Formed January 1, 1897 (24th county)
Broadwater County (6,773), Townsend (1,804)
The 1936 red brick structure is located at Broadway and Walnut streets. Broadway is United States Highway 12 in this part of the town. R. C. Hugenin and Norman DeKay are this Modern courthouse designers. An Annex was added in 2006. Veteran memorials are across the street. Townsend, the only county seat, also had an earlier version of the courthouse. The county was formed on January 1, 1897 as the 24th county with Townsend as the only county seat. Broadwater County honors railroad investor Charles Arthur Broadwater. The county seat is named for the wife of the railroad president.
Broadwater County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners. Four District Court Judges serve Broadwater and Lewis & Clark counties. The county is in western Montana. The Missouri River flows through the county. Billings, Montana is southeast and Great Falls, Montana is north of the county. The county center is 5.9 miles Southeast of Townsend. The county is surrounded clockwise by Meagher, Gallatin, Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark counties.
The area of the county is 1192 square miles. It is 51 out of 56 in the state. It ranks 31 out of 56 in population in the state. It has a density of 5.7 persons per square mile making it 13 out of 56 in the state. Broadwater County has 26.6% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 12 passes east to northwest in the county from Meagher County to Lewis and Clark County. United States Highway 287 enters joined with United States Highway 12 from Lewis and Clark County, splits and exits south into Jefferson County. The county looks like a mushroom cloud exploding to the east. Townsend is located in the western third of the county. Townsend is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 26.6% of the county population.
Townsend
