Carbon County Historical Society & Museum

To learn of the history of Carbon County, visit the Carbon County Historical Museum, formerly the Peaks to Plains Museum. Here you will find displays of the rodeo and ethnic history in the region. You will also be able to view the Waples Gun Collection and a Coal Mine Exhibit. The Peaks to Plains Museum is located at 224th North Broadway and 8th Avenue in the renovated Labor Temple Building which was built in 1909.

The history of Red Lodge is much like that of other surrounding mountain towns: Indians, settlers, ranchers and miners. In the early 1900s, Red Lodge was a union town, with bountiful success and a diverse community with citizens from all over the world. The Carbon County Historical Society and Museum are responsible for upholding the rich history left behind over a century ago. This non-profit organization all works to restore and renovate historic buildings, which many are located in the Red Lodge township. One of the many buildings in Red Lodge listed on the National Register for Historic Places is the old Carbon County Bank Building which was robbed by the Sundance Kid in 1887.

Alice Greenough created the first Carbon County Museum in Red Lodge in 1959. The original purpose was to house the collection of her world-renowned rodeo family. Over the years it has grown to include exhibits on homesteading, mining, Native Americans, moonshining, cowboy artifacts, the town's first telephone switchboard, fire wagons from the 1890s, and the original homesteading cabin of Jeremiah Liver-Eatin Johnston. In addition to the regular exhibits are a number of historical videos shown on request.

The Carbon County Historical Society is responsible for organizing name and historical indexes, articles, and various materials dealing with the colorful history of Carbon County. They also have books containing original old newspapers, dating back to the late 1800s. Today, the Carbon County Historical Society and Museum, working in conjunction with one another, highlights historic Red Lodge and Carbon County area with the Greenough rodeo collection, Waples family historic gun collection, interactive coal mine exhibit and much more. The museum also houses the Carbon County archives and assists with genealogical and historic research.

Open All Year

Summer Hours:
Monday thru Saturday - 10am - 6pm
Sunday - 11am - 3pm

Winter Hours:
Thursday and Friday - 10am - 5pm
Saturday - 11am - 3pm
Closed Sunday thru Wednesday

For more information, please visit the Carbon County Historical Society Website!