The present City Hall building was originally the
Farmers' State Bank, but had become the
Farmers' National Bank by the time it was purchased by the city for $5,000 in 1930. A relatively small buff brick building, it betrays its banking heritage with a pair of round Doric columns flanking the central entrance and supporting a small portico with extended eaves and a pediment rising to an extended flat top.
At an elevation of 4,196 ft (1,279 m), the City of Harlowton covers an area of 0.63 sq mi (1.62 km
2)
Reaching a peak population of 1,856 in 1920, Harlowton's population has slowly dropped ever since, falling under 1,000 in 2010 and continuing to fall today. This is explained by Harlowton's location in predominantly farming country, an area which began to suffer drought conditions in the 1920s, a decade before the midwest began to experience similar conditions. As a result, banks, including Harlowton's
Farmers' State Bank, and businesses began to fail well before the great stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the
Great Depression of the
Dirty Thirties.
The first known white man in the area was Chevalier De La Verendrye, who, with two Catholic priests and some fifty men, came through the Judith Gap and camped on the Musselshell near the present site Of Harlowton in 1741.
In 1878, J.V. Salazar (Mexican John) was robbed of his horses, food and guns near the present site of Harlowton by the noted horse thief George Reynolds (Big Nose George). At the time of the Salazar robbery, Reynolds was known to be camping on the Musselshell with Andrew Garcia where he was holding a bunch of stolen horses on his way to Canada. Reynolds was later hung at Rawlins, WY for stealing horses.
Merino was officially established as a post office in 1881.
Merino was named for the breed of sheep (Merino) that were run in the area at that time. It was located in a log building which was a combination post office and saloon in the same building, a practice frowned upon by the government. Hence a new post office was opened in 1885. In the same year several more structures were added. On June 10, 1900 the townsite of Harlowton was established and Merino ceased to exist. With the coming of the
Jawbone Railroad in 1900, the townsite was changed to be near the railroad, which ran from east to west in front of the present Catholic Church. The new name was in honour of Richard Harlow, father of the Montana or "Jawbone" Railroad. Harlowton later became a division point on the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, which would come to be known as the
Milwaukee Line.
The first telephone service dates back to 1899 when the
Lewistown Telephone Co. installed the first phone system.
Mountain States Telephone Co., now
US West Communications, purchased the facilities in 1918 at which time there were 204 phones in service. The original facilities were replaced in 1929 with a magnetic switchboard and in 1935 a manual common battery system was installed. Dial service was installed in 1961 and later that year direct dialing was introduced.
Built in 1900, the first blacksmith shop was the third building in Harlowton. The first butcher shop was opened in 1907. The first drug store in Harlowton was established in 1908. While was the third store in Harlowton, by that time the town had thirteen saloons. The first garage in Harlowton was built in 1910. It became the Ford Agency at that time, receiving its first shipment of Ford cars on June 2, 1910. The first bank in Harlowton, the
Continental National Bank, now the
Bank of Harlowton, was established on Jan. 1, 1905. This is the only one of fourteen banks established in Wheatland County which still exists. The first issue of a newspaper in Harlowton was Vol. 1, No. 1 of the
Musselshell News published on July 12, 1906, and weekly thereafter on Thursdays. Subscriptions were $1.50 per year. The Musselshell Masonic Lodge was organized June 19, 1908. Consisting of a coal-fired boiler, a steam turbine and generator, the
Harlowton Light and Water Co. supplied power to the new town until 1924. The first large railroad to use electricity extensively, in 1915 the Milwaukee Railroad was electrified from Harlowton west.
On June 17, 1907, Harlowton suffered its first big fire, losing 24 buildings. After the fire, most of the new building took place on what was then Main Street, now Central Avenue. The last big fire in Harlowton occurred in 1929 when the
Urner Mercantile burned down. The fire was started when a school teacher living in an apartment above the store was dry cleaning with gasoline. No lives were lost, but several experienced severe burns. This was the last business building on the old main street.
The first church to be erected in Harlowton was the "Wilson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church". The cornerstone for the church was laid Dec. 28, 1908. Mrs. G. R Wilson, (widow of Two Dot Wilson) gave $500, accounting for the church's name. Today this is the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In 1909 one of the historic buildings of Montana, the
Graves Hotel, was constructed of stone quarried below the hill in back of the hotel. Built by the Graves Hotel Co., owned by A. C. Graves, the hotel, which was still open for business, burned completely in the
early morning hours of February 12, 2023.
The first official use of the Wheatland County Fairgrounds was on June 5, 1917, celebrating the creation of Wheatland County, created by an act of the Legislature, to become the 41st county in Montana as of April 1, 1917. The largest town in the new county, Harlowton became the county seat. The first Wheatland County Courthouse was the old bank building at 124 Central Avenue North and 2nd Street NE. The second courthouse was the High School, built in 1910-1911 and converted for use as the courthouse in 1938.
Harlowton School District No. 16 came into being on November 12, 1900. The first school erected was a wood framed structure, later moved to what was then the high school area, the location of the present courthouse, in 1917 and used as a shop and agriculture building. In 1910 the High School, converted in 1938 to become the present courthouse, was built. The Edison Grade School was built in 1920. In 1937 the present High School was built, with a new gym being added in 1961. In 1955 the Hillcrest school was constructed.