Livingston Map
Livingston is a city in and the county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. The population was 6,851 at the 2000 census. Livingston is located in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park.
Livingston evolved from a trading post on the Yellowstone River called Benson’s Landing which was approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) downstream from present day Livingston. In July 1882 when Northern Pacific Railway contractors arrived the trading post was renamed ‘’Clark City’’ for contractor Heman Clark. The railroad officially reached Clark City on November 22, 1882. At that time, the community moved to its present location upstream from the trading post and was renamed Livingston in honor of a Northern Pacific Railway stockholder and director, Johnston Livingston (1875–81 and 1884–87). Livingston became the original gateway to Yellowstone National Park, which the NPR began promoting heavily to visitors from the East, by way of a branch running some sixty miles south to first the Cinnabar station and later Gardiner. Livingston was also headquarters for the NPR's Central Division and a good location for railroad shops to service NPR steam trains before their ascent over the Bozeman Pass, the highest point on the line 5,702 feet (1,738 m).
Livingston is situated on the Yellowstone River where it bends from north to east toward Billings, and in proximity to Interstate 90. In 1806 Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped on the city's present outskirts on the return trip east, following the descending Yellowstone River. Clark's party rejoined the Lewis party at the confluence with the Missouri River, near Williston, North Dakota.
Nearby cities include Clyde Park, Pray.