Granite County was created on April 1, 1893. House Bill No. 110 was passed by the Montana Legislature in March. The area was carved out of Deer Lodge County and a small sliver of eastern Missoula County. It was named for the town of Granite, which is southeast of Philipsburg next to the famed Granite Mountain silver mine.
The officers appointed to conduct the county business were:
John H. Cole as Sheriff
Arthur A Fairbairn as Treasurer
George A. Reck as Clerk and Recorder
William Albright as Assessor
Wingfield Brown as County Attorney
Josiah Shull as Clerk of District Court
Mrs Abbie W. Wilkinson as Superintendent of Schools
Dr. William Ray as Coroner
R.M. Ferguson as Public Administrator
George Wilson as County Surveyor
George B. Cain, E.C. Freyschlag and George W. Morse as County Commissioners.
Only months after Granite County's formation,silver mining came to an end when the price of silver plummeted in the panic of 1893. All but one of the major silver mines closed, banks failed, homes and businesses were abandoned in a major depression that hit the whole country but hit Granite County particularly hard. Within a decade, mining and Granite County would make a comeback.
The early records of Granite County were copied from the records of Missoula and Deer Lodge County in 1893. The earliest records from Deer Lodge County were filed at Silver Bow, the county seat from 1865 to 1867. In 1867, the county seat was moved to Deer Lodge. Anaconda became the next county seat and records were moved again. Some records pertaining to Granite County are still in either Anaconda, Deer Lodge or missing due to a flood from a leaking roof.