US Forest Service Townsend Ranger District

About forestry service, 59212, Bainville, MT, US, Montana

Townsend is a city in and the county seat of Broadwater County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,787 at the 2020 census. == History == Lewis and Clark passed through on their expedition in 1805, although the first white settlers, homesteaders, and Civil War veterans in search of gold would not arrive until the late 1860s. In 1883, a railway station was established as businesses were founded supporting gold mining in the region. Townsend was named by railroad officials, in honor of Susan Townsend, the wife of Charles Barstow Wright, president of the Northern Pacific (1875–1879). Several locations in town are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Joseph's Catholic Mission Church is listed as the oldest standing example of secular Roman Catholic church architecture in Montana. It is now a museum. The State Bank of Townsend was opened in 1899 and still operates as a bank.