Old Montana Prison
National Register Of Historic Places · Deer Lodge, Montana
A territorial prison at Deer Lodge that took its first inmates in 1871 and did not close until 1979, built and rebuilt by convict labour behind a sandstone wall with a red brick cell house inside it. You walk the tiers, the yard, the theatre and the solitary cells largely unaccompanied and largely uninterpreted, which is both the appeal and the problem — it is cold, empty and unsoftened. A 1959 riot in which two officers died is part of the tour, and W.A. Clark, one of Butte's Copper Kings, paid for the tower.
1106 Main Street, Deer Lodge, Montana, 59722, United States
Seasonal in practice. Open daily in summer, generally 9:00 to 17:00, with reduced days and shorter hours through the winter and sometimes closing entirely in the coldest months — check before travelling. Admission covers the prison, the Montana Auto Museum and the other museums on the complex. Guided tours and after-dark ghost tours run on a limited schedule and are booked separately in advance. The buildings are unheated.
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