24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Laurel, MT

Laurel is an incorporated city in Yellowstone County and the third-largest community in the Billings metropolitan area, standing on the north bank of the Yellowstone River about 15 miles west of Billings.

Laurel began as a Northern Pacific Railroad station named Carlton, where settlers started arriving around 1879; in the early 1880s it was renamed Laurel for a local shrub, a name a railroad official from North Carolina is said to have suggested.

Laurel's post office opened in 1886, and when a branch line to Red Lodge was built in 1889 the townsite was replatted at the new junction and residents relocated to the present site.

Laurel was incorporated in August 1908, and its first mayor and city council were elected on October 10, 1908.

BNSF Railway's Laurel Yard is the largest rail yard between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Pasco, Washington, and Laurel remains an east-west terminal division point for the railroad.

The railroad roundhouse completed at Laurel in 1909 was the largest between St. Paul and Seattle.

The Cenex Harvest States oil refinery just south of Laurel began operating in 1930 as the Laurel Leaf refinery and remains one of the city's major employers, alongside the railroad, Laurel School District 7-70, and Wood's Power Grip.

The 2020 census counted 7,222 residents in Laurel.

The 2020 census counted 2,960 households and 3,128 housing units in Laurel.

U.S. Route 212 begins at Laurel and runs about 45 miles southwest to Red Lodge and the Beartooth Highway, one of the most famous scenic drives in America.