MONTANA PARK OF THE WEEK Fort Owen State Park

Travel 25 minutes south of Missoula, MT, and into Stevensville, MT to Fort Owen State Park. Here you will find the remains of the oldest pioneer settlement in the State of Montana. A beautiful place to visit, however, Fort Owen State Park is currently under major construction.

During its peak, the only structures larger than Fort Owen in the interior western US were located in Saint Paul, MN, and Salt Lake City, UT!

Originally home to the first Catholic Church in Montana, founded by Father DeSmet in 1841, Fort Owen has a rich history and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fort Owen became less regionally important as Missoula became the focus of trade in Western Montana. When Nancy Owen died in 1868, John's Owen's mental health began to decline along with his financial success. Eventually, John's deteriorating mental health lead to the financial collapse of the trading post.

In 1872, Washington McCormick purchased the buildings and grist mill at a Sheriff's sale. Diagnosed with dementia, John Owen was moved back to the East Coast to live out the rest of his life with his relatives where he passed away in 1889. Oddly, while repairing a roof at Fort Owen, Washington McCormick was killed that same year after the roof he was repairing was blown off in a violent summer storm.

After this the property and buildings of the fort passed through many hands, one acre surrounding the remains of the fort was given to the Fort Owen Historical Association in 1937. In 1956 they conveyed it to the state of Montana for one dollar.

In 1850, Major John Owen arrived in the Bitterroot Valley and purchased the (about to be abandoned) mission and transformed it into a trading post which he named Fort Owen. Owen began trading with Native Americans and a growing number of early settlers in the area, making Fort Owen an important trading hub for Western Montana.

With tall, whitewashed walls, the fort stood out from the surrounding landscape like a beacon to those looking for supplies. Fort Owen was the heart of this early community, where John Owen and his beloved Shoshone wife Nancy, not only sold supplies but provided a place of warmth and hospitality to all those who visited.

Fort Owen served as an important trading hub for Western Montana for over 20 years. However, when the Mullan Road was built in 1863, connecting Fort Benton to Walla Walla, Washington, it became the main transportation route and bypassed Fort Owen, going north through Missoula instead.

Park: Open all year during daylight hours. See a current list of Restrictions and Closures on State Parks and other FWP lands that may be affected by floods, fire, drought or major maintenance activities.

Location: 99 Fort Owen Ranch Rd, Stevensville, MT 59870