About the Depot
The heart of the building that is now the Yogo Inn was originally built to house Lewistown's Milwaukee Road train depot in 1913. When train use went into a decline and the last passenger train left the depot in 1955, the building was purchased by the Community Hotel Company in 1960. The company decided to incorporate the depot into a new 60-room hotel that was formally dedicated in 1963. Additions were made to the facility and today the Yogo Inn is a full service hotel and convention center with 123 guest rooms and meeting and conference facilities able to accommodate 300 attendees.
The Yogo Inn is named after the famous Yogo Sapphire mined exclusively in Central Montana and the only American gem found in the crown jewels of England. For more history, see
Yogo Inn Background and History.
The first decades of the twentieth century witnessed a great agricultural land boom throughout eastern Montana. From 1900 to 1920, Fergus County’s population more than quadrupled, convincing both the Milwaukee and Great Northern railroads to build spur lines into Lewistown. Homesteaders, their belongings, and building materials came in and grain and livestock were shipped out.
Following WWI, falling grain prices and the worst drought in Montana history effectively ended large scale population growth in Central Montana. Train use went into decline and the Milwaukee began to experience financial difficulties. The last passenger train left the
depot in 1955, and though freight service continued until 1979, the depot itself fell into disuse.
Then, in an eight month period between June 1958 and February 1959, Lewistown lost its two largest hotels, the Fergus and the Burke, both to spectacular fires that firemen fought for hours. Civic leaders, recognizing the need for a new hotel, organized the Lewistown Community Hotel Company and began raising funds. At a victory dinner on June 10,
1959, the Community Hotel Company announced they had received or been pledged $526,000 from a total of 901 separate businesses and individuals. The following year, the Company purchased the old Milwaukee depot with the intention of tearing it down and building a new hotel on the site. It was later decided to incorporate the depot into a new 60 room hotel design.
Construction began in August of 1962. One year later, on August 3, 1963, the new Yogo Inn was formally dedicated with a parade down Main Street and a grand ball held in the Sapphire Room. Additions to the building made in 1975 and 1983 added five meeting rooms, the Centermark indoor pool area and 62 additional sleeping rooms. In 1994, the
Yogo Inn was sold to private owners and the Lewistown Community Hotel Company was disbanded.
From the Yogo Inn