Editing Billings, Montana (section)

===Early railroad town===
Named after the [[Northern Pacific Railway]] president [[Frederick H. Billings]], the city was founded in 1882.<ref name="names">{{cite book|last1=Carkeek Cheney|first1=Roberta|title=Names on the Face of Montana|date=1983|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company|location=Missoula, Montana|isbn=0-87842-150-5|page=5}}</ref><ref name="mhs">{{cite web|title=Montana Place Names Companion|url=http://mtplacenames.org/|publisher=Montana Historical Society|access-date=July 25, 2017}}</ref> The Railroad formed the city as a western railhead for its further westward expansion. At first the new town had only three buildings but within just a few months it had grown to over 2,000. This spurred Billings' nickname of the Magic City because, like magic, it seemed to appear overnight.<ref name="autogenerated2" />

{{Panorama|image=File:MT Panoramic view of Billings 1915.jpg|caption=Panoramic view of downtown Billings, 1915, looking east and south from the intersection of North 28th Street (extending away in the photo's right half) and 3rd Avenue North (extending away in the photo's  left half). The [[Electric Building (Billings, Montana)|Electric Building]] is under construction (center). [[First Congregational United Church of Christ (Billings, Montana)|First Congregational Church]] is on the far left. |height=200}}

The nearby town of Coulson appeared a far more likely site. Coulson was a rough-and-tumble town where arguments were often followed by gunplay. [[Liver-Eating Johnson]] was a lawman in Coulson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://johnlivereatingjohnston.com/ |title=John Liver Eating Johnston |publisher=Johnlivereatingjohnston.com |date=July 5, 2009 |access-date=August 7, 2012}}</ref> Perhaps the most famous person to be buried in Coulson's Boothill cemetery is H.M. "Muggins" Taylor,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.billings.k12.mt.us/talesw/teamtale/castle/taylor.htm |title=Taylor |publisher=Billings.k12.mt.us |access-date=August 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722022000/http://www.billings.k12.mt.us/talesw/teamtale/castle/taylor.htm |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the scout who carried the news of Custer's Last Stand at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Battle of Little Bighorn]] to the world. Most buried here were said to have died with their boots on. The town of Coulson had been on the [[Yellowstone River]], which made it ideal for the commerce [[steamboat]]s brought up the river. However, when the Montana & Minnesota Land Company oversaw the development of potential railroad land, they ignored Coulson, and platted the new town of Billings just a couple of miles to the northwest. Coulson quickly faded away; most of her residents were absorbed into Billings. Yet, for a short time, the two towns coexisted; a trolley even ran between them. But ultimately there was no future for Coulson as Billings grew. Though it stood on the banks of the Yellowstone River only a couple of miles from the heart of present-day downtown Billings, the city of Billings never built on the land where Coulson once stood. Today Coulson Park sits along the banks of the Yellowstone where the valley's first town once stood.<ref name="autogenerated2" />