Townsend is the county seat of Broadwater County and was reportedly named in honor of the wife of Charles B. Wright, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad from 1874–1879. Her maiden name was Townsend. The first passenger train to travel from St. Paul to Portland in 1883 stopped at Townsend. The town had been laid out and developed in anticipation of the railroad. The first town lots sold for $5 a piece. Today it is a thriving agricultural community nestled along the Missouri River and sitting in the shadows of the Big Belt Mountains.