Montana City is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Jefferson 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 2,715 at the 2010 census, up from 2,094 in 2000. It is part of the Helena Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Montana City is located on top of one of the oldest prehistoric sites in the state of Montana. As early as 9,000 BCE, Native Americans came to Montana City to collect

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

, a rock similar to

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, which was used to make spear tips, arrowheads, and knives. White American explorers discovered gold at the site on July 2, 1862, and later that year

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Captain Jason L. Fisk brought a mule train from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

which stopped at the site and built the first houses that became Montana City. The town became one of the most important mining centers in Montana during the height of the gold rush in the 1860s. The Montana Town Company laid out the city in 1864, naming it after the territory's new

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

.Aarstad, Rich. ''Montana Place Names: From Alzada to Zortman.'' Helena, Mont.: Montana Historical Society, 2009. Chinese miners soon made up a majority of the workforce when the mines began to play out in 1868, and the town saw a brief revival after the arrival of the railroads and the establishment of a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

in the 1880s. At its height in the 1880s, Montana City had 3,000 residents and competed for the location of the state capital. Montana City was almost a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

for most of the 20th century until the Permanente Cement Company built a

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

manufacturing plant there in 1940. Today, Montana City is a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

serving Helena.

Geography

Montana City is located in northern Jefferson County. It is bordered to the northwest by unincorporated South Hills, to the northeast by the town of East Helena in Lewis and Clark County, and to the south by unincorporated

Clancy Clancy is an Irish name coming from the Gaelic ''Mac Fhlannchaidh/Mac Fhlannchadha'', meaning "Son of the red/ruddy warrior" (Mac being for sons, ''Ní Fhlannchaidh/Ní Fhlannchadha'' would be for daughters), or as a hypocorism for Clarence. ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Montana City CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.07%, are water. Prickly Pear Creek, a tributary of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

, flows northward through the community.

Demographics

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 2,715 people in Montana City, a 30% increase over the 2000 census. Of the 2,094 people of the 2000 census, 697 households, and 627 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 709 housing units at an average density of 25.1/sq mi (9.7/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.19%

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 ...

, 0.05%

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 ...

, 0.48% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.14%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.10% from other races, and 0.96% 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 of any race were 1.10% of the population. There were 697 households, out of which 46.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 84.4% 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, 2.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 9.9% were non-families. 7.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99 and the average family size was 3.14. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 30.9% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 29.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.5 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $66,027, and the median income for a family was $67,240. Males had a median income of $40,909 versus $29,508 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 CDP was $21,774. About 3.5% of families and 4.0% 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 4.3% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Montana City Elementary School District is the elementary school district for the majority of the CDP, while some parts are in the Clancy Elementary School District. All residents are assigned to the Jefferson High School District
Text list
/ref> The Montana City district educates students from kindergarten to 8th grade. Montana City School has students from kindergarten to 5th grade and Montana City Middle School has 6th to 8th grade. In the 2021-2022 school year, there was a total of 467 students in the district. Jefferson High School in Boulder serves the Montana City students for grades 9-12. The North Jefferson County Library has a location in Montana City.

Media

Newspaper coverage for the town is provided by the ''Independent Record'' out of Helena. There are two radio stations licensed in Montana City. KHGC is a Christian radio station. KWLG is part of the Jefferson County Radio network.

Infrastructure

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Ca ...

passes through town from north to south. Montana Highway 518 connects the town to East Helena. Healthcare is provided in Helena.

References

External links

Montana City Volunteer Fire Department
{{authority control Census-designated places in Jefferson County, Montana Census-designated places in Montana Helena, Montana micropolitan area 1864 establishments in Dakota Territory