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History · Second Mesa

Second Mesa’s post office opened in 1939

Most of Second Mesa was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983.

1939first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
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Photo: derivative work: AFBorchert AZ_264_Second_Mesa_2006_09_08.jpg: Reinhard Schön (original photograph) and Andreas F. Borchert (postprocessing) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Second Mesa began

When was Second Mesa founded?

1939

The Second Mesa post office opened in 1939, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Toreva (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 84387 years
Founding year: the first Second Mesa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Second Mesa’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Second Mesa are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Second Mesa, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Second Mesa’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Second Mesa’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Second Mesa’s post office has been open since 1939. Another post office, Toreva, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Toreva
1900–1937
Second Mesa
1939–today
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
MishongnoviOld ShongopaviSipauloviToreva
Gone or out of use
Old Second Mesa SchoolschoolToreva Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Second Mesa, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Second Mesa yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Second Mesa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, on the Hopi Reservation, atop the 5,700-foot (1,740 m) mesa. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 843, spread among three Hopi Indian villages, Musungnuvi (or Mishongnovi), Supawlavi (or Sipaulovi), and Songoopavi (or Shungopavi). The Hopi Cultural Center is on Second Mesa.

Its first post office opened in 1939. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 962 to 843 (-12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Second Mesa, 1900 to 1939

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Toreva post office opens
  3. 1937Post officeThe Toreva post office closes
  4. 1939Post officeThe Second Mesa post office opens
By decade

Second Mesa, decade by decade

Today5 recent
The windows of the Hopi Cooperative Guild2010The windows of the Hopi Cooperative GuildA new dawn over the deserted shed2010A new dawn over the deserted shedSecond mesa arizona pan2008Second mesa arizona panAZ 264 Second Mesa 2006 09 082006AZ 264 Second Mesa 2006 09 08AZMap-doton-Second Mesa2004AZMap-doton-Second Mesa
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ShongopoviIts storyC

Questions about Second Mesa’s history

What year was Second Mesa founded?

The Second Mesa post office opened in 1939, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.