Alberton, Montana, is a town shaped by transportation. Located in a Clark Fork River canyon, travelers through this part of the world have long passed between its steep mountainsides—whether by foot, trail, wagon, or interstate highway. It was the railroad, however, that secured Alberton’s place in history.

Originally a spread out farming community, early settlers took up homesteads here in the 1890s and platted the town in 1905. Once known as “Browntown” after early settler Louis Brown, there wasn’t much of a town there at all until 1907, when the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Puget Sound Railway (Milwaukee Road) bought the townsite from Brown and renamed it Alberton. Most accounts attribute the name change to an effort to honor Albert J. Earling, president of the Milwaukee Road. Other local sources maintain that the town took its name after homesteader Alexander Albert.

Regardless of its origin, the young town of Alberton blossomed after the Milwaukee Road built a fine depot there and made it the site of its Missoula Division headquarters. The company added a roundhouse, offices, living quarters, and a maintenance building. The timing couldn’t have been better for residents of nearby Lothrop, a town directly across the river. The W. A. Clark Lumber Company closed its mill there in 1910 to move its operations upriver to Bonner. Many Lothrop residents simply packed up and relocated to Alberton. By 1914, the town had a vibrant main street, complete with boardwalks connecting its many businesses. These businesses included an opera house, general store, meat market, pool halls, saloons, restaurants, and more.

In 1980, the Milwaukee Road halted operations, which dealt a blow to the town. Nevertheless, the town continued to embrace its railroading past. The former roundhouse property now serves as a city park. The Milwaukee Depot, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is restored and serves as town hall, a community gathering place, and library. Restored rail cars are on-site, ready to take visitors on a journey into the town’s past. And a few doors down is the Alberton Museum—open during events and by appointment—which includes an extensive collection of historical photographs. The most substantial tribute to the town’s origins is its annual Railroad Days celebration that takes place each July.

Credits and Sources:

Hahn, Margie. Montana’s Mineral County in Retrospect. Stevensville, MT: Stoneydale Press Publishing Company, 1997.

Historical Research Associates. Historic Resources of Alberton, Montana, National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, August 1986, updated by Allan Mathews and Michael Koop, January 1996.

The Montana Historical Society of Mineral County, 118 Years of History. Superior, MT: Mineral County Historical Society, 1974.

Historic photographs of “General View of Alberton, Montana, ca. 1914” and “Street scene, looking east, Alberton, Montana, ca. 1914” courtesy of Mineral County Historical Museum, Superior, MT.

Historic photographs of “Milwaukee electric locomotive E74, Alberton” courtesy of the Philip C. Johnson Photograph Collection; Mss 455. Photo Number 92.3588. Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana, Missoula.

Contemporary photographs of the Alberton Depot are courtesy of Historical Research Associates, Inc.