Fort Owen State Park Maps

Fort Owen State Park Description

Fort Owen State Park is the site of many "firsts" in Montana history and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was home to Montana's first Catholic church founded by Father DeSmet in 1841, and the state's first permanent white settlement. Also located here was Montana's first sawmill, first grist mill, first agricultural development, first water right, and the first school for settlers. Major John Owen arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in 1850 and established the fort and began trading with the Indians and the growing number of immigrants. Period furnishings and artifacts