Formed March 17, 1919 (49th county)
Powder River County (1,694), Broadus (457)
The Modern 1978 building replaced a wooden 1934 courthouse. The structure was designed by Harrison G. Fagg and Associates. The county was established on March 17, 1919 as the 49th county with Broadus as the only county seat. The courthouse grounds are surrounded by a rock fence and a working windmill is on the grounds. The county is named for the river. Broadus gets its name from the family of early settlers. The facility is located on a square at Holt Street, Park Avenue, Wilson Street, and Lincoln Avenue. United States Highway 212 turns at the southwest corner of the courthouse.
Powder River County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive). It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.) Two District Court Judges serve Powder River, Carter, Custer, Fallon, Garfield, Rosebud, and Treasure counties and a court clerk serves Powder River County (judicial.) The county is on the southeast border with Wyoming. Billings, Montana is northwest of the county. The county center is 13.8 miles Southwest of Broadus. The county is surrounded clockwise by Custer and Carter counties and Wyoming and Big Horn and Rosebud counties.
The area of the county is 3297 square miles. It is 16 out of 56 in the state. It ranks 48 out of 56 in population in the state. It has a density of 0.5 persons per square mile making it 53 out of 56 in the state. Powder River County has 27.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 212 crosses the county east to west from Carter County to Rosebud County. The county is an overall rectangle. Broadus is located in the eastern third of the county. Broadus is the county seat and the largest city since it is the only incorporated city. It is 27.0% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced BROAD-US.
Broadus
