The Place:
It was the construction of the Northern Pacific's branch line through the Clarks Fork Valley in the late 1890s which stimulated settlement of the region. The railroad immediately provided the local coal industry and area farmers & ranchers a link to outside markets, and its promotional activities encouraged new settlers to the region. The railroad's construction of the Fromberg depot in 1899 precipitated development of the townsite of Fromberg. The depot served as the nucleus of activity in the town and stimulated the emergence of commercial enterprises catering to the settlers. It was one William Swallow, a land owner of a property near the new depot, who saw the potential for a town here and platted a 6-block townsite. At one time the Fromberg area was referred to as the "fruit basket" of Carbon County. The Fromberg post office first opened in 1903.
Today a small town/village of around 400 residents, the town never grew past that point. Essentially all commercial activity centers on a single block of West River Street, on the south side of which is located the Fromberg Town Hall. Standing immediately west is the town's fire hall, a somewhat larger building. Above its smaller entry door is a small carved wooden sign bearing what we assume to be its date of construction, 11~24~79. Along both sides of the block are various small retail buildings, the most prominent of these being the old
IOOF Hall, now a National Historic Register building and the Fromberg Post Office, at the northwest corner of the block.
Thirty six miles south of Billings along the Clark Fork's River, Fromberg is located in the North central area of Montana's Carbon County. Fromberg's
Clarks Fork Valley Museum can be found at the eastern edge of the town, across East River Street From Fromberg City Park. The last of the small class four rural railroad depots in the Clarks Fork Valley, the depot, which is listed on the National Register, turned 100 years old in 1999. Outside exhibits include a one room doctor's office, a traditional homesteader's cabin and an array of vintage farm implements from the area. Also in the town are more than a dozen National Historic Register buildings, the most notable of which are the
Northern Pacific Railroad Depot, the
IOOF Hall and Fromberg Co-operative Mercantile Building, the Art Deco
Fromberg High School, and the
Dr. Theodore J. Benson House - Fromberg, MT.
The Person:
It was obviously the Northern Pacific Railroad which was responsible for the naming of the town, as it was named in honour of German banker Conrad Fromberg (1852 - 1903), a major Northern Pacific stockholder. His parents were Heinrich and Clara Fromberg (nee Jaeschke). About Mr. Fromberg little else is known.