RHPI Quick Links
- Broadwater Bygones Article by Elsie Ralls - An article in the Broadwater Bygones (available at the Broadwater County Museum)
- Townsend Star 1964 Article by Elsie Ralls - An article printed in the Townsend Star regarding the history of Radersburg
- Thomas Moore 1947 Article - Thomas Moore was a pioneer of Radersburg
- Ghost Towns of Montana - information supplied by Mrs. William Schniedskamp Guntermann
- Reuben Rader - Founder of Radersburg: from the Broadwater Bygones
- Meat Processing in early Radersburg: a juicy subject
- Radersburg's First Hanging - Frontier Justice at work
We also have a small but fascinating set of stories of Radersburg folks
- Henry B. Barkely - a pioneer doctor and part-time miner that was murdered
- Nancy (Boyles) Easterly - obituary of a pioneer of Radersburg
- Allen M. Easterly - sheriff of Jefferson County that presided over the first execution in the county
- Myrtle (Bennett) Holling - a fascination but gruesome attempted murder and successfull suicide
- Edmond Hossfeld - an hilarious notice in the paper
- John H. Kennon - a letter detailing a truly fascination account of life in a frontier mining town
- M. H. Parker - an attorney and judge in early Radersburg and Jefferson County
- Baker and Dr. Mann - Another murder in the Radersburg area
Radersburg - Far from a ghost town, Radersburg is a friendly community of about 75 founded in 1866 in the Crow Creek Valley. Once home to more than 1,000 miners and their families and the seat of Jefferson County from 1869-1884, Radersburg's main street is lined with historic buildings dating back to it's days of glory. From Townsend, take U.S. 287 south about 12 miles, across the Missouri River. Turn west at the Bunkhouse Bar and follow the Montana 285 about 10 miles west.
Independent Record, Helena Montana
We looked forward to court proceedings as one of the most active days for the "Burg". Attorneys from Helena handled most of the cases, namely Colonel Sanders (not the fried chicken king), John Shober, Warren Toole, Judge Simes, Masena Bullard and a few others.
Radersburg (Broadwater County) is southwest of Townsend and named for Reuben Rader, a large landowner who donated the property for the townsite. Radersburg is an old mining town which sprang up in 1866 when John Keating opened his Keating Mine; the town boomed the following year when the East Pacific claim was discovered north of town. The post office was established in 1868 with Robert Mimms as postmaster; at the time it was in Jefferson County and for awhile the county seat, complete with courthouse and jail. The two-story Freemont Hotel, made of squared logs and square nails, was described as a "first-class hotel" in 1871. A now-decaying frame church(1) was dedicated by Brother Van in 1917. Radersburg was the birth place of movie star Myrna Loy, whose real name was Myrna Williams. The post office was changed to a rural indepedent station in 1966.
Roberta Carkeek Cheney, "Names on the Face of Montana, the story of Montana's Place Names"
Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula Montana, 1983
NOTES:
(1): The decaying Methodist Church mentioned in the above article has been restored and is being maintained by Radersburg Historical Preservation , Inc. (RHPI)