Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana. The population was 117,116 at the 2020 census, while the Billings metropolitan area has an estimated 193,000 people. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the county seat of Yellowstone County. Billings is the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide and has one of the largest trade areas in the United States.
Billings was nicknamed the "Magic City" because of its rapid growth from its founding as a railroad town in March 1882. The nearby Crow and Cheyenne peoples call the city Ammalapáshkuua and É'êxováhtóva respectively, meaning 'where they cut wood', named as such because of a sawmill built in the area by early white settlers. The city has experienced rapid growth and maintains a strong economy. From 1969 to 2021, the Billings area population growth was 89%, compared to Montana's overall increase of 59%. With more hotel accommodations than any area within a five-state region, the city hosts a variety of conventions, concerts, sporting events, and other rallies. The Cheyenne from the nearby Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation refer to the city as and the Gros Ventre from the nearby Fort Belknap Indian Reservation refer to it as ' (), both also named for the sawmill, or translations of the Crow name.
Prehistory
The downtown core and much of the rest of Billings is in the Yellowstone Valley, a canyon carved out by the Yellowstone River. Around 80 million years ago, the Billings area was on the shore of the Western Interior Seaway. The sea deposited sediment and sand around the shoreline. As the sea retreated, it left a deep layer of sand. Over millions of years, this sand was compressed into stone known as Eagle Sandstone. Over the last million years the river has carved its way down through this stone to form the canyon walls known as the Billings Rimrocks or the Rims.
The Pictograph Caves are about five miles south of downtown. These caves contain over 100 pictographs (rock paintings), the oldest of which is over 2,000 years old. Approximately 30,000 artifacts (including stone tools and weapons) have been excavated from the site. These excavations have proven the area has been occupied since at least 2600 BC until after AD 1800.
The Crow Indians have called the Billings area home since about 1700. The present-day Crow Nation is just south of Billings.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
In July 1806, William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) passed through the Billings area. On July 25 he arrived at what is now known as Pompey's Pillar and wrote in his journal, "... at 4 P M arrived at a remarkable rock, I ascended this rock and from its top had a most extensive view in every direction." Clark carved his name and the date into the rock, leaving the only remaining physical evidence of their expedition. He named the place Pompey's Tower, naming it after the son of his Shoshone interpreter and guide Sacajawea. In 1965, Pompey's Pillar was designated as a national historic landmark, and was proclaimed a national monument in January 2001. An interpretive center has been built next to the monument.
Coulson/Billings
thumb|[[Coulson, Montana]]
The area where Billings is today was known as Clark's Fork Bottom. Clark's Fork Bottom was to be the hub for hauling freight to Judith and Musselshell Basins. At the time these were some of the most productive areas of the Montana Territory. The plan was to run freight up Alkali Creek, now part of Billings Heights, to the basins and Fort Benton on the Hi-Line.
In 1877, settlers from the Gallatin Valley area of the Montana Territory formed Coulson, the first town of the Yellowstone Valley.
Early railroad town
Named after the Northern Pacific Railway president Frederick H. Billings, the city was founded in 1882. The Railroad formed the city as a western railhead for its further westward expansion. At first the new town had only three buildings but within just a few months it had grown to over 2,000. This spurred Billings's nickname of the Magic City because, like magic, it seemed to appear overnight. Perhaps the most famous person to be buried in Coulson's Boothill Cemetery is H.M. "Muggins" Taylor, the scout who carried the news of Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn to the world. Most buried here were said to have died with their boots on. The town of Coulson had been on the Yellowstone River, which made it ideal for the commerce steamboats brought up the river. However, when the Montana & Minnesota Land Company oversaw the development of potential railroad land, they ignored Coulson, and platted the new town of Billings just a couple of miles to the northwest. Coulson quickly faded away; most of her residents were absorbed into Billings. Yet, for a short time, the two towns coexisted; a trolley even ran between them. But ultimately there was no future for Coulson as Billings grew. Though it stood on the banks of the Yellowstone River only a couple of miles from the heart of present-day downtown Billings, the city of Billings never built on the land where Coulson once stood. Today Coulson Park sits along the banks of the Yellowstone where the valley's first town once stood.]]
After World War II, Billings became the region's major financial, medical and cultural center. Billings has had rapid growth from its founding; in its first 50 years growth was, at times, as high as 200 to 300 percent per decade.
Billings growth has remained robust throughout the years. In the 1950s, its growth rate was 66 percent. The 1973 oil embargo by OPEC spurred an oil boom in eastern Montana, northern Wyoming and western North Dakota. With this increase in oil production, Billings became the headquarters for energy sector companies. In 1975 and 1976, the Colstrip coal-fire generation plants 1 and 2 were completed; plants 3 and 4 started operating in 1984 and 1986.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Billings saw major growth in its downtown core; the first high-rise buildings to be built in Montana were erected. In 1980, the 22-floor Sheraton Hotel was completed. Upon its completion, it was declared "the tallest load-bearing brick masonry building in the world" by the Brick Institute of America. During the 1970s and 1980s, other major buildings were constructed in the downtown core; the Norwest Building (now Wells Fargo), Granite Tower, Sage Tower, the MetraPark arena, the TransWestern Center, many new city-owned parking garages, and the First Interstate Center, the tallest building in Montana.
With the completion of large sections of the interstate system in Montana in the 1970s, Billings became a shopping destination for an ever-larger area. The 1970s and 1980s saw new shopping districts and shopping centers developed in the Billings area. In addition to the other shopping centers, two new malls were developed, and Rimrock Mall was redeveloped and enlarged, on what was then the city's west end. Cross Roads Mall was built in Billings Heights, and West Park Plaza in Midtown. Several new business parks were also developed on the city's west end during this period.
Billings was affected by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in May; the city received about of ash on the ground. The Yellowstone fires of 1988 blanketed Billings in smoke for weeks.
In the 1990s, the service sector in the city increased with the development of new shopping centers built around big box stores which built multiple outlets in the Billings area. With the addition of more interchange exits along I-90, additional hotel chains and service industry outlets are being built in Billings. Development of business parks and large residential developments on the city's west end, South Hills area, Lockwood, and the Billings Heights were all part of the 1990s. Billings received the All-America City Award in 1992.
21st century
thumb|Intersection of 4th Ave. N., and N. 28th St. downtown
In the 21st century, Billings saw the development of operations centers in the city's business parks and downtown core by such national companies as GE, Wells Fargo, and First Interstate Bank. Billings avoided the economic downturn that affected most of the nation from 2008 to 2012 as well as the housing bust. In 2002, Skypoint was completed. This artistic structure provides a defining area to host events. Downtown saw a renaissance of the historic area as building after building was restored. In 2007, Billings was designated a Preserve America Community.
Various changes were made to make the city more environmentally friendly. The MET Transit Center for city buses received LEED Platinum status in 2010. This was the first transportation facility in the US to do so. In 2022, Billings received LEED Gold certification, the first city to do so in Montana and the 21st globally. Projects to achieve this status included increased efficiency at the water and waste water treatment plant, adding electric city buses and EV charging stations, and adding a conservation area to the west-end. The Yellowstone River bridge is being rebuilt as part of the Billings Bypass project, which will create a new arterial roadway from Lockwood to the Heights.
The city saw a significant growth in businesses. With the completion of the Shiloh interchange exit, the TransTech Center was developed and more hotels were built. In 2010 the Shiloh corridor was open for business with the completion of the Shiloh parkway, a multi-lane street with eight roundabouts. Other new centers include Billings Town Square and West Park Promenade, Montana's first open-air shopping mall. In 2009, Fortune Small Business magazine named Billings the best small city in which to start a business.
Around Billings, seven mountain ranges can be viewed. The Bighorn Mountains have over 200 lakes and two peaks that rise to over : Cloud Peak, at and Black Tooth Mountain, at . The Pryor Mountains directly south of Billings rise to a height of and are unlike any other landscape in Montana. They are also home the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. The Beartooth Mountains are the location of Granite Peak, which at is the highest point in the state of Montana. The Beartooth Highway, a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks along the Montana–Wyoming border, rises to . It was called "the most beautiful drive in America" by Charles Kuralt. The Beartooth Mountains are just northeast of Yellowstone National Park. The Crazy Mountains to the west rise to a height of at Crazy Peak, the tallest peak in the range. Big Snowy Mountains, with peaks of , are home to Crystal Lake. The Bull Mountains are a low-lying heavily forested range north of Billings Heights. The Absaroka Range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park.
Climate
thumb|right|Climate chart for Billings
Downtown Billings has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk) bordering humid continental climate at the Water Treatment Plant (Köppen: Dfa) even when using the isotherm or at either weather station if using the isotherm, with dry, hot summers, and cold, dry winters. However, Billings Logan International Airport borders on an extremely marginal humid subtropical climate (Koppen: Cfa) when using the isotherm. In the summer, the temperature can rise to over on an average of 1 to 3 days per year, while the winter will bring temperatures below on an average of 12.9 days per year. The snowfall averages a year, but because of warm chinook winds that pass through the region during the winter, snow does not usually accumulate heavily or remain on the ground for long: the greatest depth has been on April 5, 1955, after a huge storm which dumped of water equivalent precipitation as snow in the previous three days under temperatures averaging .
The snowiest year on record was 2017–18, with , topping the 2013–14 previous record of . The first freeze of the season on average arrives by October 6 and the last is May 5. Spring and autumn in Billings are usually mild, but brief. Winds, while strong at times, are considered light compared with the rest of Montana and the Rocky Mountain Front.
On June 20, 2010, a tornado touched down in the Billings Heights and Downtown sections of the city. The tornado was accompanied by hail up to golf ball size, dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning, and heavy winds. The tornado destroyed a number of businesses and severely damaged the 12,000-seat MetraPark Arena.