Essex is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Flathead County,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, United States. Located in the northwestern part of the state, Essex lies along the Hi-Line railroad line, near Glacier National Park, southwest of East Glacier and southeast of West Glacier. Amtrak's ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'' makes a

flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, s ...

at Essex station, westbound at 7:41pm and eastbound at 8:55am. The

Izaak Walton Inn The Izaak Walton Inn is a historic inn in Essex, Montana, USA. It was originally built as the Izaak Walton Hotel in 1939 by the Great Northern Railway as a soup kitchen and lodgings for railway workers. The hotel was also originally envisioned ...

hotel is close to the Amtrak station platform. Essex also is home to a small

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

yard. Historically, it was used to provide coal and water for steam trains, and to station helper units used to push freight trains over

Marias Pass Marias Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains in the western US state of Montana. Lying on the southern border of Glacier National Park, it is traversed by US Highway 2 and by the BNSF Hi-Line Subdivision. The pass is the ...

. It is still used to base snow-clearing crews in wintertime. Named for a county in England, Essex (originally known as Walton) began as a small town on the Great Northern Railway’s main line in 1890.Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman; Aarstad, Arguimbau, Baumler, Porsild, Shovers; Montana Historical Society, 2009; page 78

Demographics

References

Further reading