Just east of Lewistown and situated at the foothills of the monumental Snowy Mountains, Grass Range, Montana is a small but beautiful town nestled in the center of Big Sky Country.
The local conjecture states that Grass Range’s name came from the fact that livestock grazes in this area, and you can’t argue with its all-encompassing agricultural spirit.
Grass Range may not have a smattering of high rises or a brewery on every corner, but it comes with a welcoming Montana spirit and access to the Missouri Breaks, Billings, and – perhaps most importantly – proximity to a number of wildlife refuges.
Signs of a newly established town cropped up in 1883 with the area’s first post office, supporting local ranchers and farmers, but the Grass Range area was also utilized by 19th-century homesteaders – as well as numerous indigeneous tribes like the Blackfeet, Crow, and Cheyenne.
By the 1910s, homesteaders permeated the area with shops, restaurants, saloons, and stables, bravely forging a new life in the center of a steadily growing state.
However, the 1930s brought a grasshopper drought and recession, marking a feverish decline in the Grass Range area. Luckily, a small pocket of determined people steaded themselves within the muck of the Depression, allowing the town to continue its existence. Who needs high rises when you have resilience in spades?
Sitting at a central crossroads where US Highway 87 meets up with Montana highways, Grass Range is popular with truckers as well as ranchers and cowboys (And if you look closely enough after a lunch at Wrangler Bar & Cafe, you may even find the town’s secretive Masonic Lodge building!).
Read on to learn more about this special spot and its surrounding areas. Welcome to Rancher Country!