Western Heritage Center
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Western Heritage Center is a museum in Montana, at a modelled elevation of 953 m. Stratford Hill stands 1,514 m to the south-southwest, 19 miles off. The nearest named place is Skate Park, a park 0.2 miles away. 9 named summits stand within 25 miles.
The story
The Western Heritage Center is a regional museum located in historic downtown Billings, Montana, United States. The museum is housed in the historic Parmly Billings Memorial Library, built in 1901. The building is a stately Richardsonian Romanesque structure with twin towers, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Western Heritage Center displays original exhibits about south-central Montana and the Northern Plains and houses oral histories and artifacts about the history of the Yellowstone River Valley. The museum celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2021. The Western Heritage Center, a former affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum opened in 1971 after an organized group of leading citizens prevented the building from being torn down. The founders established the museum as an interpretive center with an emphasis on changing exhibits, outreach programming, and the incorporation of new technologies. In 2001, the Western Heritage Center received the Montana Governor's Humanities Award, the second organization to receive an honor usually reserved for individual contributions to the Humanities. In 2002, the WHC became the first Smithsonian Institution affiliated museum in the Northern Plains. Beginning in 2004, and running through 2009, WHC received federal appropriations from the United States Department of the Interior for the American Indian Tribal Histories Project, a program contributing to the preservation of Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribal histories. The museum is one of six museums in Montana accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The Western Heritage Center programs include a monthly High Noon lecture and video series, a walking tour program (Hoof It with a Historian), fourteen traveling exhibits, partnerships with regional museums, schools, and businesses, and active participation in local events. The WHC displays six to seven exhibits annually, most based on original research. The Western Heritage Center publishes books, video materials, and education kits relating to regional history. The museum cares for 40,000 artifacts illustrating and documenting Yellowstone River Valley history. The museum is open to the public between early March and late December, Tuesday-Saturday, 10–5. The museum receives annual funding and support from Yellowstone County.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dates from 1971.
Wikidata Q7987904, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What to expect
- Operated by
- Smithsonian Institute
- Fee
- Yes
- Step-free access
- Yes
How to reach it
Named places within 25 miles
- Skate Park: 0.2 mi
- Chamber Park: 0.5 mi
- Community Park: 0.5 mi
- Moss Mansion: 0.5 mi
- South Park: 0.6 mi
- Ninemile Hill: 6.0 mi
- Rattlesnake Butte: 9.4 mi
- McCormick Hill: 16.9 mi
- Deer Point: 17.0 mi
- Stratford Hill: 18.7 mi
- Wise Wonders: 0.2 mi
- Yellowstone Art Museum: 0.4 mi
- Moss Mansion Museum: 0.5 mi
- Peter Yegen Jr. Yellowstone County Museum: 2.2 mi
- Huntley Project Museum: 16.2 mi
- Veterans Memorial: 0.2 mi
- Place Where the White Horse Went Down Historical Marker: 1.9 mi
- Canyon Creek Battlefield Monument: 14.0 mi
- Lewis and Clark on the Yellowstone: 22.3 mi
- Sacrifice Cliff: 1.5 mi
- Skeleton Cliff: 1.7 mi
- Rimrocks: 3.9 mi
- Indian Spring: 22.5 mi
- Shearing Pen Spring: 24.3 mi
- Mud Spring: 24.8 mi
- Amend Park Community Garden: 2.2 mi
- Sensory Garden: 6.5 mi
- Shiloh Conservation Area: 6.0 mi
- State Trust: 24.7 mi
- Ghost Cave: 1.4 mi
- Billings Motorsports Park: 15.4 mi
- Christiansen-Graham-Rest-Area: 24.3 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of Western Heritage Center. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stratford Hill | SSW 194° | 1,514 m | 18.7 mi |
| McCormick Hill | S 188° | 1,363 m | 16.9 mi |
| Woody Mountain | SE 140° | 1,321 m | 23.3 mi |
| Round Butte | SW 220° | 1,241 m | 19.3 mi |
| Miller Butte | WSW 252° | 1,218 m | 22.6 mi |
| Square Butte | WSW 247° | 1,150 m | 20.3 mi |
| Ninemile Hill | NW 323° | 1,060 m | 6.0 mi |
| Rattlesnake Butte | NNE 20° | 1,020 m | 9.4 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:18 | 18:47 | 19:27 |
| June solstice | 05:25 | 20:22 | 21:08 |
| September equinox | 07:02 | 18:34 | 19:13 |
| December solstice | 07:53 | 15:43 | 16:33 |
Local time (America/Denver).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 25 | 29 | 38 | 46 | 55 | 64 | 71 | 70 | 60 | 47 | 35 | 26 |
| Precip in | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Billings WTP, 1 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidataOfficial siteOpenStreetMap element way/635810916
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