Featured City Dillon

Photo: Jasperdo , Flickr Andrus Hotel (1917)

County seat

Dillon was founded in the Beaverhead Valley as a railroad town in 1880. Originally named “Terminus” as it was temporarily the northernmost stop on the Utah and Northern Railway in 1881, the community was renamed for Union Pacific Railroad President Sidney Dillon. Dillon served as a central location for transporting goods to nearby boomtowns such as Bannack, Argenta, and Glen. The Montana Normal College was established as a teaching college in 1892, and is still functioning today, renowned for its Education program.^[10] A circus elephant named Old Pitt was struck by lightning in 1943 and is buried at the Dillon fairgrounds.^[11] Captain Joel Rude of the Montana National Guard crashed his F-106 into a grain elevator and died during a Labor Day Parade on September 3, 1979. A plaque in his honor is part of the Southwest Montana Veterans Memorial park in Dillon.and Virginia City. Recreational activities that draw tourism to Dillon include fishing on the Beaverhead River, snowmobiling, hiking, shopping at the Patagonia outlet, four-wheeling, the annual Demolition Derby, and skiing at Maverick Mountain Ski Area. Bannack State Park is popular with tourists. Dillon is also home to the annual "Montana's Biggest Weekend" event, also known as the Jaycee Labor Day Rodeo, Concert, & Parade