Pompeys Pillar is a

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 ...

Yellowstone County Yellowstone County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 164,731. Its county seat is Billings, the state's most populous city. Like the nearby national park, Yellowstone 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.

History

The town of Pompeys Pillar was founded in 1907 and was named after and situated less than a mile east of Pompeys Pillar National Monument, a 150 foot tall

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

formation best known for

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

's inscription of his name and the date July 25, 1806 on its surface. The site also has significant evidence of human activity spanning an estimated 11,000 years. The town of Pompeys Pillar was first planned out as a railroad station within the

Huntley Project The Huntley Project is an irrigation project in southern Montana that was established by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in 1907. The district includes the towns of Huntley, Worden, Ballantine, and Pompeys Pillar. Since the Huntley Proj ...

, an irrigation project managed by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and operatio ...

. A

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church and a Union

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

church once existed in Pompeys Pillar. The

Northern Pacific Railroad 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 ...

connected the town to

Billings Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billin ...

, about 29 miles southwest. Pompeys Pillar National Monument was created in 2001 and placed under the jurisdiction of the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

. In 2006 a new visitor center and museum complex opened, coinciding with the bicentennial of the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

. The site also has a small gift shop and other amenities.

Education

The school district is Huntley Project K-12 Schools, a K-12 unified school district.
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Demographics

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Yellowstone County, Montana Unincorporated communities in Montana Billings metropolitan area