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Livingston then and now: a hodgepodge of demographics
February 12, 2009
Since before the turn of the twentieth century, Livingston has been a small town with an enormous personality. Described as a historic "genesis of eccentricity," the area has attracted a multitude of characters. Some real, many fictional, and others a combination of the two, have lived in or passed through the area leaving behind a mark or story as told by way of the historic downtown architecture, landmarks, books, movies, rumors and when appropriate, the national news.
Livingston earned its first published mark in 1806 during the Lewis and Clark expedition when Capt. William Clark recorded his rest at The Great Bend. Seventy-five years later it was here, at a defined bow in the Yellowstone River where the water begins flowing east instead of north and slows in current, but grows in girth, that Livingston developed. Even before Clark's record, however, local legend depicts the site as a well-known crossroads for Indians and a favorite camping spot. Several nomadic tribes, including the Crow, Sioux and Blackfeet, frequented the area filled with abundant game, especially buffalo.
This territory was not only used by the Indians, but it also became a popular route for early settlers and frontiersmen. John Bozeman opened a trail bearing his name in 1864 for settlers making their way to western Montana. Unfortunately, as he traveled the Bozeman Trail, Blackfeet Indians killed him just a few miles from Livingston. Noted scout and mountainman, Jim Bridger, also explored the area. He made many trips into the beautiful country now preserved as Yellowstone National Park, returning with tales of hot water erupting from the ground.
Those stories coupled with the Northern Pacific Railroad's movement west largely contributed to Livingston’s initial development. Eventually it became the midway point for trains traveling between Minnesota and Oregon, and has remained a rail town ever since. The roaring whistles at 5th and Park Streets are still heard all over town. And its railroad cornerstone, The Depot, stands as it was initially built in 1902.
Only fifty miles north, Livingston was the gateway to Yellowstone, the country’s first national park, for nearly forty years. When the city’s population was scarcely 1,000, nearly 20,000 people, including President Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant, changed trains at The Depot on the way to this popular destination. "Wonderland," as Yellowstone was nicknamed, also attracted the first wave of distinctly mixed personalities to the area, including newly emancipated women and a collection of well-educated coastal artists, biologists, writers and cutting-edge conservationists who were discovering the West. Even in the early days, tourism was a substantial part of the local economy, and Livingston was already getting a reputation for metropolitan airs, diverse personage and famous fishing.
In 1882, The Livingston Gazette published a directory of businesses—only a handful of businesses but a whopping 30 saloons. Although the demographics have changed significantly, the downtown historic district remains mostly intact after a large renovation effort in the 1970s. Many downtown buildings have retained much of their character although many businesses are gone, like the Garnier Cigar Co. and its Montana Sport cigar. It leaves behind an emblem, "Smoke Montana Sport," stamped in the sidewalk at the corner of 2nd and Callender, and an old mural near the Dodge dealership. Lost to fire and development, the original National Park Bank, Albemarle and Park Hotels have been replaced by the Guest House Motel and the Masonic Temple. Though open since 1938, internationally recognized Dan Bailey's Fly Shop is missing the ever-present group of women tying flies in the shop window.
The town's night life still covets its share of notable characters and moments, especially over Fourth of July, but nothing like the early days when "Madame Bulldog", a six -foot, two-hundred pound "American Gladiator" owned the notorious Bucket of Blood Saloon, which operated from 1902 until 1968. The bar was known to be one of the rougher places in town, noted for frequent fights and, according to a Federal Writers' Project report, the last scene of a cowboy "shootout," which occurred in 1902. Madame Bulldog is said to have once picked up another memorable resident and frequently obnoxious customer, Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary, and literally thrown her out the door. (On that slow night, Calamity Jane allegedly had slapped a male patron in the face, shot her gun into the ceiling and used “mule-skinner language”). Somewhat ironically, the saloon is now Chatham Fine Art. Been other art galleries.
The wild times of the 1970s inspired singer Jimmy Buffet's famed "Livingston Saturday Night." Buffet visited friends and family during this time and wrote the song in 1975. His lyrics well represented the general attitudes—“Pickup's washed and you just got paid, With any luck you might even get laid”— and look—“Tony Lama's and jeans pressed tight”—of the moment. They also reveal the illicit activities—“take a few tokes make you feel alright”—and general rowdiness of the era—“pickin' and kickin', rockin' and rollin' on a Livingston Saturday night.” Many of those stormy cowboy bars with unruly reputations disappeared in the eighties.
In spite of its vulgar reputation, Livingston maintained an appeal even to the literati. Though struck ,but not impressed,when he journeyed through the town in the late nineteenth century, British writer Rudyard Kipling wrote,"It is not the ghastly vulgarity, the oozing, rampant Bessemer steel self-sufficieny and ignorance of the men that revolts me as much as the display of the same quality in the women." Nevertheless, contemporary writers, experiencing things a bit differently, have made a home here. In fact, many resident authors, such as Tom McGuane, Jamie Harrison and Walter Kirn pull from Livingston’s community color for their works. Another resident author, William Hjortsberg, currently is writing a biography about the poet-novelist Richard Brautigan, who found refuge in Paradise Valley. One of the few original businesses to the city, Sax and Fryer, carries a diverse collection of these books and others by Montana-based writers.
Livingston’s landscape, as well as its personages, attracts many people, lately those from Hollywood. The filming of Rancho Deluxe and an active motion picture industry has brought a continuous wave of film making and artists to the area. Peter Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Michael Keaton, Tom Brokaw, Margot Kidder and Dennis Quaid are long-time residents. Using local talent and resources, Robert Redford filmed both "A River Runs Through It" and "The Horse Whisperer," against the dramatic scenery. Not only is there a presence of actors, but there’s also another faction of people who work in the industry who aren’t as well known. It makes more well-rounded community on both sides of the camera. Represneation of all aspects of film-making. Gaffers and grips and cinematographers.
Even with the influx of the rich and famous, the community is still known for genuine warmth, modesty and unpretentiousness. I once overheard a conversation in which a young waitress was recounting an embarrassing incident from the previous night. While making conversation with a customer, she commented innocently, "You know, you look just like Sam Shepard." The man seated looked up, smiled and responded politely, "That's because I am Sam Shepard."
All glitz aside, Livingston is a place where the celebrities are true contributing members to the community, and the "pot luck" is alive and well. Dinner guests would be as diverse as the dishes—an Oscar-nominated actor, a writer covering grizzly bears, a retired senator and rancher, sitting beside a local blues guitarist—the party would appear to be the epitome of idiosyncrasy.
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