Bozeman was founded in August of 1864 by John Bozeman, a frontiersman from Georgia who led wagon trains west to the gold fields in the Montana Territory along the Bozeman Trail, a cutoff of the Oregon Trail. The town served as a supply hub for prospectors looking to strike it rich near Bannack and Virginia City.
Bozeman became the county seat of Gallatin County in 1867.
The Bozeman Public Library began as the Young Men’s Library Association in 1872. It was housed in a room above the Alward Drug Store. In keeping with Victorian standards of the day, women were restricted to using the library room on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 3:00 to 5:00 pm while the men could only use it on Tuesday and Saturday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The tax supported Bozeman City Library opened in 1891 with rooms on the second floor of the new City Hall and Opera House.
In 2001, taxpayers approved a $4 million bond referendum for a new facility; the money was used to purchase the 14.3 acre former Milwaukee Railroad property on East Main Street. After five years of fundraising and planning, a new 53,000 square foot Library opened at in November 2006. The new Library achieved a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver level certification, the first public building in the state to be certified LEED.
The Gallatin Art Crossing (G.A.C.) exhibit hosts a variety of artwork introducing viewers to many artistic approaches. The main focus of the organization is to select and place sculptures throughout the Bozeman area.
Sun Sit Bench
Artist: Zak Zakovi
Medium: Steel & Stone
Permanent Collection
Location: Bozeman Public Library
Location Sponsor: Bozeman Library Foundation
Placed: 2009
Zak Zakovi is a Montana artist and master builder who makes his home in Bozeman. His work can be found throughout Montana and the Gallatin Valley. One of his most passionate endeavors is the design and engineering of stone mobiles from the materials of the earth that work effortlessly in the wind. He is also well known for his stone sculpture, drawing, and landscape paintings.
Sun Sit Bench is a masterpiece that is in keeping of Zak Zakovi artistic use of stone and steel.
The bench overlooks the 1.6 miles Gallagator Linear Trail. The trail occupies a portion of a former rail bed originally used by the old Milwaukee Railroad’s electric passenger train line from Bozeman to Gallatin Gateway, which was abandoned in the 1930s.