billings Library". City of Billings. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ American Library Annual, 1917–1918. New York: R.R. Bowker Co. 1918. pp. 7 v.
- ^ "Historic Theatre Inventory". Maryland, US: League of Historic American Theatres. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "City of Billings Logan International Airport". City of Billings. Archived from the original on February 13, 2001.
- ^ "Yale Oil of South Dakota – Billings Facility". Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "ExxonMobil Billings Refinery" (PDF). ExxonMobil. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Billings". Billings Gazette. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000.
- ^ "Small Jet Crashes in Montana". New York Times. December 19, 1992.
- ^ "Montana Women's Prison". Montana Department of Corrections. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Mayor". City of Billings. Archived from the original on September 2, 2000.
- ^ "Four Dances". United States Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on June 16, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Welcome to Billings Montana". Archived from the original on 1999-01-25 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
- ^ Ednor Therriault (2010), Montana Curiosities, Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press
- ^ Pluralism Project. "Billings, Montana". Directory of Religious Centers. Harvard University. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
- ^ "Magic City Rollers". Billings, MT. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Meet the Mayors". Washington, DC: United States Conference of Mayors. Archived from the original on June 27, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Tornado Tears Through City in Montana". New York Times. June 20, 2010.
- ^ "Ruptured Montana Pipeline Was Shut Down Before". New York Times. July 3, 2011.
Exxon Mobil pipeline
- ^ "Montana Courthouse Dedicated". United States Courts. September 27, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ^ Fong, Stella (2014). "Turning the Page with the New Billings Public Library". Yellowstone Valley Woman. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ^ Nile, Amy (March 10, 2024). "Native American Development Corporation launches $33M expansion project in Billings". Billings Gazette. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ^ Pyburn, Evelyn (February 7, 2023). "Rocky Vista Begins Classes". Big Sky Business Journal. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ^ "Billings celebrates opening of Inner Belt Loop/Skyway Drive connecting Heights and West End". Q2 News. June 7, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
- ^ Conlon, Casey (April 19, 2024). "Billings-Logan Airport completes terminal expansion; will it attract passengers?". Q2 News. Scripps Media. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
Bibliography
edit- "(Billings)", Official Northern Pacific Railway Guide, St. Paul, Minn.: W.C. Riley, 1899
- "Billings, Montana". National Magazine. Boston. November 1905.
- Marius R. Campbell (1915), "Billings", Guidebook of the Western United States: Northern Pacific Route, U.S. Government Printing Office
- Federal Writers' Project (1939). "Billings". Montana: a State Guide Book. American Guide Series. NY: Viking Press. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005748036.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) + Chronology
- Kliewer, Waldo O. "The Foundations of Billings, Montana." Pacific Northwest Quarterly 31.3 (1940): 255–283. online
- Van West, Carroll. Capitalism on the frontier: Billings and the Yellowstone Valley in the nineteenth century (U of Nebraska Press, 1993) online.
- George Thomas Kurian (1994), "Billings, Montana", World Encyclopedia of Cities, vol. 1: North America, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, OL 1431653M (fulltext via Open Library)
- David J. Wishart, ed. (2004). "Cities and Towns: Billings, Montana". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7.
- Hardt, Mark D. "The Emergence of a Competitive Core: Bifurcation Dynamics in Billings, Montana." in Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities (2013).
External links
editWikimedia Commons has media related to Billings, Montana.
- Items related to Billings, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).
- Materials related to Billings, various dates (via US Library of Congress, Prints & Photos Division).