This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Dillon's Founding Story From Our Little Old Home Town
Frank Eliel recounts how Beaverhead valley and Dillon grew after the 1880 railroad arrival. Land purchases by merchants funded town lots, schools, churches, and early brick buildings, with Dillon named for Union Pacific president Sidney Dillon. The piece covers transport links, growth to a 300 population by 1880s, and first city government amid a budding commerce hub.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Butte
Virginia
City
Aldergulch
Lewis and Clark
Red Rock
Medicine Lodge
Rocks
Dillon
Madison
Frank Eliel
Deacon
Sebree
Howard Sebree
Thas
L. J. Ruth
Sim Estes
L. C. Fyhrie
B. F. White
Charles LeFevre
Wilden Pinkham
E. M. Ratcliffe
Ferris and Holt
George Smith and Company
John M. Lowell
William Wood
Dillon City Lot Company
Kupfer Drug Store
Kupfer
Corinne
Metlen
Eliel Brothers
Dillon Examiner
Sidney Dillon
Union Pacific Railroad
Bannack