Havre is a city in, and the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of, Hill County

Hill County, Montana

-National protected areas:*Creedman Coulee National Wildlife Refuge*Lake Thibadeau National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,673 people, 6,457 households, and 4,255 families residing in the county. The population density was 6 people per square mile . There were...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is said to be named after the city of Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The population was 9,621 at the 2000 census.
Located in north central Montana, Havre was incorporated in 1893. It was founded primarily to serve as a major railroad service center for the Great Northern Railway (built by James J. Hill

James J. Hill

James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...

) with its location midway between Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 and Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

-St. Paul. A statue of Hill stands near the Havre Amtrak station

Havre (Amtrak station)

Havre, Montana is a station, re-fueling, and service stop for the Amtrak Empire Builder in Havre, Montana. The station, platform, and parking are owned by BNSF Railway....

 to commemorate the key contributions his railroad has made to Havre's and Montana's history.

Originally named Bullhook Bottoms, the town met in a series of meetings to determine a new name.