Rail-centric Depot Museum open to summer visitors
Located in historic downtown Livingston, the Depot Museum has opened to the public for the summer season. Visitors are welcome Wednesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm.
The exhibits look a little different this year in an effort to keep visitors, volunteers and staff safe. The vaulted ceilings and spacious atrium provide room for social distancing while enjoying the exhibits. Depot staff has also implemented safety precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19, including a rigorous disinfecting schedule and adapting exhibits for social distancing.
The Depot’s popular ongoing main exhibit “Rails Across the Rockies: A Century of People and Places” introduces visitors to the rich history of railroading in Montana, and offers a sense of the grandeur of historic travel. The exhibit gives special attention to the Northern Pacific and its central role in the opening of Yellowstone, America’s first national park. Livingston has served as the gateway to Yellowstone since the 1880s, and the accessed through Livingston beginning in the 1880s. In addition to its main exhibit, the museum also presents “The Livingston Depot in History and Architecture” and “Film in Montana: Moviemaking under the Big Sky,” as well as an annual featured special exhibit.
Rounding out the main exhibits in 2020 is the traveling exhibit “On Track: The Railroad Photographs of Warren McGee.” “On Track” presents an intriguing selection of photos taken over a six-decade span from the 1930s through the 1990s by Livingston native and prolific railroad photographer, Warren McGee. Additional historic objects will round out the visitor’s experience of McGee’s remarkable career. Developed by the Montana Historical Society this exhibit is now part of the Livingston Depot Foundation’s permanent museum collection.
More information is available through the Depot office at (406) 222-2300 or www.livingstondepot.org. •
