In the spring of 2012, the Board of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center, after an exhaustive selection process, chose Big Timber as their future home.
The Big Timber location seemed to offer an economical site that was highly visible on Interstate 90, located in the central part of the state, and already had a sizable existing building.
Now they say that particular site is no longer a possibility.
Trustees of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center are naturally disappointed, but they obviously have no intention of wavering from their long-term mission.
The MCHF&WHC Board of Directors has released this official statement:
“After five years of good faith effort to develop our cultural center in Big Timber, Montana, the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center’s land contracts have been terminated by action of the landowners. Rather than remedy the previously undisclosed and presently unmitigated wetland issues that our board discovered through our development efforts at the site, the landowners have chosen to terminate the lease to purchase contracts. No path forward to develop the building site exists. This termination reverts the land and all site improvements made during the lease to the landowners.”
On Sunday, July 16, Lee Newspapers published a story by Holly Michels that includes an extensive explanation about the details regarding the proposed Big Timber site, which included a large building originally constructed along Interstate 90 to house an automobile dealership.
The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center went on to say that they will “continue to build upon the success of our Hall of Fame Induction program while we strategize next steps. Our mission: ‘to honor our cowboy way of life, American Indian cultures and collective Montana Western heritage’ remains undeterred. Our Trustees across Montana are voting on the 2017 Hall of Fame Induction Class and the results will be announced in the coming month. The induction ceremony will be held February 3, 2018 at the Best Western Heritage Inn in Great Falls.
Inquiries may be directed to Vice President and Communications Director Ariel Overstreet-Adkins at (406) 930-1317 or arieloverstreet@gmail.com.
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Editor' Note: It is our observation that many of the supporters of the MCHF&WHC have spent their lives working in long-term, multi-generation family ranches and business, many of which have faced some major setbacks through their history. Celebrating that kind of grit and determination is exactly why this organization was born. If you are not yet familiar with the term “Cowboy Up”, then we invite you to just stay tuned and see what happens next.
2017 Northern Ag Network
