This Month in Montana History: March

March 1st 1872, 151 years ago: The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act is signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, establishing Yellowstone as the first national park in the United States.

March 21st 1888, 135 years ago: The first issue of The Age was published in Boulder. The Age was the second paper to be published in Boulder; the first being the Jefferson County Sentinel, which began publication in 1885. The two would later combine to make the Age-Sentinel but suffered from mismanagement and closed in 1909. First-issue articles include the development of a new school building, news of mines around the Boulder district, a sudden increase of people pleading insanity to Probate Judge Kerley, and invitations to a leap-year party.

March 13th 1889, 134 years ago: The last session of the Territorial Legislation adjourns in Helena. When the legislature meets again, Montana will be the 41st state in the United States.

March 18th 1891, 132 years ago: Mary O'Hara is arrested in Elkhorn after robbing John Hazard for $80 (about $2,400 when adjusted for inflation).

March 7th 1894, 129 years ago: Post offices at Comet and Bernice shut down.

March 2nd 1895, 128 years ago: Burglars at the Great Northern Trail Station in Basin take off with $40, nearly $1,200 when adjusted for inflation.

March 4th 1917, 106 years ago: Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman sworn into the United State House of Representatives. Though her term would be over before its passing, Rankin played a large part in the creation of the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women the federal right to vote. She remains the only woman elected to Congress from Montana.

March 22nd 1972, 51 years ago: Montanans hold a new constitutional convention to replace the original state constitution written in 1889.

Information from The Age, The Age Sentinel, Boulder Monitor, and Montana Sunlight, as well as additional historic sources Conduct your own research at MontanaNewspapers.org