Glendive is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Dawson County, Montana, United States, and home to Dawson Community College. Glendive was established by the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

during the building of the railroad line. The town of Glendive is an agricultural and ranching hub of eastern Montana sited between the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountain ...

and the

Badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

. Makoshika State Park is located just east of Glendive. The population was 4,873 at the 2020 census.

History

The land has been historically inhabited by the

Crow people The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation, the Crow Indian Reservati ...

. Sir George Gore, a wealthy Irish "sportsman", named the local tributary to the Yellowstone River in his favorite hunting area "Glendive" in 1855."The Glendive, MT Historical Marker"
Montana Historical Markers ''Waymarking.com'' Gore killed 105 bears, 2000 buffalos and 1600 elk and deer over 11 months. The town took its name from the stream of the same name 25 years later. The Montana territorial legislature had created Dawson County in 1869, but did not name a county seat, instead placing it administratively under Meagher County. Glendive was established by the

when they built the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...

across the northern tier of the western United States from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

to the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

. The town was the headquarters for the Yellowstone Division that encompassed ; in main line and in branches with the main routes from

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County, North Dakota, Morton County and the List of cities in North Dakota, eighth-most populous city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designat ...

, to

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

, and from Billings to Livingston. There was a steamboat landing for trade to

Fort Buford Fort Buford was a United States Army Post at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota Territory, present day North Dakota, and the site of Sitting Bull's surrender in 1881.Ewers, John C. (1988): "When Sitting Bull Surrende ...

and the Upper Missouri River. The settlement mainly consisted of tents and log cabins covered with dirt roofs, until the train station was built from 1880 until 1881. The train station architect was O. M. Rognan. With the arrival of first load of lumber in 1881 a building boom ensued . That same year, Glendive citizens petitioned to name it the seat of Dawson county. At the height of the cattle boom in 1884, 12,000 cattle arrived per week to stock the

open range In the Western United States and Canada, open range is rangeland where cattle roam freely regardless of land ownership. Where there are "open range" laws, those wanting to keep animals off their property must erect a fence to keep animals out; th ...

. On January 17, 2015, Glendive was the site of a major oil spill from a pipeline which contaminated drinking water. It was not until a day later when people complained about odor and taste of the water from the City of Glendive’s Water Treatment Plant that the spill was discovered.The Poplar pipeline by Bridger Pipeline, LLC, of

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

which crosses the Yellowstone River 6.5 miles North of Glendive had spilled 30,000 gallons Bakken crude oil, which were found as far as Crane, Montana about 60 river miles downstream. It stayed on shorelines until after the spring thaw in April 2015. It contaminated fish and impacted migrating birds. In 2022, Bridger paid $2,000,000 for restoration. On October 24, 2023, a fire destroyed the Jordan Inn and the Rose Theater, both located in the Merrill Avenue Historic District. The Inn was a complete loss.

Geography

The elevation of the city is .

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

passes through town with access from exits 215, 224 and 231.

Montana Highway 16 Montana Highway 16 (MT 16) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Montana. It begins in West Glendive at a Business Loop of Interstate 94 (I-94), and ends at the Port of Raymond on the Saskatchewan border. The northern portion from U.S. Ro ...

begins in West Glendive. The

cuts through town. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

Glendive experiences a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSk'') with long, cold, dry winters and hot, wetter summers. Together with Medicine Lake, Montana, the town holds the state's all-time-high record of , which was recorded on July 20, 1893, in Glendive and on July 5, 1937, in Medicine Lake. On June 29, 1961, an F4

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

struck Glendive, causing between $500,000 and $5 million in damage.

Demographics

Glendive was briefly an oil boom town after the discovery of oil in the

Williston Basin The Williston Basin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in eastern Montana, western North Dakota, South Dakota, southern Saskatchewan, and south-western Manitoba that is known for its rich deposits of petroleum and potash. The basin is a ...

in the early 1950s. Moving the oil out of the area was difficult and expensive though; the boom ended by 1954 and only a small reserve existed locally. The community has been impacted in the 2000s by the North Dakota oil boom which spurred a modest increase in the population.Muskal, Michael (January 20, 2015
"Water supply off-limits in Montana town after Yellowstone River oil spill"

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 4,935 people, 2,060 households, and 1,190 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,267 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.5%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2.4% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.3% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.4% of the population. There were 2,060 households, of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.2% were non-families. 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.84. The median age in the city was 41.2 years. 19.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 12% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.7% were from 25 to 44; 26.5% were from 45 to 64; and 18.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.4% male and 49.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 4,729 people, 1,983 households, and 1,229 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 2,204 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.38% White, 0.30%

,1.21% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 0.36% from other races, and 0.66% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.02% of the population. There were 1,983 households, out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% were

living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.0% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.86. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $30,943, and the median income for a family was $40,313. Males had a median income of $30,977 versus $20,132 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $15,544. About 11.6% of families and 14.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.8% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Glendive Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Dawson County High School's team name is the Red Devils. Glendive is home to Dawson Community College, a 2-year college formed in 1940 to meet the educational needs of eastern Montana. The college offers Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of Applied Science degrees as well as certificate programs. Dawson Community College is an open-access college. Glendive Public Library serves the area.

Infrastructure

Dawson Community Airport is five miles northwest of Glendive. Intercity bus service to the city is provided by

Jefferson Lines Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in 14 states in the Midwest and the West of the United States. History The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jefferson P ...

Media

The Glendive market has three local radio stations: * KGLE AM 590 * KXGN AM 1400 * KDZN FM 96.5 Glendive is the smallest of the 210 designated markets for broadcast television in the United States as designated by

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, with one station— KXGN channel 5—carrying a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliation along with state and local news broadcasts for a small potential audience of several thousand people (county population is 9,059). Until September 2009, KXGN also carried selected prime-time

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

programming in its schedule, making it the last "Big 3" affiliate to offer programming from more than one network on a single feed. In late June 2010, KXGN moved their NBC programming to a DT2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

, rejoining the network. KXGN-TV then dropped NBC at 11:59 pm on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

2024. K13PL channel 13, a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

(low-powered rebroadcaster) of Williston, North Dakota's

affiliate KUMV was also available until 2013; KUMV is still carried on area cable systems as the market's default NBC affiliate. Three stations in Billings also serve Glendive: ABC affiliate/ CW+ O&O KSVI 6, Fox affiliate KHMT 4 and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member station KBGS-TV 16. The ''Glendive Ranger-Review'' is the local paper.

Notable people

* Herbert Aldinger, author * Tim M. Babcock, 16th Governor of Montana, grew up on a ranch and later a house in Glendive, graduate of Dawson County High School in Glendive * Kamran Ince, Turkish-American music composer * Clyde Lamb, cartoonist * John Patton, Wyoming state legislator * Alfred E. Perlman, President,

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

, President

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

* Mike Person, offensive lineman for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Matt Rosendale Matthew Martin Rosendale Sr. (born July 7, 1960) is an American politician and former real estate developer who represented Montana in the United States House of Representatives from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, Rosendale ser ...

, Montana State Auditor, 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Montana, and U.S. Representative for Montana's at-large congressional district (2020–) * Diana Thomas, mathematician and nutritionist * Joyce Woodhouse, Democratic member of the Nevada Senate *

Hank Worden Hank Worden (born Norton Earl Worden; July 23, 1901 – December 6, 1992) was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including a dozen John Ford films, such as ''The Searchers'', and the TV series ''The Lone R ...

, born Norton Earl Worden, cowboy actor *

Adam Morrison Adam John Morrison (born July 19, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. Morrison played for three years at Gonzaga University and was considered to be one of the top college basketball players in 2005–06. He was a finalist ...

, NBA Basketball Player

References

External links

*
Glendive Chamber of Commerce

Visit Glendive

Dawson Community College

Dawson Community Airport
{{Authority control Cities in Dawson County, Montana County seats in Montana Cities in Montana