Livingston is the county seat of Park County and is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park.
The community was first named Clark City in honor of Herman Clark, a well known contractor and builder for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The town plat was filed later that year under the name Livingston in recognition of Johnston Livingston, a director and major stockholder of the railroad.
The railroad provided a means of transporting coal, wool, and cattle to market. It also enabled Livingston to serve as the original gateway to Yellowstone, the nation’s first national park. Mining and agriculture were additional economic factors in the town’s development.
Today, Livingston is the 11th largest city in Montana. Rail transportation continues to be a mainstay of the area’s economy, along with tourism, recreation, agriculture, and mining.
The Corps of Discovery’s entry into the Yellowstone River valley is commemorated at Sacajawea Park in the city of Livingston. The municipal park is about a half-mile downriver from the probable location where the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the river, July 15, 1806. A statue of Sacagawea mounted upon a horse and holding her son.
This small rustic Little Free Library is behind a low chain-link fence with easy access. It is in the Stumps Subdivision, a residential area primarily of small 1930s bungalows. Most of the homes are well maintained with over size lots.
It appears this Little Free Library is at this location for some time, as it well weathered. It contained a small selection of paper back novels.