Just inside the entrance to the museum is the gift shop. Against the front wall of the gift shop is a table on which the museum has placed a "donations" box. They've very craftily placed the guest book on the donations box, hoping that more visitors would notice, and make use of, the donations box. Judging by the contents of the box, their ploy is experiencing success.
Built in 1907 of concrete block simulating rusticated stone, the four room Northside School replaced several smaller wood framed schools scattered about Livingston's north side. Serving as an elementary school until 1971, the building was purchased by the Park County Museum Association in 1976, the Park County Museum opening in the building the next year. Today it is known as the
Yellowstone Gateway Museum.
Today made easy to find with a dingy red wooden Northern Pacific caboose on the front lawn, the building is filled with artefacts relating to the early days of Livingston. Behind the building is a fenced yard and another building in which are displayed fire trucks, agricultural equipment, wagons, various machines and other large historic items. One will even find another school at this school, the former Urbach School. A small log building constructed between 1898 and 1904, it was moved to the museum in 2000. Accompanying the school is a Blacksmith Shop, donated and moved to the museum in July, 1997.
The museum is open year round, with reduced hours in the winter months.
Yellowstone Gateway Museum
Discover the history of Park County and its connection to Yellowstone!
As a crossroads of culture, Park County, Montana has served as temporary or permanent home for many: native peoples from as long as 11,000 years ago; fur trappers and explorers, homesteaders, and today's residents. Livingston became a major entrance to Yellowstone National Park in 1883 when the Burlington Northern Railway arrived and established a spur line south toward the park.
The museum is housed in a three-story 1906 schoolhouse that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Four large exhibit roomsNative Cultures, Expeditions, Pioneer, and Transportationlandings, and courtyard also interpret archaeology, modern-day flint knapping, Lewis and Clark, Yellowstone National Park (including historic vehicles), railroad, veterans' history, women, and more. Museum Explorer's Journal guides families through the museum; new children's exhibits.
From Visit Montana