Earl Guss Park

Listen to Audio

Located in Billings Heights, Earl Guss Park is part of the Yellowstone River Greenway Project laying south of Bench Boulevard and adjacent to the MetraPark parking lot, near one of the many access points to Jim Dutcher Trail. The park was named after Earl Guss, a visionary and one of the founders of the Yellowstone River Parks Association.  For more than 30 years, Guss actively helped to develop many important parks and trails around the City of Billings. In the organization’s first four years alone, YRPA help develop Norm’s Island, Two Moon Park, and the Kiwanis Trail.

Most recently, YRPA received a stunning 600-acre private land donation by the Sindelar Family which includes generous frontage along the Yellowstone River. Once developed, the John H. Dover Memorial Park will connect Lockwood with Billings Heights at Lois’ Point, then continue across 120 acres to Mary and Five Mile Streets and Highway 3.

Earl Guss died in Billings on January 5, 2023, but his vision and enthusiasm continues through the many YRPA volunteers and donors who understand the important role trails and parks play in a growing city.

On June 20, 2022, Earl Guss shared a post on Facebook addressed to “Dear ‘Greater Billings,’” that included in part the following:

“No one can foresee or foretell what benefits JHDMP will yield in 10-20 generations and its increasing values and benefits. ‘Greater Billings’ will probably grow from Huntley to Laurel, folding them in, in some fashion; perhaps even to Roundup. The 600-acre John H. Dover Memorial Park will be in the very center of that Dynamo.

“And with a larger vision, you can see that this new bridge also connects Mexico and Canada.”

In 2024, the Friends of the Boothill Cemetery and the Yellowstone County Commissioners agreed to remove a sign called “Where the White Horse Wend Down” from Boothill Cemetery and relocate it to Earl Guss Park. The sign is intended to show respect to the act of self-sacrifice by two Crow warriors, aggrieved by loss of loved ones and friends who died during a smallpox epidemic in 1837-1838. The sign is now positioned closer to where the event unfolded.