Mondak Heritage Center

Location:
Address: Downtown Sidney.
Phone: (406) 853-1912

This is a history museum and a regional art center. It includes an extensive historical library. A wide, curving staircase delivers you to a complete “town” that has been re-created and furnished down to the last detail with artifacts from the homesteader days. It’s easy to imagine you’ve stepped back in time as you leisurely wander through their street scene.

The displays include a church, school, bank, post office, sheriff’s office, leather and tack shop, dental office, soda fountain and depot. Also on display are brands from ranchers in the area, a model of Fort Union Trading Post with accompanying information, and display cases full of fascinating artifacts. Other highlights include an old jail door and leather handcuffs found in the sheriff’s office; an increasingly rare wooden altar painted to look like marble in the church; a fully equipped dentistry office that even smells like the real thing; and a 1919 Model T and a vintage Fisk-brand tire sign found in the service station. The museum is open year round except January from 1-4 p.m. There is a nominal admission charge.