2022 Summer Newsletter
Shakespeare in the Park 50th Anniversary: King Lear The Old Montana Prison welcomes Montana Shakespeare in the Parks Friday, July 29th at...
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office85833
- Jun 22, 2022
- 2 min
FACES BEHIND A STONE WALL: MURIEL MURPHY
There are multiple stories about the women inmates who were incarcerated at the Montana State Prison, but very few had happy endings....
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 1 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS
Visions of immediate wealth and unlimited riches lured thousands to Montana where, by 1866, the population numbered approximately 28,000....
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 2 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 2
In 1866, citizens of Virginia City petitioned for the release of a convicted criminal. Apparently, the prohibitive expenses of...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 2 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 3
From the very beginning, it was apparent that the new wing failed to satisfy even minimal expectations. The finished wing entailed...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 2 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 4
On August 1, 1874, U. S. Marshall Wheeler returned as the Prison's administrator after the operational responsibility was restored to the...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 2 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 5
During the early 1840s, at a prison in west central New York "a system of prison administration arose that for over a century wielded an...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 1 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 6
On February 22, 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed into law the Omnibus Bill. This bill or enabling act permitted the Dakotas,...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 1 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON: EARLY BEGINNINGS 7
Frank Conley was born on February 28, 1864, the youngest of seven children, at Havre de Grace, Maryland. In 1880, he left Maryland for...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 1 min
OREGON BOOT
This small article ran in the August 1922 issue of Popular Science Magazine, demonstrating that the "Oregon Boot" was still in regular...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 1 min
OLD MONTANA PRISON WALL
Did you know that the wall of the Old Montana State Prison is actually the oldest standing structure of the complex? Entirely built with...
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office85833
- Jun 12, 2022
- 3 min
SHIP TO SCATTER PIONEER'S ASHES OVER MT. POWELL
ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE APRIL 1939 ISSUE OF THE MONTANA STANDARD NEWSPAPER. "Tonight, as the shades of darkness draw quietly about the...
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