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A Brief History of Sidney, Montana

February 21, 2023/

This Feb. 28, 2012 photo shows a truck driving by the welcome sign for Sidney, Mont. Sidney is experiencing a boom spurred by companies seeking to extract oil from the massive Bakken formation beneath western North Dakota and eastern Montana. More than 16 million barrels of crude are now being pumped every month from the massive Bakken oil field beneath eastern Montana. But Sidney's new-found prosperity doesn't dull the sting of the recent kidnapping and apparent murder of a local teacher, Sherry Arnold, who authorities allege was snatched from a Sidney street by two men among the thousands in search of their own slice of the boom's multi-billion-dollar payoff. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

“Yes of course the big headline out of Richland County, Montana is the closure of the Sidney Sugar facility behind me. But we had the opportunity to come here to find out more about the people. Who makes up this area? What is this town truly about? We decided to take a step back and look at the history to see how Sidney got to this point.”

“They didn’t come here because it was ideal living conditions,” explained Nikki Bailey of the MonDak Heritage Center. “They came and they survived and Sidney will continue to survive and thrive even after all the shutdowns.”

Settlers began arriving in this area of eastern Montana in the 1870s. A trip to the MonDak Heritage Center gives an up close perspective into what life on the frontier was like. It was a tough life. But they were determined to move forward with opportunities that were available.