Red Lodge

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.