Event Details

Chester

Montana County Seat Challenge

Chester, Montana; Liberty County

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Event Elevation: 3,133 feet

Chester is a town in and the county seat of Liberty County, Montana, United States. The population was 847 at the time of both the 2010 and 2020 U.S. Census. The Blackfoot, Piegan Blackfeet, and Blood Tribe migrated to the area via the Old North Trail in the early 18th century. The Lewis and Clark Expedition came through the area as it trekked around Lake Elwell and the Marius River in July 1806. Meriwether Lewis accounted in his journal that "there were not less than 10 thousand buffalo within a circle of 2 miles around that place". The Earl of Southesk concurred during his 1859 expedition to the area when he said that as "[f]ar as the eye could reach, these plains were covered with troops of buffalo; thousands and thousands were constantly in sight." With gold prospectors arriving in the area and the railroad booming, the first post office was commissioned on November 22, 1895. The town was incorporated a few years later in 1910, the same year that a new railroad depot was built and a railroad signal was installed. Its namesake was chosen by the town's first telegraph operator which he chose in honor of his hometown in Pennsylvania.

Liberty County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,959. Its county seat is Chester. The decision to separate the future Liberty County area from the previous Hill and Chouteau counties was carried in a 1919 vote; the organization was authorized to commence in the following February.