Alberton is a town in
Mineral County,
Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
, United States. The population was 452 at the
2020 census.
History
A post office called Alberton has been in operation since 1909. The town was named for Albert J. Earling, president of the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.
On April 11, 1996, a
Montana Rail Link
Montana Rail Link (now operated by BNSF as the MRL Subdivision) was a privately held Class II railroad in the United States. It operated on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor BNSF Railway. ...
train carrying
chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...
derailed near Alberton.
350 people were injured by
chlorine inhalation. 1,000 people were evacuated from Alberton and from Frenchtown.
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...
was shut down for nineteen days. The incident has been described as the largest chemical spill from a train in United States history.
Geography
Alberton is located in eastern Mineral County on
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...
at exit 75. The southern border of the town is the
Clark Fork River
The Clark Fork, or the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately long. It is named after William Clark of the 1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition. The largest river by volume in Montana, it ...
.
Missoula County is to the south across the river. I-90 leads east to
Missoula
Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot River, Bitterroot and Blackfoot River (Montana), ...
and northwest the same distance to
Superior
Superior may refer to:
*Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
Places
* Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state
*Lak ...
, the Mineral
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
.
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, Alberton has a total area of , of which , or 4.54%, are water.
Climate
Alberton has a cool-summer
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
Dfb).
Demographics
2010 census
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 420 people, 190 households, and 113 families residing in the town. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 202 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.0%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1.0%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.7%
Native American, 0.2% from
other races, and 2.1% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino people of any race were 1.9% of the population.
There were 190 households, of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.5% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.81.
The median age in the town was 43.3 years. 19% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.8% were from 25 to 44; 30.1% were from 45 to 64; and 17.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 53.1% male and 46.9% female.
2000 census
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 374 people, 152 households, and 108 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 175 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.59%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.27%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 1.07%
Native American, 0.27% from
other races, and 0.80% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino people of any race were 0.53% of the population.
There were 152 households, out of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.5% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.3% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.0% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $26,000, and the median income for a family was $26,500. Males had a median income of $24,792 versus $20,000 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $13,120. About 19.6% of families and 19.6% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 25.2% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Alberton School began as a wooden, one room school house in the early 1900s. In 1916, a fire burned down the original school. In 1920, a new brick building was built; this later became the elementary school building. The brick building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. The current high school building is 50 feet from the elementary building and is roughly octagonal in shape. Both buildings have two stories and are connected by a tunnel. The school's mascot is the Panther, and the school has football, volleyball, boys' and girls' basketball, and track and field on campus. The school also participates in wrestling, tennis, and golf as part of cooperatives with other schools in the area. The school transferred from eight-man to six-man football in 2010.
A branch of the Mineral County Public Library is in Alberton.
It is the home of Northwest Indian Bible School, a Bible-training institution founded and operated by the
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection
The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (AWMC) is a Methodist denomination within the conservative holiness movement. It is primarily based in the United States, with missions in Peru, Ghana, and Haiti. The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Conne ...
(Original Allegheny Conference).
Arts and culture
The town celebrates its railroad heritage each year with Alberton's Railroad Day, held the third Saturday in July. July 18, 2015, marked the 30th anniversary of this community event.
Media
The ''Mineral Independent'' is the newspaper serving Mineral County. It is printed weekly and also has an e-edition.
See also
*
List of municipalities in Montana
Montana is a state located in the Western United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, Montana is the 8th least populous state with inhabitants but the 4th largest by land area spanning of land. Montana is divided into 56 count ...
References
External links
{{authority control
Towns in Mineral County, Montana