Montana's DAR Markers . . . Honoring Where History Was Made

In May 1908, as part of its efforts to fund the project, the Oro Fino
Chapter, NSDAR sponsored a concert “for the purpose of raising
money for a gateway to the park surrounding the old fort.”
The debris was cleared, the old northeast blockhouse restored by
the use of adobe bricks and a cement covering, and the buildings were
strengthened for safety. A driveway with walks and a gateway were built
to mark the site, which was landscaped with grass and trees. Thus Old
Fort Park came into existence. On April 4, 1918, the property was
turned over to the town of Fort Benton to be kept and preserved as a
park.
In 1929, the Montana Legislature designated Old Fort Benton as a
site for a State Memorial to Lewis and Clark. In 1931, “the Memorial
Park was well under way and in it a tree was planted for each Chouteau
County man who gave his life in World War I.”
Sun-dried adobe bricks are unable to withstand Montana's weather
and by the 1940s only the preserved northeast bastion and a partial wall
from the Engages' Quarters remained. Then, in 1946, a high wind blew
over one of the remaining walls of the old fort, partially rebuilt of the
original bricks with concrete added for strength. The wind damaged
that section and a fragment of another wall, which were protected by
wire enclosures by the Fort Benton Community Improvement
Association around 1931.
Joining the 1800s-era northeast blockhouse, the local River and
Plains Society (Upper Missouri River Museum) rebuilt the southwest
blockhouse at Fort Benton that had been missing since the 1890s.
Adding a new blockhouse was to help protect the historic northeast
blockhouse, which was generally kept closed because visitors broke off
and took pieces of its adobe. The “new” blockhouse, a fortified corner
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