Phillips County Museum News for Wednesday, December 20, 2023

The town of Bowdoin came into being in April 1917, when the Great Northern Railway created a new division point on their railroad line. Contracts for the construction of 15 miles of tracks, a 23-stall roundhouse, a storehouse, coal chute, water treating plant, office building, depot, railroad hotel and restaurant, ice house and ice tram and water reservoir were let the week of April 19, 1917.

By November 1917, work was completed on all the contracts at the cost of approximately $200,000.

On November 18, train crews and workers were moved from Glasgow to Bowdoin.

In 6 months, Bowdoin went from being a whistle-stop to a town of approximately 400 residents. In 1916, there were 60 schoolchildren. In 1919, there were 180. The post office and store at Wooldridge were closed and moved to Bowdoin soon after the contracts were let.

Businesses and residences sprang up. Some of the businesses included a grocery store, hardware store, dry goods store, restaurant, lumber yard, poolhall, drug store, theatre, hotel, candy store, garage, bank, and barbershop. A road was built from Bowdoin east to connect with the Saco Road.

In 1920, the railroad decided to move the division point and dismantle the railroad buildings and move them to other areas in Montana. The ice house and ice tram were moved to Wolf Point in the fall of 1920, but in the fall of 1924, they were moved back to Bowdoin. The ice was used for train car refrigeration along the main line. Bowdoin was considered the principal icing station along the Great Northern Line in Montana.

Visit the Phillips County Museum to find out more about the history of our area. Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.