The Montana State Highway Commission was created in 1913 by the state Legislative Assembly. The original Commission was composed of three members. In 1917 new legislation altered the organization of the Commission by authorizing the appointment of twelve members according to geographic highway districts. Membership was changed again in 1921 to three members appointed by the Governor and in 1941 to five members, also appointed by the Governor. In 1971 the Commission was renamed the Montana Department of Highways, created by Chapter 7 of the Executive Reorganization Act of 1971 and implemented by executive order of the Governor on December 16, 1971. The Department of Highways took over all but the advisory functions of the State Highway Commission.
By 1972, the Department consisted of seven divisions: the Legal Division, Personnel Division, Centralized Services Division, Engineering Division, Motor Pool Division, Gross Vehicle Weight Division, and the Maintenance Division. Each division is headed by an administrator. The Centralized Services Division, Engineering Division, Motor Pool Division, Gross Vehicle Weight Division, and the Maintenance Division are furthered sub-divided into bureaus, headed by Chiefs. In 1991, the Department of Highways became the Department of Transportation. This was primarily a name change. However, there were some structural and administrative changes.
The Highway Department, the Department of Highways, and Department of Transportation maintained regional offices in the five commissioner districts: Billings, Butte, Glendive, Great Falls, and Missoula. The District Engineer (later called the District Administrator) was the chief administrative officer in each district office. District office files document the activities of the district administrators, engineers, maintenance crew, and other district office employees. The district offices addressed administrative, functional, and project related issues of their particular area, including: highway needs, current construction projects, HR/training for employees, road design, federal and state aid and grants, reports to the Department of Highways/ Department of Transportation in Helena regarding general maintenance, construction, and area concerns, etc. District administrators held meetings every 6 weeks. Other employees in the district and area offices also attended duty-specific meetings with outside district staff members; including maintenance crew meetings, engineer meetings etc., in order to maintain consistent communication among the districts and with other state agencies regarding programs, projects, and district goals. The files in the district office were kept by the District Engineer/Administrator.
The Glendive District area includes the Wolf Point and Miles City Area Offices. The Area Offices operate similarly to the District Offices providing contacts; administration, maintenance, construction, and traveler information services; and communication with local, regional, and state officials as well as with the public.
The Glendive District Office records contain correspondence, subject files, meeting minutes and some reports of the Glendive District Office, and the district area offices in Wolf Point and Miles City.
The collection is organized into three subgroups: Glendive District Office, and the district area offices in Wolf Point and Miles City.
Collection is open for research.
The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Department of Transportation were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 492, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog, and to follow best archival practices.
Collections from Montana Department of Transportation's various Divisions and Bureaus that
were previously treated as separate entities are now integrated into
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.
The Glendive District Office Files consist of Correspondence (1950-2001) and Meeting Minutes (1950-2001) kept by the district engineer. The Meeting Minutes are predominately District Staff Meetings, but also include some Maintenance and Administrative Staff Meetings as well as some Reports.
The Miles City Area Office Files include construction diaries (1939-1956) and subject files (1940-1982). The construction diaries document the daily construction activities of the project engineers for Miles City. The subject files consist of reference materials, correspondence, memos, and some general personnel files kept by the district engineer.