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Montana · Hi-Line · #519
Hill County, Montana
On the Hi-Line where the Great Northern Railway crosses the northern Montana plains within sight of Canada, Havre is the regional hub for one of the most isolated stretches of the American agricultural frontier - a small city that has served the Hi-Line's wheat farmers, the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, and the Amtrak Empire Builder route for more than a century.
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Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Hill County Disaster & Emergency Services – Coordinator Ashly Taylor, (406) 265-5481 ext. 2370; a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meets the second Tuesday of each month with representatives from the county, City of Havre, Northern Montana Hospital, MSU-Northern, and the Chippewa Cree Nation.
Sheriff: Hill County Sheriff’s/Coroner’s Office – 1450/1452 2nd Street West, PO Box 176, Havre, MT 59501 | (406) 265-2512 | Fax: (406) 262-9548 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff/Coroner Jamie Ross.
Havre Police Department: 18 sworn officers, 7th-largest municipal department in Montana; covers city jurisdiction, with the Sheriff’s Office covering rural areas and Rocky Boy tribal officers covering the Chippewa Cree Reservation.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-2 (the Hi-Line) and US-87 serve Havre, the county seat, in north-central Montana on the Canadian border.
Notes: Hill County, named for James Hill (president of the Great Northern Railway, who first brought the Transcontinental Railroad through the county), spans over 2,900 square miles with about 16,300 residents. Havre remains a major railroad service center.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Hill County – confirm current phone via hillcounty.us.
Notes: Havre is genuinely home to Havre Beneath the Streets – after a devastating 1904 fire destroyed most of downtown Havre, businesses (a saloon, a Chinese laundry, a bakery, and others) genuinely relocated underground and continued operating for months to years while the buildings above were rebuilt; the tour today recreates those underground spaces. Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump, a genuine 2,000-year-old prehistoric bison hunting site (also called the “Too Close for Comfort Site”), offers guided tours including atlatl-throwing demonstrations. Fort Assinniboine, built 1879, was once the largest and most active military fort in the country, stretching across 700,000 acres, with a history connected to the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Hill County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via hillcounty.us.
Federal: VA Montana Health Care System (Fort Harrison/Helena, accessible south).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Havre City-County Library – confirm current address/hours via ci.havre.mt.us.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Beaver Creek Park – genuinely one of the largest county parks in the entire United States at roughly 10,000 acres, offering camping, fishing, hiking, and dark-sky stargazing in the Bear Paw Mountains – plus the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum (a Montana Dinosaur Trail stop) and downtown Havre’s historic districts are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “underground city” story behind Havre Beneath the Streets is one of the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Hill County – confirm current contact via hillcounty.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Havre Animal Shelter – a City of Havre-operated shelter; contact via havreanimalshelter.org or [email protected].
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Hill County – confirm current contact via hillcounty.us.
NOTES: Hill County is the first county in the Montana v2 A+ sourced redo’s fourth batch. The genuine “underground city” story of Havre Beneath the Streets is one of the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Hill County
Hill County sits on the Hi-Line – the nickname for the stretch of U.S. Highway 2 and the old Great Northern Railway mainline across northern Montana – in some of the most remote agricultural territory in the lower 48. Havre is the largest city between Glasgow and Shelby along the Hi-Line, a regional hub for healthcare, retail, and higher education (Montana State University-Northern) across a wide swath of north-central Montana. The Amtrak Empire Builder, running from Chicago to Seattle and Portland, makes a daily stop in both directions – one of the few passenger rail connections these communities have to the broader country.
The Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, just south of Havre, is home to the Chippewa Cree Tribe. The reservation’s proximity to Havre shapes the county’s social services, education, and economy in ways that are visible throughout both communities. Hill County’s economy is predominantly wheat farming and associated services – grain elevators, agricultural suppliers, and the healthcare and retail functions that the Hi-Line’s scattered rural population requires. The winters are severe and the landscape is vast: this is the open northern plains at their most elemental.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Montana assesses residential property at approximately 1.35% of market value for the statewide mill levy. Property owners may appeal to the State Tax Appeal Board. Montana has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
North Central Montana Area Agency on Aging
P.O. Box 7548, Havre, MT 59501
Phone: (406) 265-5464
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Hill County residents.
Senior Services
North Central Montana Area Agency on Aging
P.O. Box 7548, Havre, MT 59501
Phone: (406) 265-5464
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Hill County residents.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK AND RECORDER
315 4th St., Havre, MT 59501
(406) 265-5481
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
315 4th St., Havre, MT 59501
(406) 265-5481
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Hill County Clerk of District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The Hill County Courthouse, built in 1912, is the county’s original seat of government.
Local societies
No dedicated Hill County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Hill County Clerk of District Court, Probate Division 315 4th Street, Havre, MT 59501 (406) 400-2414
Hill County was founded in 1912, named for railroad magnate James J. Hill, on Montana’s northern border with Canada, seated in Havre.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Montana adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), codified at Title 72 of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). Probate is handled by the District Court in the county where the decedent resided.
Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (MCA § 72-3-1101) – available when the value of the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. At least 30 days must have passed since the death, and no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted anywhere. The affiant presents the sworn, notarized affidavit (with a certified death certificate) directly to whoever holds the property to collect it – skipping probate court entirely. Must be used within 3 years of death.
Summary Administration – a streamlined court process for estates valued at $100,000 or less; unlike the affidavit procedure, this still goes through the court, just with reduced formality.
Informal Probate – the most common path for uncontested estates. An application can be made to the clerk of district court no sooner than 120 hours (5 days) after death, with minimal court involvement.
Formal Probate – required when there’s no will, when a will’s validity is contested, or when there’s disagreement over the personal representative or distribution. Handled by a district court judge.
Supervised Administration – formal probate with ongoing court oversight of the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for formal or informal probate
File an application (informal) or petition (formal) with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent resided, no sooner than 120 hours after death.
The court or clerk appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors and gives direct notice to known creditors. Creditors generally have 4 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets.
After debts, taxes, and expenses are paid and the creditor claim period expires, the personal representative distributes the remaining assets and closes the estate.
What it costs
Montana does not set statutory percentage-based fees; personal representative and attorney fees are generally “reasonable compensation” based on time and complexity.
Montana has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
315 4th St., Havre, MT 59501
(406) 265-4478
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
315 4th St., Havre, MT 59501
(406) 265-5481
ELECTIONS
315 4th St., Havre, MT 59501
(406) 265-5481
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MT DPHHS — Hill
(406) 265-5516
Northern Montana Hospital
nmhcare.org (Havre — quality regional hospital; major Hi-Line anchor)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Hill County Health Department – confirm current phone via hillcountyhealth.com.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Havre
Population: 16,500
Area: 2,896 sq mi
Established: 1912
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Hill County facilities via Amazon.
