Oliver S. Warden
1865 – 1951

Inducted Oct. 25, 1958

Oliver Sherman Warden, publisher of the Great Falls Tribune for more than half a century, was born at North Haverhill, N.H., in 1865 and received the Phi Beta Kappa key before graduating with Dartmouth’s class of 1889. He was hired as a reporter for the Great Falls Leader and six years later became co-owner of the Tribune. He assumed full control in 1920.

From 1934 until his death, he served as Democratic National Committeeman for Montana. As early as 1924 he was appointed to the newly created Montana Highway Commission and spent 10 years spearheading enactment of a bill “to get Montana out of the mud.” He became vice president and then president of the National Association of State Highway Officials.

In 1926 Warden was appointed a member of the Montana Water Conservation Board and was a leader in construction of a vast system of water storage and irrigation projects across Montana. Perhaps his greatest achievement in this respect was bringing the Canyon Ferry reclamation project through the dream stage to reality.

Fellow newspapermen made him a director in the Associated Press, president of the Montana Press Association in 1924 and vice president of the Inland Daily Press Association. He maintained a continuing interest in the University of Montana School of Journalism and in 1937 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University. His interest in education was genuine, and he freely gave his help whenever he was asked.

Warden was honored as “Montana’s First Citizen” at a testimonial dinner in 1948 and was active in the publishing business until shortly before his death in 1951.

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