Essex, Montana

Essex is an unincorporated community in Flathead County, Montana, United States. Located in the northwestern part of the state, Essex lies along the Hi-Line railroad line, near Glacier National Park, 31 mi southwest of East Glacier and 26 mi southeast of West Glacier. Amtrak's Empire Builder makes a flag stop at Essex station, westbound at 7:41pm and eastbound at 8:55am. The Izaak Walton Inn hotel is close to the Amtrak station platform. Essex also is home to a small BNSF Railway yard. Historically, it was used to provide coal and water for steam trains, and to station helper units used to push freight trains over Marias Pass. It is still used to base snow-clearing crews in wintertime.

Named for a county in England, Essex (originally known as Walton) began as a small town on the Great Northern Railway’s main line in 1890.

Essex is also home to the Glacier-Waterton hamfest, which claims to be the oldest continually running such amateur radio event in the world, beginning in 1934 and held during the third full weekend in July at an area RV park.