Do you want to know a secret? Mysteries and secrets captivate our imagination, challenge our understanding of the past and inspire new theories. Secrets stir our curiosity and draw us back to the past. Now is the time to discover some hidden history. Do you want to know Great Falls’ secrets?
Ken Robison is an historian, preservationist, and chronicler of neglected Montana history. He is a native Montanan/ historian at the Overholser Historical Research Center in Fort Benton, the Cascade County/Great Falls Historic Preservation Commission, and the Sun River Valley Historical Society. He has authored 22 books including Montana Territory and the Civil War (2013), Confederates in Montana Territory (2014), and Life and Death on the Upper Missouri: The Frontier Sketches of Johnny Healy (2013). Ken is a retired Navy Captain after a career in Naval Intelligence. The Montana Historical Society honored him as “Montana Heritage Keeper” in 2010.
“More than steamboats and famous explorers, Great Falls’ history is colored with compelling episodes nearly lost to the ages. Glacial Lake Great Falls changed the course of the Missouri River while carving fascinating geological features like Lost Lake, the Big Sag and Lewis and Clark’s Slaughter River.
Copper from Butte mines, Anaconda smelters, and Great Falls refineries wired the world and helped win the World Wars. Landless Indigenous peoples sought refuge on a hill called 57. A local crusading editor became ‘Montana’s Conscience’ and authored the revered Montana, High, Wide, and Handsome.
A Civil War monument was raised to honor both the Blue and the Gray – the first in the nation to do so. Pathbreaking preservationists Charley and Sue Bovey saved acclaimed gold rush-era Virginia City before historic preservation was cool.”
Award-winning historian Ken Robison reveals the secrets a storied past of the Great Falls’ area. Stop by the Wedsworth Library on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. and discover ‘Hidden History of Great Falls’. Ken will be revealing all sorts of secrets. Come join us at the Wedsworth Library Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 6:00. Of course there’ll be treats!