City of Livingston
Main Street 1914
Courtesy of Yellowstone Gateway Museum
Livingston, Montana was established, courtesy of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., in December, 1882.
Livingston's location was midway on the St. Paul, Minnesota to Tacoma, Washington line and, although it's doubtful railroad executives were aware of it, the place had been an important trail nexus for some 11,000 years.
City of Livingston
Main Street Today
South of Livingston lay Yellowstone National Park. The Northern Pacific Railroad would become a major player in popularizing the wonderland and Livingston, would become host to many of the nation's notables, and see tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world pass through on their way to Yellowstone National Park.
From its beginnings, Livingston was well planned with a built-in aura of respectability. Although its early years didn't entirely escape the boom and bust roughness of a frontier town, construction of the Northern Pacific's running repair shops and brick business buildings along Park Street left no doubt Livingston was to be a town of permanence.
City of Livingston
Park Street 1950's
Courtesy of Yellowstone Gateway Museum
The Livingston Depot complex was completed in 1902 and Northern Pacific's repair and maintenance shops became Livingston's primary work place. By the 1950's over 1100 workers were employed at the shops and Livingston's population peaked. During the next 30 years, the town's robust railroad economy began to fade. As automobiles and interstate highways overtook the reliance on rail travel, passenger service slipped from four trains a day to Amtrak to none.
City of Livingston
Park Street Today
The most enduring feature of the town, however, is its place on the Big Bend of the Yellowstone River and the outdoor ethic which has historically sustained it.
