Historic Old Fort Benton

Logs were floated downstream from Fort Lewis in May of 1847 and erected on foundations built the year before. The fort was called Fort Lewis or Fort Clay before officially named for Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri upon completion of the Bourgeois Quarters in adobe on Christmas Day in 1850. The log buildings were gradually replaced by adobe; the trade store was the last to be rebuilt in 1860.

By 1865 the fur/robe trade was ending. Chouteau and Company sold its holdings to the Northwestern Trading Company. Buildings deteriorated rapidly at the fort; when the military took over in 1869, the walls and buildings had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the troops were quartered downtown. The army abandoned the fort in 1881 at the end of the Indian Wars.

By the turn-of-the-century, only two walls and one blockhouse remained. Thanks to a major restoration effort by the Daughters of the American Revolution, the blockhouse was saved and today is the oldest standing building in Montana.

Today, you can visit inside the walls of the fort. Visit the Museum of the Upper Missouri River first, and then you will enter through the side gate.

Visit fortbentonmuseums.com for more information.