Old Montana Prison & Auto Museum Complex

It's a very educational place for everyone especially the Montanians. This is where you will learn about the prison history and the prisoner's life. It's worth to see. I've been there on Halloween month. The staff decorated the place in a spooky way! I was so scared! They did a great job!

Wonderful museum complex just off the highway in Deer Lodge. We were just passing through on the way to Glacier NP and had a little time on our hands. The prison is large and clearly laid out. The displays are very interesting. The attached car museum is wonderful. My husband and I found both our first cars in there. It was quite a fun afternoon. The ticket price includes a second visit, which we plan on using next week to visit the museums across the street of toys and WWII vehicles.

This was a great stop!!! The kids didn't want to stop initially, but ended up enjoying reading the plaques and learning about what was made here.
We were quite humbled seeing the missing children in the law enforcement museum section, but it opened for a discussion topic that we don't talk about enough, and they wanted to understand more.

Broken Wings Paranormal (found on YouTube) did an overnight investigation from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. We have investigated other prisons and we are very impressed with how clean this prison is. We loved how easily accessible the building's are, and the fact they're far enough away from each other that we had no issues with interference of sounds from the other buildings or outside. It was sad we weren't able to go into the theater. Hopefully, the investigation fees will help more funds go to supporting the renovation of that building. We would love to come back, especially after the incredible paranormal evidence we captured here. We highly recommend this location for other groups, and even individuals who want to take part in a tour.

I visited the Old Montana Prison back in July of this year. I went on the self guided day tour, along with the overnight paranormal tour. The staff both day and night time guides are very friendly, along with being informative with knowledge and stories of the prison. I want to note that ticket price is a good value that provides admission into several other museums besides for the prison.

Amazing value! Your ticket to this museum also gets you entry to several others and one revisit for up to a year. The gift shop is very nice, reasonably prices. The staff are friendly, and the tour was excellent. We will definitely take advantage of that revisit! Considering the value you get, the 18.00 adult admission is a real bargain :-).

This was a fun experience. This prison is old, not maintained, and pretty cool. They offer military discount on admissions tickets. The tickets get you into all the museums. There is a car museum, old vintage logging, mining museum, WW2, old toys, hobby craft, art and pen museum. There are also some old trains to see, a pinic area, old jail, blacksmith shack, log cabin, schoolhouse, carriage house and antique stores.

Amazing. Just allow yourself plenty of time. A whole lot to see. Lady at the gift shop says you can park your semi in the RV parking next to the trains while visiting the museum, but I bicycled 🚲 from the truckstop. Not only do they have a huge collection of cars, there is much to see in the prison. Then there are several museums across the street. I almost ran out of time.

What a fantastic museum! We were passing through, and arrived kind of late, but were delighted to learn that our admission is good for up to a year, so we can come back and finish the rest, so long as we keep our receipt! Was mostly excited about the prison portion (which was great) but was so pleasantly surprised by the auto museum. You really do need to spend at least half a day here, but with their extended admission, this works great. Can't wait to return to attend the other attractions we didn't get to see this time (Yesterday's Playthings, Frontier Montana, etc.). Also, we were eligible for a discount, which was so greatly appreciated. Can't wait to come back!

The automotive museum is very good. A great collection of cars from every era. Many of them are fairly rare to see. The collection is much larger than I expected. If you are a car person, you should plan your trip through this area to allow you to stop, you will be glad you did
The prison is eye opening. If you have never been in one, you should see it here where they let you leave. You do not want your first tour to be a permanent one haha.

Really fantastic tour of the old prison. The tour route was slightly confusing in a couple of areas, but it's a minor complaint. There are many informative signs and plaques. Allow at least a couple of hours.

Being a prisoner in the old days of Montana was not easy.
The car museum has a large variety of cars and trucks. Every one will enjoy both museums.

Lovely piece of history. The team that looks after the site, including gift shop, maintenance, etc. are knowledgable and friendly. I appreciate that this fascinating site is accessible to visitors.

We parked on the street next to the museum and headed up the walkway into a main hall. A no nonsense gal announced the pricing and we paid. She handed us a receipt and a brochure and said "Prison through here, cars over there." Perfect considering the place!
We started our walking through the prison buildings and took time to read the displays. What sad stories, what ingenious ways people had to be both bad and hopeful. After a while I got creeped out as it reminded me too much of prison movies but this was and is real life.
The car stuff was also pretty neat, but not gonna lie, I liked the gift shop best because they have neat stuff, beautiful made in Montana pottery items (and semi funny prison shirts). Overall, a lot of emotions for me, but for others in our group, they were fascinated by the up close and personal look at history and things. Definitely worth a visit, whatever your feelings are. It is educational and important.

Love the auto museum and what Sherm has built. Most amazing classic car collection. Love walking through and seeing a dozen or so that I own as well. Cheers!

Really awesome place to see if your into old stuff. History

Love this place. Never thought I'd say that about a prison. But there is so much history here and I went with my husband a few years ago and again just a few weeks ago. I love that we can go into the different cells and offices and see what it was like.

The self-guided tour of the prison was impressive period but what you need to come for is the auto museum that is adjacent. Over 200 vehicles 99.9% of them and pristine condition. Beautifully laid out in a humongous display. Extremely impressive. Impress me more than the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles

This place is a really cool stop you might otherwise overlook. It has an old prison, hundreds of amazing cars from the 1900s-1970s, and an old toy museum. You gain access to all of this with one admission ticket sold at the prison gift shop, which is good for a 2nd visit within one year.

The prison is cool to walk around, and the ghost/paranormal crowd seems to especially dig it. The car museum is amazing, there are so many old, expensive and rare cars in there! I really liked the toy museum, make sure to check out the miniture train exhibit. The caretaker was very kind and sweet.

Second trip here for me. I like this place. I'm sort of a history buff so I enjoy all the information and pictures. Staff is always super friendly. The car museum is very interesting as well. Over 200+ cars from lots of different decades. Very interesting, fun, two for one outing. Will probably go a 3rd time too.