History

About Pray, MT

Pray, MT was founded by Mr. Valentine Egger in 1902 as a railroad siding stop along the Park Branch railroad. It was originally located on the West side of the Yellowstone River about 2 ½ miles west of the present town location.

Valentine Egger built a general store and wanted to add a post office to ensure regular customers. He petitioned for a post office and asked for the post office to be called Egger. The authorities turned down the name because Montana had a post office which had been named “Edgar” and they thought it would cause confusion.

Valentine Knew that Montana’s Congressional representative in Washington, Charles N. Pray, was the one responsible for assisting the postal departments in establishing new offices. Given that Charles Pray was a fellow Montanan, and an influential person, he suggested this man’s name be given for the new town.

Charles Pray was a district Judge, Congressman, and was known as the “father of Glacier National Park”, as he had a big hand in developing and supporting this National Park. He was widely respected in Montana and Washington D.C. and he agreed to support the request.

On December 8, 1909, Valentine accomplished his goal and he got his town. Pray, Montana became an official town with a post office and an official zip code of 59065.

As rail traffic decreased, and auto traffic increased on the newly built highway on the east side of the Yellowstone River (Highway 540), Weymiller decided to move his store and post office to a more favorable location.

The move was made sometime in 1934 to its present location on Highway 540, known locally as East River Road.

The general store and post office were relocated in a two-story gambrel roof building that was a former home. This home was moved to the site to accommodate the “new” general store, post office, hair salon, and gas station.