Photos courtsey of Western Heritage Center
March Grand Re-Opening at the Western Heritage Center
Celebrate Our Grand Re-Opening!
Museum Opening Reception
March 17, 2026
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Join our members and friends as we celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of the Western Heritage Center. Be among the first to experience our newly redesigned galleries and explore four brand-new exhibition spaces showcasing powerful stories from Billings, Montana, and the American West.
Enjoy a relaxed evening with local beer, Dutch lunch, and community conversation as you take in the museum’s newest exhibits and reconnect with the history that shapes our region.
General Event Admission: $15
Special Member Price: $10
Tickets are available now. Purchase Tickets
Follow along on Facebook for updates and a look at what’s coming next in 2026.
March 2026 Events
Galleries Open:
Tuesday – Saturday | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Featured Exhibitions:
- Having a Beer in Billings
- Hope in Hard Times: Arthur Rothstein & Marion Post Wolcott in Eastern Montana
- Prisoner of War: Ben Steele’s Personal Chronicle from Bataan to Hiroshima
- Delegations and Diplomacy: The Apsaalooke in Washington D.C.
Current Ongoing Exhibits
Having a Beer In Billings
March – December 2026
From its earliest days, Billings has been shaped by transportation, commerce, and community gatherings. Nowhere was that more evident than in its breweries and saloons. Having a Beer in Billings explores the role of beer in the city’s social and economic life.
Through artifacts, photographs, and local stories, visitors will discover how beer helped bring people together, fueled early business ventures, and left a lasting mark on Billings’ culture. Step into the city’s spirited past and raise a glass to history.
Hope in Hard Times
March – September 12, 2026
Between 1930 and 1941, Montana experienced one of the worst droughts in modern history. Combined with the hardships of the Great Depression, families across the state struggled to make a living.
During the 1930s, the Farm Security Administration sent photographers Arthur Rothstein and Marion Post Wolcott to document life across rural America. Their images from Eastern Montana capture both the hardship and resilience of the era, creating one of the most vivid visual records of New Deal Montana.
Prisoners of War: Ben Steele’s Personal Chronicle from Bataan to Hiroshima
March – July 18, 2026
Ben Steele was an American soldier stationed in the Philippines at the start of World War II. When American forces on the Bataan Peninsula surrendered in 1942, Steele was among the thousands of American and Filipino troops forced to endure the Bataan Death March.
He spent the next three and a half years as a prisoner of war in several labor camps, surviving disease, starvation, and brutal conditions. After the war, Steele began drawing the scenes he remembered from captivity. Over time, he became a respected artist of the American West, but the memories of his imprisonment never faded. This exhibition shares Steele’s powerful drawings and the story behind them.
Delegations and Diplomacy: The Apsáalooke in Washington, D.C.
March – August 15, 2026
In the late 1800s, Apsáalooke leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., to defend their homelands and resist further land loss. Their experiences were recorded in ledger drawings created with graphite and colored pencil.
Preserved in the Barstow Collection, these rare works depict trains, circuses, Capitol buildings, and moments of negotiation experienced during their travels. The exhibition highlights the drawings as both art and testimony to Apsáalooke leadership, diplomacy, and resilience during a time of immense pressure from U.S. policies.
Stay Updated
Looking for new exhibits? Check out their Facebook page for updates: Western Heritage Center on Facebook
The Western Heritage Center is located at 2822 Montana Avenue, Billings, Montana 59101, and is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.
