Cut Bank · See
Cut Bank Penguin
Twenty-seven-foot concrete penguin on Cut Bank's east side since 1989, standing on an iceberg that calls the town the coldest spot in the nation.
At a glance
Attraction in Cut Bank, Montana, established 1989. Open.
Ron Gustafson built the Cut Bank Penguin in 1989 after the wind chill in town hit 64 below, according to Wikipedia. It is concrete, 27 feet tall and about five tons, a cartoon penguin in a red hat on an iceberg that reads “Welcome to Cut Bank MT, Coldest Spot in the Nation.”
Gustafson told American Road that the idea came from penguin-shaped garbage cans the city had downtown when he was young. It once had a hidden speaker so it could talk to visitors. Whether Cut Bank is really the coldest spot in the lower 48 is still argued, which is the point.
Roadside America says the Gustafsons ran an appliance store on the east edge of town off US Highway 2, built the penguin there, and turned the store into a motel in 1992 because the bird stopped so much traffic. The penguin went quiet when Ron sold the motel and retired in 2004. Wikipedia’s photo of it is from 2024. Pull over and take the picture. Remember this place? Tell us what you remember.
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Related memories
Old School Montana If…
You took visiting relatives to see the giant penguin and told them yes, it really gets that cold
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