Box Elder was named for the creek, which in turn was named for the box elder trees that line its banks. The town serves as headquarters for the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. The Rocky Boys are often called "the landless Indians" coming from Canada in the 1870s and lived first around the Assiniboine and the Bear Paw foothills. Later they scattered over other parts of Montana. These Indians, also called Metis, come from a northern tribe of Chippewa-Cree.