Museums Alberton, Montana

Alberton Montana is still a Railroad Town in spirit even without the iconic train that once ran through town. Our story is alive in our Town museum and its unique companion facility: An authentic Milwaukee Boxcar (plus a Caboose), located in our Town memorial park.

Museum Hours
The Alberton Historical Town Museum & its Railroad Museum are operated by volunteers. Consequently, the schedule varies. Because the facilities are unheated, the Museum is ONLY OPEN consistently from May to October. OPEN THURSDAYS 1 - 5:30 pm. There is no entrance fee.

Historic Town Today

Alberton's beloved bookstore has a historic past.

America's frontier West is evident in the false-front architecture along our main street named Railroad Avenue. You'll find that residents and visitors alike treasure the railroad heritage of Alberton, Montana.

Alberton was originally called Brownsville.

Established more than 100 years ago along the famous Mullan Trail west of Missoula, Montana, Alberton was built as a "terminal station" for the trains and crew of the transcontinental Milwaukee Railroad.

Alberton saw its first Milwaukee Steam Engine in 1909. By 1916, the train was running on electricity. c) Pictured: electrified engine Alberton 1961.

Traces of our railroading past remain in Alberton, but gone are the steel tracks and overhead lines of what was the first electrified railway to traverse the country east to west. It was also the shortest route & privately funded.

The former Milwaukee Railroad Depot still lives.

Today, the Milwaukee Train Station serves as Alberton's Community Center. Inside, we hold Council Meetings, Senior Lunches, and Private & Community Events. Plus, it contains the Branch Library. AND, its modernized facilities can be rented by the public.

Our Railroad Museum is in an authentic boxcar.

An authentic Boxcar is where our Railroad Museum lives. Full of items and artifacts collected from local residents and their kin, it rests by a sweet Caboose that looks just as it did when it last rode the rails!

Sit inside a Milwaukee caboose one day in July.

All Ages enjoy our Town Museums. Plus, during Railroad Day in July, we have Model Trains on display at the Antique Depot; it was the former Train Station in nearby Frenchtown.

Stop by Alberton today and enjoy our history with modern conveniences!

Railroad History

At the turn of the 20th century, the Milwaukee Railroad needed a transcontinental route across North America to the Pacific Coast. The company president himself chose the north bank of the Clark Fork River here in Alberton.

This narrow bench is just 30 miles west of bustling Missoula. In early 1906, we had two families homesteading between Exits 75 and 77 of US Interstate 90. Today, a train still runs through this corridor, but on the southside of the river.

Read more about our History. Visit our museums!

History of Alberton