Terry

History

The site where Terry is located was first called Joubert's Landing, in recognition of the man who built a supply point along the Yellowstone River for freighters traveling from Bismarck, Dakota Territory, to Miles City, Montana Territory. When the Northern Pacific Railway's transcontinental rail line arrived in 1881, the town was renamed for Alfred Howe Terry, a general in the Union Army who commanded an 1876 expedition in connection with George Armstrong Custer’s campaign against Native Americans, specifically in the west. Terry became a two-railroad town when the Milwaukee Road constructed a transcontinental line known as the Pacific Extension through the town in the early 20th century. The Custer Creek train wreck, the worst rail disaster in Montana history, occurred near Terry along this line in 1938. The town was incorporated in 1910.

Geography

Terry is in Eastern Montana, approximately south of the Yellowstone River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. The Terry Badlands lie just north of the Yellowstone River, and is one of the wilderness study areas in Montana. The town on average has over 200 days of sunshine a year. The average annual snowfall is 17.6 inches a year.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  186
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  166
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  104
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  103
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  94
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  94
• Cliff Swallow

  Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  92
• Western Kingbird

  Tyrannus verticalis Say, 1823 · Aves
  92

Largest nearby schools

• Terry School
  Elementary · Terry · 80 students · 10:1 ratio
• Terry High School
  High · Terry · 33 students · 8.3:1 ratio
• Terry Middle School
  Middle · Terry · 32 students · 32:1 ratio