From enchanting downtown architecture to the spectacular Beartooth
Highway, Red Lodge wears its vibrant history with pride. A coal-mining
boom founded the city and attracted immigrant populations between 1895
and 1920. John Liver-Eatin' Johnston
served as constable, and Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, and Frederic
Remington paid visits. Though the coal boom eventually faded, Red Lodge
refused to become a ghost town. Cattle ranching thrived in the
valleys and foothills, fostering such Rodeo Hall of Fame stars as Turk,
Alice, and Marge Greenough and Bill and Bud Linderman. Meanwhile the
road through the Beartooth Mountains to Yellowstone National Park,
completed in 1936, boosted tourism. Today events such as the Fourth of
July Home of Champions Rodeo and the August Festival of Nations
celebrate the heritage of this unique Montana community.