Montrose Nebraska

Former village · Sioux County · post office 1887–1948

About Montrose

Montrose is a former settlement on Hat Creek in northern Sioux County, about 18 miles north-northeast of Harrison and 8 miles south-southwest of Ardmore, South Dakota, inside the Oglala National Grassland. Its 1887 church still stands at Hat Creek Road and Road 958, with the Warbonnet battlefield monuments just north.

History

On July 17, 1876, three weeks after the Little Bighorn, seven companies of the 5th Cavalry under Col. Wesley Merritt intercepted Cheyenne leaving the Red Cloud Agency at Warbonnet Creek. Scout William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody killed the warrior Yellow Hair (Yellow Hand), the only reported death, and called it "the first scalp for Custer." In 1887 immigrants from Austria, Germany and Luxembourg settled at a ford on Hat Creek, built Immaculate Conception Church, and named the place for its height and its wild roses; Montrose ran for county seat that January. During the Ghost Dance scare of 1890 settlers built a breastwork on the hill now topped by the battlefield monument. The post office lasted from 1887 to 1948, and the school was moved away in 1953. The church closed as a parish in 1973 but still holds weddings and an annual September Mass.

Things to see

the Battle of Warbonnet Creek Monument and the Yellow Hand monument, just north of the church (rebuilt 1997) · Immaculate Conception Church (1887) and the Montrose Cemetery beside it · the Pioneer Cemetery, about 4 mi north-northeast

Navigate & Explore Montrose

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