Harlowton, MT

When the Railroad Left, Harlowton Just Kept on Chuggin'

When the Milwaukee Railroad rolled up the tracks through Harlowton, Mont., in 1974, some feared the town couldn’t survive without its biggest employer, where one of every four residents once worked. But nearly 30 years after the railroad’s departure, the community surrounded by grain fields is still alive and kicking in the Musselshell Valley.

Gerald Miller, a lifelong resident and former owner of The Times Clarion, Harlowton’s weekly newspaper, says the town lost 120 paying jobs when the railroad closed, leaving many who wanted to stay struggling for employment.

“Some people made radical changes to stay in Harlowton,’’ Miller says. One man went to work in a service station, another started a small engine repair shop, and others became truckers, he recalls.

From 1950 to 1999, the town’s population declined by nearly half to 1,075.

Harlo, as locals call their town, is now mostly a farming and ranching community, although many residents are retired and some commute to work at the palladium mines at Big Timber. The largest local employer (90 people) is Wheatland Memorial Hospital.

Beth Keating, the owner of Midtown Market, says local businesses compete with stores 90 miles away in Billings because those who drive there for clothing or other goods and services not available in Harlo stock up on groceries on the same trip. But Keating says the market, with its quaint wooden floors and reputation for personal service, is surviving.

“We know our customers. You don’t get that in a bigger town,’’ Keating says.

Rick Carpel, a businssman from Tumwater, Wash., is renovating a historic hotel and a restaurant located in the downtown district made up of sandstone buildings, most dating back to shortly after the town was settled in 1900. Other signs of renewal also are evident.

Greg Muller and his wife, Denise, moved to Harlo last December to purchase and run Harlo’s Cornerstone Restaurant on the town’s main street. The Mullers’ love of history and desire for a slower pace were the chief reasons the family moved from Billings.

“Have you watched Andy Griffith lately?” Muller says of life in Harlowton. He says the restaurant has a loyal following and is doing well.

The marquee is lighted again over a once-defunct theater, renovated and reopened after Harlowton High School students voted to restore the building as part of their “School to Work” hands-on learning program. The only other theater is an hour away.

“Forty-five kids donated more than 700 volunteer hours to fix up the building,” says Jean Wallace, a school counselor. Local merchants and tradesmen donated more than 1,000 hours of labor. Now on a Friday or Saturday night, people can settle into the velvet-covered chairs, enjoy popcorn, and watch family films chosen by the students.

Omie Ahrens moved to Harlo in 1939 because of the railroad, which employed her first husband, and stayed because she loves the close-knit community, even though her children have moved away.

“When the railroad first went out, the clothing store and the dime store went out. The town seemed really dead,’’ Ahrens says. Only the rodeo, one of the best in the area, provided excitement, she adds. Now, the town has a golf course, a swimming pool, and an airport. Old buildings are being remodeled, and new buildings going up.

“Things are lively again,’’ Ahrens says.

But the town hasn’t forgotten the railroad. The first thing greeting visitors who pass the junction of U.S. Highway 12 and Central Avenue—Harlo’s main street—is the E57B, a railroad engine from Harlowton’s heydey.

Theresa Lode writes from Helena, Mont., where she lives with her husband and three children.

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