Shelby is a city in and the county seat of Toole County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,169 at the 2020 census.
History
thumb|right|Toole County Courthouse
Shelby was named in honor of Peter O. Shelby, general manager of the Montana Central Railway. A railroad station was established here in about 1892, at the junction of the Great Northern Railway and the Great Falls & Canada Railway.
On July 4, 1923, the town hosted a heavyweight boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons for the undisputed world heavyweight boxing championship title. This event almost bankrupted the town of Shelby.
In the early 2000s the town hosted a dog camp that made national news. It was named Camp Collie and helped mistreated dogs.
Welker Farms, an agricultural operation known for its popular social media channels, is located near Shelby.
The Well Done Foundation, which plugs orphaned and abandoned oil wells, opened a visitors' center in Shelby in 2020.
Geography
Shelby is near the Marias River and Aloe Lake.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
Shelby has four distinct seasons, and is considered an arid climate. Long, severe winters give way to springlike weather anywhere from March to May. Summers can be dry and hot, and the area is prone to lightning, hail, and severe thunderstorms during the summer months. Fall weather is often unpredictable, with snow falling during October some years, and temperatures well into the 60s °F (10s °C) stretching until the end of November on other years. Due to the city's location just off of the Rocky Mountain Front, wind is a constant.
A weather station operated in the town from the late 1990s shows slightly higher temperatures than nearby towns such as Cut Bank.