Norris 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 ...

in northeastern Madison 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, at the intersection of U.S. Route 287 and Montana Highway 84. As of the 2020 census, the first where it was listed as a CDP, the population was 46.

History

Several mining districts were located in the area in the 1860s, though their success was generally brief. A now-abandoned branch line of the former

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

once terminated at Norris.

Geography

Norris is in northeastern Madison County, north of

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

and south of Three Forks via US-287, and west of

Bozeman Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

via MT-84. The location is a hilly, relatively arid area used for farming and ranching; the

Tobacco Root Mountains The Tobacco Root Mountains lie in the northern Rocky Mountains, between the Jefferson and Madison Rivers in southwest Montana. The highest peak is Hollowtop at . The range contains 43 peaks rising to elevations greater than 10,000 feet (3048&n ...

form a visual backdrop to the west. Norris Hot Springs is east of the town. The Red Bluff Research Ranch—an agricultural experiment station operated by

Montana State University - Bozeman Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers bacc ...

is at Red Bluff, east on Highway 84. 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 ...

, the Norris CDP has an area of , all of it recorded as land. Hot Springs Creek flows through the community, running east to join the

Madison River The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana forms the Missouri River. Course The Madison Ri ...

east of Red Bluff.

Demographics

Education

The CDP is in the Harrison K-12 Schools school district.
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References

Census-designated places in Madison County, Montana Census-designated places in Montana Unincorporated communities in Madison County, Montana Unincorporated communities in Montana {{MadisonCountyMT-geo-stub