103
w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
Roughly twenty-five years before the Milwau-
kee came to town, Montana pioneer Thomas
C. Power built a stage line from Billings to Fort
Benton in 1882. Finding a good ford on the
Musselshell River, he built a stage stop, com-
plete with stables, a mess house, a bunk house,
a store and, of course, a saloon. The community
that grew up here came to be known as Lavi-
na, then Old Lavina when the Milwaukee built
their depot a couple of miles to the east. New
Lavina quickly eclipsed the original communi-
ty and today is Golden Valley County's second
town. Lavina's peak population was in 1960
when the census counted 212 residents. The
2020 census found only 136. Of the six proper-
ties in the county listed on the National Regis-
ter of Historic Places, four are in Lavina, three
within a block of each other on Main Street
(Montana Highway 3).
GOLDEN
VALLEY
COUNTY
PROMISED RICH HARVESTS,
BUT THE CLIMATE
DIDN'T LIVE UP TO
THE FARMERS' NEEDS.
Downtown Lavina
Lavina Public School
Golden Valley County Courthouse
