Event Details

Townsend

Montana County Seat Challenge

Townsend, Montana; Broadwater County

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Event Elevation: 3,842 feet

Townsend is a city in and the county seat of Broadwater County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,787 at the 2020 census. Lewis and Clark passed through on their expedition in 1805, although the first white settlers, homesteaders, and Civil War veterans in search of gold would not arrive until the late 1860s. In 1883, a railway station was established as businesses were founded supporting gold mining in the region. Townsend was named by railroad officials, in honor of Susan Townsend, the wife of Charles Barstow Wright, president of the Northern Pacific (1875–1879).

Broadwater County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,774. Its county seat is Townsend. The county was named for Charles Arthur Broadwater, a noted Montana railroad, real estate, and banking magnate. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through what is now Broadwater County as they traced the Missouri River. Gold was discovered in the Big Belt Mountains in 1864 which brought several mining towns. In 1881 the Northern Pacific Railway included a stop in what is now Townsend.