Photograph of C. M. Russell Museum Complex — Photograph by Roger Wollstadt, CC BY-SA 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Charles M. Russell House and Studio

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1953. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

From the record

“Russell Museum Complex is an art museum located in the city of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. The museum's primary function is to display the artwork of Great Falls "cowboy artist" Charles Marion Russell, for whom the museum is named.”
Wikipedia article C. M. Russell Museum Complex, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 43 National Register listings published here for Cascade County · listed in 1966 · category: Building · built in 1953 · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Russell, Charles M., House and Studio - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 1217-1219 4th Ave., N., Great Falls, 59401
When was it listed? October 1966
Category. building
Census division. Great Falls
When was it built? 1953
National Register reference number. 66000430 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

32 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Charles M. Russell House and Studio between 2000 and 2019, burning about 339 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10
Fireworks	8
Equipment and vehicle use	8
Recreation and ceremony	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Smoking	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Debris and open burning	1
Arson/incendiarism	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Central Land Office	BLACK EAGLE
4 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Cascade County	57 COMMAND
1 September 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Central Land Office	MONARCH
29 August 2018	Equipment and vehicle use	2.5 acres	Central Land Office	not named
29 August 2018	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Central Land Office	not named
25 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Central Land Office	BLACK EAGLE
23 August 2017	Power generation/transmission/distribution	40 acres	Central Land Office	BLACK EAGLE
19 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Central Land Office	VAUGHN

Every fire recorded in Cascade County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Charles M. Russell House and Studio: 2 prospects, 2 producers, 2 unknowns, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
(Facility) Great Falls Refinery	Copper, Silver	Plant
Fred Remmington Property	Gypsum-Anhydrite	Prospect
Great Falls Bentonite	Bentonite	Unknown
Great Falls Slag Dump	Iron	Unknown
Treasurelite Shale Mine	Clay	Prospect
Unnamed Location	Clay	Occurrence
Unnamed Location	Clay	Occurrence
Johnson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Kraus Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Montana Sand and Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Cascade County

Storms near this property

60 of 127 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Great Falls, the town this property stands in, in 127 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 53 thunderstorm wind, 48 hail, 8 heavy rain, 8 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2004	Lightning	Great Falls	1 hurt, $10,000	no account filed
August 2004	Hail	Great Falls	1 hurt	no account filed
January 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	$30,000	Roof torn off mobile home...trailer tipped over...power outages.
August 2019	Lightning	Great Falls	$10,000	Great Falls Fire department reported a structure fire caused by lightning striking a tree and adjacent house. The department received the report shortly after 10 AM. The timing of the lightning strike was determined by the lightning detection network. Also, the property damage cost was estimated.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A 63 mph wind gust measured at a ambient weather station on NW side of Great Falls.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A 65 mph gust measured at Ambient weather station on west side of Great Falls.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A 63 mph gust at Ambient weather station.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A 59 mph gust at ambient weather station (corrected from Non-Tstm Gust to Tstm gust).
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A 58 mph gust at Ambient weather station (corrected from Non-Tstm Gust to Tstm gust).
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Ambient weather sensor in northern Cascade county measured a 59 mph gust.
August 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Ambient weather station north of Great Falls.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Quarter size hail reported. Damage to vehicles and RV reported as well.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Public report with image of quarter sized hail next to a quarter for reference.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Quarter sized hail reported.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Social media report of three quarter of an inch to an inch sized hail.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Social media report of 1 inch hail. Time and location estimated.
June 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Quarter sized hail reported.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Ambient weather station measured gust.
July 2025	Hail	Great Falls	-	Public reported 1 inch hail. Time of report estimated via radar.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A gust of 70 mph was measured north of Great Falls. Location is estimated.
June 2022	Heavy Rain	Great Falls	-	Social media report.
July 2022	Hail	Great Falls	-	Report from Mping.
August 2022	Heavy Rain	Great Falls	-	Trained spotter reports rain fell over 15 minutes.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	KTFX measured a 51 kt (59 mph) thunderstorm wind gust.
July 2022	Hail	Great Falls	-	Photos submitted of large hail in NW Great Falls.
July 2022	Hail	Great Falls	-	Public report estimating 2.5 inch hail via photo 3 miles WNW of Black Eagle.
July 2022	Hail	Great Falls	-	Several photos from members of public of 2 inch hail in the Riverview area.
July 2022	Hail	Great Falls	-	Public report of 1.5 inch hail near Skyline School (2 miles WNW of Black Eagle).
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Public measured 57 kt (66 mph) thunderstorm wind gust.
August 2021	Hail	Great Falls	-	Report from mping.
June 2021	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Local Newspaper reports flash flooding occurred along 3rd St NW between the Fairgrounds and the Montana Department of Transportation Yard. Waters on the street reached 18 inches in depth and impeded access to several businesses in the area. Several motorists were stranded, and water began rising up through manholes in the street.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Video posted on Facebook shows a tree getting blown down on Skyline Drive NE. Some area Weather Underground weather station reported peak wind gusts of 50-55 MPH.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Off-Duty NWS employee reports some trees down in the stone meadows neighborhood on the north side of Great Falls.
July 2020	Flood	Great Falls	-	Great Falls public safety reports flooding of numerous intersections in Great Falls area due to thunderstorm rains.
June 2020	Funnel Cloud	Great Falls	-	Pictures show cold air funnel 6 mi s Great Falls, looking south.
June 2019	Hail	Great Falls	-	One inch hail measured.
June 2019	Hail	Great Falls	-	Quarter size hail reported on the northwest side of Great falls.
June 2019	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Landslide occurring on River Drive.
June 2019	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Water on Roads near the northwest bypass. Relayed by media.
June 2019	Flood	Great Falls	-	One foot of water observed flowing across Central Ave.
June 2019	Flood	Great Falls	-	One foot of water observed flowing across Central Ave.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	KRTV reported a tree downed by thunderstorm winds at 1st Ave North and Park Drive.
July 2019	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Local media reported flash flooding in downtown along the 4th and 5th blocks of Central Ave. Flooding on one side of the road was about ankle deep, with flooding up to the car doors and some water reaching the store fronts. It was also reported that the underpass by the police station had cars submersed in flood water.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Tree limbs about three inches in diameter were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Power lines down and blocking south bound lane of interstate 15 at miler marker 281.6.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	A member of the public measured a 72 mph (63 kts) thunderstorm wind gust at a residence located on Wells Fargo Drive. Time of event was estimated by radar and nearby observations.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Large billboard near the Pilot Travel Center/Town Pump Truck Stop was folded in half , with two of the four large wooden supports snapped above ground level. Time was estimated to be between 6:53 PM and 7:04 PM MST based on the fact that the ASOS across interstate 15 reported a 58 mph (52 kts) wind gust at 6:53 PM MST.
August 2019	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Water was still over the curb on the northwest side of the intersection of 3rd St NW approximately a half hour after the rain had ended. The outer outbound lane 3rd St NW was closed by the fire department and public works. Estimated water depth was 4 to 7 inches over the closed lanes, with 2 to 4 inches over the inner lanes.
June 2018	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Local broadcast media shared Facebook video of minor street flooding in Great Falls. Water was almost touching the doors of a car.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Basketball hoop with metal pole snapped in half.
May 2017	Hail	Great Falls	-	Quarter size hail and wind gusts estimated at 70 mph.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Great Falls	-	Rotted tree blown down by thunderstorm. Estimated gust of 60 mph.
June 2016	Hail	Great Falls	-	A thunderstorm dropped 1.5 inch diameter hail in Great Falls. The storm produced reports of hail ranging from 1 inch to 1.75 inches in diameter. The hail caused damage to numerous vehicles, especially on the east side of the city. Damage to structures was also reported.
August 2016	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	Public and law enforcement reports numerous cars stranded due to high water with several people rescued from their cars. Several roads were closed due to high water and at least 4 businesses along with 25 residences reported damage due to water. People were evacuated from an apartment complex and several buildings on the campus of the University of Great Falls suffered water damage.
August 2016	Hail	Great Falls	-	A thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail near Benefis East in Great Falls. Also, a 1.75 inch diameter tree branch was blown down.
August 2016	Hail	Great Falls	-	A thunderstorm dropped 1.5 inch diameter hail at Great Falls. Also, 1 inch and 1.25 inch hail was reported at Great Falls and at Tracy 4NE. Numerous reports of damaged vehicles were received by law enforcement and some damage to structures was reported.
August 2016	Flash Flood	Great Falls	-	A thunderstorm produced heavy rain over Great Falls and surrounding areas just after midnight on August 10. Numerous reports of flooded streets were reported.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Great Falls	-	Heavy rain of about 1.20 inches in 48 hours was reported.
May 2014	Hail	Great Falls	-	Hail measuring 1.00 inches was reported in Great Falls, MT.
July 2014	Heavy Rain	Great Falls	-	Heavy rain, measuring 1.60 inches in about 24 hours.

Every storm recorded in Cascade County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Harry E. Randall House	0.2 miles	1986
Great Falls Central High School	0.3 miles	1976
East Side Neighborhood Historic District	0.4 miles	2016
Masonic Temple	0.4 miles	2000
Great Falls Railroad Historic District	0.4 miles	1993
First United Methodist Church Parsonage	0.6 miles	2003

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 66000430 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Cascade County	All 43 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.