The Old Montana State Prison Has Something For Everyone of All Ages

One of the really cool places to visit in Montana is the Old Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

The old prison shut down in 1979 and since then has become popular with tourists and hosts several different museums. The Old Montana Prison, the Powell County, Yesterdays Playthings, Frontier Montana, and Montana Auto are all represented by different museums as part of the complex.

Plus, you will learn a ton about the history of the facility, which is really rather interesting. The institution opened in 1871 as the Montana Territorial Prison even before Montana became a state.

One of the most interesting and violent events in the prison's history was the riots of 1959 which resulted in the death of a Deputy Warden and holding the actual Warden hostage.

The 36-hour event that started on April 16th, 1959 finally came to a bloody end when the Montana National Guard showed up to take control.  During the standoff, some pretty heavy artillery was used, including machine guns and even a bazooka.

I realize that Halloween is a bit off, however, for those of you that enjoy the whole "spooky, scary, paranormal" stuff...I have a suggestion.

The Old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge is offering overnight ghost tours of some of the most "haunted" areas of the facility.

There are two dates left for the Ghost Tours in 2021.  September 11th and October 9th.  The Ghost Tours will run you 50 dollars per person and you will get inside information on some of the prison's former residents.

If the whole "spend the night in a haunted old prison" isn't your thing, that's ok as well.  The facility is open seven days a week.  Winter hours are 10 am to 6 pm and tickets are 18 dollars for adults, ages 10-15 are 10 dollars and kids 9 and under are free.