Join the Historical Society for a field trip to the Finnish Kaleva Lodge. Meet at the Museum at 11:30 AM and carpooling to the the lodge north of town. Bring a dish to share for a picnic!
*Free for members. $10 for General Admission.

Celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the Beartooth Highway with Jon Axline!

Jon Axline is the soon-to-be retired long-time historian and interpretive marker coordinator at the Montana Department of Transportation. Long ago, he graduated from Montana State University (Go Bobcats) with an MA in American history. Jon has published a number of articles and books on a variety of Montana history subjects ranging from dinosaurs, historic bridges, to cold war sky watchers, and, most recently, a flying saucer film. He lives in Helena with his wife, Lisa, Corgi, an Australian Shepherd, and a very spoiled dachshund.

Carbon County Historical Society & Museum invites you to our Annual Meeting!

• Brief meeting, election of board members & awards presentation

• 1920's style dress encouraged!

• Speakeasy after shindig at the One Legged Magpie

• Red Lodge Prohibition with Speaker Jeff Gildehaus

  • Jeff Gildehaus, Outdoor Recreation Planner, Beartooth Ranger District, Custer Gallatin National Forest, Ret. 2020. 28 years on the Beartooth RD including Snow Ranger, Winter Sports Administrator, Recreation and Lands Special Uses, Certified Blaster, District Recreation Staff.

    Prohibition in Carbon County covers the Prohibition Era in Montana and more particularly Carbon County from 1916 - 1933. The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale or possession of alcoholic beverages in the United States; although did not prohibit consumption. Carbon County and Montana had a unique role in Prohibition. Red Lodge's colorful past is part of this time period in Montana History.

Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum in celebrating Norrine "The Outlaw Queen" Linderman's 96TH Birthday!!
June 6, 2026 at 4:00 PM

Meet the Outlaw Queen herself as we celebrate her incredible 96 years around the sun! Live music by The Friends of Norrine Band, Eddie Bracket, Tylee Wickens and songwriter, Kid Valance, with an incredible performance planned for yodeling Norrine "The Outlaw Queen" Linderman!

Enjoy the music video and song created to honor this Carbon County legend at it's official premier on the Roman Theater's big screen!

Cover: $5 or Donate What You Can!

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE!!

Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum for a book signing and talk with co- author Kirby Lambert, June 5th, 2026 at 5:00 PM.

• Montana Trivia with the Montana Historical Society following at the One Legged Magpie

Book Summary

“A History of Montana in 101 Places: Sites and Stories from the Montana Historical Society ” outlines how community organizations, everyday folks, and local, state and federal governments have made and remade the Last Best Place.

“101 Places” features diverse locations that embody major cultural, economic, and political developments in the history of the state. Battlefields and government buildings appear alongside homes, schools, and taverns. Indigenous cultural sites share space with farms and mines as these places come together to tell Montana’s story.

Author Bio

Kirby Lambert worked for almost thirty-seven years at the Montana Historical Society where he served in a variety of capacities—as museum registrar, curator, and Outreach and Interpretation program manager. He is a coauthor of several books and a regular contributor to “Montana The Magazine of Western History.”

Donna Erickson is the author of Rooted at the Edge: Ranching Where the Old West and New West Collide, published by the University of Nebraska Press in April of 2025.  Erickson grew up on a ranch in Missoula’s North Hills and was a professor of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Michigan for 16 years.  Since leaving academia, she has consulted with land conservation groups across the west from her home in Missoula. Donna’s previous book is MetroGreen: Connecting Open Space in North American Cities. 

Brian Urbanik - Music at the Museum

Saturday, April 18th, 2026

Doors open at 4:30 PM

Music starts at 5:00 PM

Join the Carbon County Museum for Music at the Museum with up and coming local artist Brian Urbanik!

Brian Urbanik is a returned Red Lodge local. He's considered himself a guitar player for over 12 years, and in the past few years he's started exploring singing and songwriting.

Brian's music has never been tied to a single genre or style. The songs he writes come from feelings and experiences happening in and around his life. Guitar playing—and now songwriting—has always felt like therapy for him.

Brian doesn't play music to impress others. He plays to make it through this life.

Some of his songs may be considered sad, but they’re powerful. The intensity of his musical expression reflects the weight and meaning of his life experiences. Brian's journey has been shaped by important people in his life, including Travis Burdick, Cory Leone Johnson, Wes Urbaniak, and many well-known artists.

Don't miss Brian Urbanik at the Carbon County Museum Saturday, April 18th, 2026 at 5:00 PM!

Doors open at 4:30 PM

Music starts at 5:00 PM

Free for members

$5 for General Admission

Historic Preservation Meeting

Fromberg, Montana

Clark’s Fork Valley Museum Tour and Carbon County Historic Preservation Updates

Kid Valance - Music at the Museum

Friday, March, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Kid Valance performs his original songs and stories of his time as a Spirit Runner for Peace at the Carbon County Museum Friday, March, 2026 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission

Join Red Lodge Paranormal for the Dead Lodge Ghost Investigation Evidence Reveal

March 13, 2026 @ 5:00 PM

Nita Waples of Red Lodge Paranormal reveals the evidence from our October Ghost Investigation. Explore the recordings and pictures from the October ghost investigation!

Find out more about Red Lodge’s ghosts!

Free for previous ghost hunt participants & members

$5 for General Admission

FREE for Members

“Goodbye Wives & Daughters” Music Video Premiere
February 27, 2026 @ 5:00 at the historic Roman Theater
Speaker: Jeff McNiesh, Smith Mine Expert
Live Music: Linda McKenzie, songwriter & Mike Holm & guests!

Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.carboncountyhistory.com/admission-tickets

or with cash at the Carbon County Museum or the Roman Theater the day of the event.

Pint Night at Sam's Tap Room

Wednesday, February 18th, 2026
Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum for Pint Night at Sam's Tap Room!
$1 donated to the CCHS&M for every pint sold!
Musical entertainment by Kid Valance!

Faith & Perry - Music at the Museum

Friday, February 13, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Join us for a night with local duo Faith & Perry!
A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF Time Travel, GOOD LOVE & BAD LUCK
At the Carbon County Museum, Friday, February 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission

Wednesday, January 21st, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Join us for a night with local favorites Justin & Lisa Satterfield!
Featuring a variety of originals, acoustic instrumentals, and 80's/90's covers.
At the Carbon County Museum, Wednesday, January 21 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission

The annual Red Lodge Festival of Trees is being held at the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum this year. The festival will be on November 29th (Shop Small Saturday) from 10-4. Be sure to drop into the museum to see or bid on our collection of beautiful trees and gifts for the holidays.

If your business or organization would like to donate a tree or gift basket for this year's event, please reach out to the museum or email us at: rlfestivaloftrees@yahoo.com.

Ice patch archaeology is more than artifact recovery, it’s a model for engaged, relevant science. It's inherently interdisciplinary, combining paleoclimatic, archaeological, & ecological approaches to explore human–environment dynamics through time. These efforts contribute to a broader narrative challenging the fatalism that often dominates climate discourse. While acknowledging ongoing crises of environmental degradation & climate instability, ice patch studies offer a story of resilience, thoughtful intervention, collaboration & relationship-building.

Day of the Dead Party!

Saturday, November 1st, 2025

6:00 - 9:00 PM

Join the Carbon County Museum for a special celebration!

• Live Music by local band Party Rock Emo!

• Haunted house through the museum coal mine!

• Face Painting!

Bring a photo of your loved ones passed to add to the alter

Are you brave enough to explore the depths of the Coal Mine?

You never know what lurks behind each turn!

Spirits? Spooks? Gremlins?

You’ll have to find out for yourself...

If you dare!!

Are you fascinated by Red Lodge Ghosts? Join the Carbon County Museum and Red Lodge Paranormal for a suspense filled evening as we explore some of Red Lodge's most haunted locations:

6PM Carbon County Museum

7PM Smith-Olcott Funeral Chapel

8PM Red Lodge Cemetery

Learn how to use paranormal equipment to talk with spirits!

Please bring:

- Walking shoes

- Warm Clothing

- Personal Transportation to cemetery required

Flashlights will be provided!!!

20 tickets available! $50 per person.

https://www.carboncountyhistory.com/admission-tickets

This is an +18 up event.

October 9th, 2025 at 5:00 PM

Speaker Series - Hemingway in Yellowstone Country - Chris Warren

Long time Cooke City Resident and Scholar Chris Warren will be discussing the recent passing of Patrick Hemingway and his relationship to Red Lodge Legend Chub Weaver, the importance of storytelling as way of preserving history between generations and the challenge of bringing the International Hemingway Conference to Cooke City during the Covid epidemic and the 2022 Flood. Guaranteed to be informative and entertaining

Thursday, September 11th, 2025

• 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

• Carbon County Historical Society & Museum

The first request of the All Nations Garden club was in 1952 when the charter members were asked to assist the Business and Professional Women’s Club to organize and judge the Flower Show at the Festival of Nations. By the next year, the Garden Club had taken sole responsibility for the Flower Show and contributed until the last Festival of Nations in 2017. The All Nations Garden Club is still going strong in 2025, and it may surprise you all they have accomplished in the last 75 years! Please join us for some fun facts, stories and some special guests!

Join the Carbon County Museum for a song release party! September 5th, 2025 at 6:00 PM

"Goodbye Wives and Daughters" written by Linda McKenzie and sung by Mike Holm, is a tribute to the victims of the Smith Mine Disaster. This breathtaking song has never been heard by the public at large and we are excited to have the opportunity to share it for the first time with our community! Our goal is to raise additional funds to help with the production of a music video to take "Goodbye Wives and Daughters" to the next level!

Visit to purchase the song visit https://lindamckenziemusic.com/

Stop by for live music from Linda McKenzie and Mike Holm, excited museum raffles, and to take a tour in the Smith Mine Exhibit!

Share your stories with about your connections to the Smith Mine and how it effected your family for a chance to be featured in the music video production!

Join the Historical Society for a field trip to Red Lodge’s former ski hills. Meet at the Museum at 9:00 AM and carpooling to the three stops. Bring a dish to share. Lunch at Inn on the Beartooth. Limited Spots available! Pre-registration required. Please contact the Carbon County Museum at (406) 446-3667 to secure your spot by August 27th.

*Free for members. $15 for General Admission.

About the Speaker:
Aura Sunada Newlin is a fourth-generation Wyomingite, fourth-generation Japanese American, and Executive Director for the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. Her heritage involves intertwined stories of imprisonment at Heart Mountain and Tule Lake; segregated military service; and hardships suffered by railroaders who were fired because of their Japanese ancestry. Aura earned her PhD and MA in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, and her Bachelor’s Degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Wyoming. Her work has been profiled by the Women in Wyoming podcast and gallery exhibit; the University of Wyoming’s Featured Alumni series; Wyoming PBS, and more.
 
Program Description:
Between 1942 and 1945, some 14,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated at the Heart Mountain “Relocation Center” between Cody and Powell, Wyoming. The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is now custodian of the few remnants of the camp’s infrastructure: a restored barrack, a massive root cellar, the skeletons of old hospital wards, and a smokestack that sits like a beacon in the now sparsely populated landscape, alerting passersby that something important happened here. Amidst these surviving structures that comprise the Heart Mountain “campus,” the Foundation has built a nationally-acclaimed museum and a brand new retreat center, the Mineta-Simpson Institute (MSI). Now a Smithsonian Affiliate, the site is emerging as a hub for cross-community discussions about democracy, heritage, civil discourse, and the rule of law.

In this presentation, Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin will discuss how the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is drawing on physical and cultural landscapes to bring together three distinct communities that have called this place home: Japanese Americans, the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, and Homesteaders. Through historic preservation, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is converting what was once a place of rupture into a place of connection.

August 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This is a Speaker Series & a Field Trip! Please wear good footwear and protective clothing. Bottled water strongly encouraged.

*FREE for Members *$5 for General Admission *Personal Transportation Required

Join author Robert Schalla as he delves into the fascinating story of Frank Avery Hall; an entrepreneur from Wisconsin who arrived in Montana in 1898 with the dream of building a tourist railroad to Yellowstone National Park. He later joined forces with Billings civil engineer Phillip M. Gallaher to build a rail line to Cooke City, following the Clarks Fork River.
The line reached the newly created town of Belfry in July 1906 and, soon after, the coal mines along Bear Creek. Despite years of setbacks and hostile interference from the Northern Pacific Railway, Hall and his successors persevered, and the railroad Frank Hall built served as a critical link in the development of the Bear Creek Coalfield and the creation of three towns in Carbon County.

SATURDAY, JULY 26TH, 2025 AT 3:00 PM

Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum at the Roman Theater for a Film Release of the Geo-Eco Tour of the Beartooth Mountains. This film highlights the geological and ecological aspects of the Beartooth Mountains. With special guests, Phil Robertson and Ennis Geraghty, who lead the GEO-ECO tour for many years, this is sure to be a fascinating evening!