Fort Benton
Grand Union Hotel
Fort Benton's 1882 steamboat-era hotel on the Missouri River levee, which the hotel and state tourism call Montana's oldest; reopened in 1999.
- Built
- 1882Construction ran from August 15, 1881 to November 2, 1882.
- Style
- Italianate
- Architect
- Thomas Tweedy
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 26
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Inside a National Register historic district
The story
Built at the height of the Missouri River steamboat trade at a cost of $50,000 plus $150,000 in furnishings, the Grand Union opened November 2, 1882 with a party for more than 300 guests. Within a year the railroads to Helena and Calgary had undercut Fort Benton. The hotel declined, closed for a failed renovation in 1983, and was stripped and sold at a 1986 sheriff’s sale. James and Cheryl Gagnon bought it in 1995 and reopened it on November 2, 1999, its 117th anniversary.
The ghost story
Montana's state tourism office says visitors cite the sound of phantom hoofbeats on the stairs, credited to a cowboy shot when he rode his horse into the hotel and up the main staircase.
Source: visitmt.com
Good to know
- Address: 1 Grand Union Square, Fort Benton, MT 59442
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.