Gardiner, Montana
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Gardiner is a census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States,<ref name=gnis/> along the 45th parallel. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 833.<ref name="Census-2020-Profile">Template:Cite web</ref>
Gardiner was officially founded in 1880. The area has served as a main entrance to Yellowstone National Park since its creation in 1872. Yellowstone National Park Heritage and Research Center, which opened May 18, 2005, is located in Gardiner and houses National Park Service archives, Yellowstone museum collections and reference libraries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Gardiner was impacted by the 2022 Montana floods.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Etymology
The name "Gardiner" derives from Johnson Gardner, a fur trapper who operated in the area in 1830–31.<ref name="mhs">Template:Cite web</ref> He named the lush headwaters valley of today's Gardner River "Gardner's Hole". Originally named "Gardner's Fork", the river took on Gardner's name, although prospectors and explorers who visited the area later in the century were unaware of the trapper Johnson Gardner. In 1870, when the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition passed through the area, they began calling the river "Gardiner," a phonetic error. Hiram M. Chittenden (1895) and Nathaniel P. Langford (1905) confirmed this spelling in their accounts of the expedition.<ref name="Haines">Template:Cite book</ref>
McCartney's hotel
When the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 passed through the Gardiner area, they encountered two men, named J.C. McCartney and H. R. Horr, who had laid claim to Template:Convert and established a ranch and bath house on the Mammoth terraces near Liberty Cap. These entrepreneurs eventually established a primitive hotel at Mammoth, and were not evicted from the area until many years after the park was established.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> McCartney also went by the name "Jim Gardiner" and received messages, consignments and such destined for guests of his hotel addressed to "Jim on the Gardiner".Template:Citation needed
History
Pre-contact
Evidence shows that Native Americans have lived and hunted in the Gardiner area since at least 11,000 years ago.<ref name=":1">Template:Citation</ref> In the Nez Perce War of 1877, the United States forced all the Nez Perce people who formerly lived on the Yellowstone Plateau, which includes Gardiner, onto reservations.<ref name=":1" />
Early Gardiner
Between 1860 and 1880, the confluence of the Gardner and Yellowstone Rivers (exactly where Gardiner is located today) was settled by prospectors and entrepreneurs interested in placer claims and the local hot springs.<ref name=":1" /> Gold was discovered along Bear Gulch in 1865, and claims caused a large rise in new settlers.<ref name=":1" /> Along with prospecting the rivers themselves, new settlers would arrive and start ranches in order to make a living supplying them.<ref name=":1" /> A notable homesteader was James C. McCartney, who had initially built a hotel near Mammoth Hot Springs, but due to his relationship with park officials and shifting park policies relocated to Gardiner in 1879.<ref name=":1" />
Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872.<ref name=":1" /> Settlers now also started businesses catering to early park visitors and the U.S. Army, facing the park and located very closely on the park's north boundary.<ref name=":1" /> Gardiner's future location was well-placed for this.<ref name=":1" />
Notable services the town provided to coal miners, gold miners, and soldiers nearby were drinking, gambling, and prostitutution.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite sign Commons image; registry site.</ref> Early on, the small town of Gardiner was described in one account as "a veritable Shantyville... an ideal squatter town, with the rudest houses."<ref name=":0" />
In the early 1880s, the Northern Pacific Railroad announced a planned branch line to Yellowstone Park near Gardiner.<ref name=":0" /> In 1883, the Northern Pacific Railway had completed the extension of their Park Branch Line from Livingston, Montana to Cinnabar,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> a new town north of Gardiner<ref name=":2" /> that grew up around the rail line terminus.<ref name=":1" /> The terminus would have been in Gardiner itself, but land disputes made that impossible until 1902.<ref name=":1" /> Despite this, Gardiner continued to grow, spurred on strongly by the speculation that the railroad terminus would eventually arrive.<ref name=":1" />
On February 9, 1880, a territorial post office was established just outside the park boundary.<ref name="Haines" /> Park County was created in 1887, and county officials both hired a constable and built the first jail in Gardiner.<ref name=":0" /> Unfortunately, this jail burned down in 1898, making it impossible to lock up drunks and criminals.<ref name=":0" />
The first trains finally arriving in Gardiner in 1902, filled with tourists, arrived to views of prostitutes showing off in front of the train windows.<ref name=":0" /> According to a local newspaper account, "Monday night there was almost continuous yelling and shooting from midnight to daylight. Women of ill-fame live in the central part of town and exhibit themselves daily on the streets in bedroom wrappers and make a show of themselves in doors and windows on arrival of the train."<ref name=":0" /> A new jail was ready by mid-September 1903.<ref name=":0" />
The arrival of the railroad caused the town to flourish, continuing to serve tourists and local soldiers.<ref name=":1" />
Later, as automobiles became more important, the town adapted to serve them.<ref name=":1" />
Modern history
Railway service at Gardiner station was eventually discontinued,<ref name=":1" /> specifically in 1948.Template:Citation needed Its role was taken on by the state highway passing through the town.<ref name=":1" />
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (2.32%) is water.
Gardiner acts as a gateway community for Yellowstone National Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It is located at the confluence of the Gardiner River and the Yellowstone River.<ref>Apple Maps, accessed October 2025.</ref>
Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Gardiner has a cold semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 851 people residing in Gardiner. The population density was Template:Convert. The racial makeup of was 97.30% White, 0.35% African American, 1.41% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 0.47% of the population.<ref name="GR2">Template:Cite web</ref>
There were 435 households, of which 22.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.0% were married couples living together, and 51.5% were non-families. 43.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.96 people and the average family size 2.73.<ref name="GR2" />
In 2000, 20.8% were under the age of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 40.5% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 7.8% who were 65 years of age or older.<ref name="GR2" />
The median income for a household was $30,125, and the median income for a family was $46,071. Men had a median income of $30,240 versus $17,614 for women. About 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.<ref name="GR2" />
Education
Gardiner Public Schools has a single educational building. Its divisions are:<ref name=About>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Gardiner School (grades K-6; 101 students)
- Gardiner 7-8 School (grades 7–8; 44 students)
- Gardiner High School (grades 9–12; 85 students)
The CDP is in both Gardiner Elementary School District and Gardiner High School District,<ref name=SDMaps2020Census>Template:Cite web - Text list</ref> the two components of the Gardiner Public Schools school district.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A library in Gardiner opened in the 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Infrastructure
Gardiner Airport is a public use airport located two miles (3.7 km) northwest of town.
Media
| AM radio | FM radio | Television |
|---|---|---|
| KBOZ 1090 | KOBB-FM 93.7 | KTVM 6 NBC |
| KOBB 1230 | KMMS-FM 94.7 | KBZK 7 CBS |
| KPRK 1340 | KISN 96.7 | KUSM 9 PBS |
| KMMS 1450 | KOZB 97.5 | |
| KBOZ-FM 99.9 Gardiner Field, Montana was reported destroyed by an "enemy A-bomb" in the movie Invasion U.S.A. | ||
| KXLB 100.7 | ||
| KZMY 103.5 | ||
| KBZM 104.7 | ||
| KSCY 106.9 |
Gallery
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McCartney's Hotel, precursor of the Gardiner settlement -
Gardiner, Park County, Montana, looking northeast, 1887. A one-sided street backed up to rocky foothills. -
Northern Pacific Railway Terminal postcard, F. Jay Haynes -
Parks' Fly Shop, 2nd Street, 2009
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Park Street, October 2009 with Roosevelt Arch
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Red's Blue Goose
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Tinker's Cemetery, just north of town in Yellowstone National Park
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Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center<ref>Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center</ref>
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See also
- Angling in Yellowstone National Park
- The Summit Lighthouse - international headquarters located in Gardiner
- North Entrance Road Historic District
References
External links
Template:Park County, Montana Template:Mammoth Hot Springs Template:Authority control