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History · Albion

Albion’s post office opened in 1879, and 63% of its homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1880.

1879first post office
3on the National Register
63%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Albion’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Albion began

When was Albion founded?

1879

The Albion post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Marsh Basin (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 257 in 18802020 census: 234147 years
Founding year: the first Albion post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Albion’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Albion’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 610 in 1950; 234 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Albion’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewIdaho [Bingham County (part) - Twin Fal…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Albion came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Albion.

Read it all →

The first settlement at Albion was made ca. 1875. The city was named for Albion, the poetic name for Great Britain.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Albion, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 610

Peaked at 610 in 1950; 234 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Albion’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Albion, 1878 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Marsh Basin post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Marsh Basin post office closes
  4. 1879Post officeThe Albion post office opens
  5. 1888BuiltAlbion Methodist Church is built
  6. 1893BuiltAlbion Normal School Campus is built
  7. 20th century
  8. 1905Born hereBurley E. Parke is born here
  9. 1908Born hereIvan H. Parke is born here
  10. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 610
  11. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Albion, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Idaho [Bingham County (part) - Twin Falls County (part)]Date?Idaho [Bingham County (part) - Twin Falls County (par…
Today7 recent
Albion Idaho aerial photo 32024Albion Idaho aerial photo 3Albion Idaho aerial photo 22024Albion Idaho aerial photo 2Albion Idaho aerial photo 12024Albion Idaho aerial photo 1Albion Idaho church2015Albion Idaho churchLake Cleveland2010Lake ClevelandNormal Training, The Hope of Idaho2007Normal Training, The Hope of IdahoIDMap-doton-Albion2004IDMap-doton-Albion
On the map

Albion on the map, 1968 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Albion. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Albion on the 1968 USGS mapAlbion on the 1993 USGS map1968Albion sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Albion.

Every building

Albion, building by building, 1909–1928

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Albion fire insurance map, 1909, sheet 11909Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Idaho [Bingham County (part) - Twin Falls County (part)]
Retake this viewIdaho [Bingham County (part) - Twin Falls County (part)]

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Albion’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 listings protect 10 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
10
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Swanger Hall
Albion Normal School Campus, built 1893Albion Methodist Church, built 1888Swanger Hall
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Classical1
Colonial Revival1
Eclectic Victorian Romanesque Revival1
Neoclassical1
Prairie1
Albion Normal School CampusQueen Anne · Built 1893
Albion Methodist ChurchBuilt 1888
All 3 listings
Swanger HallBuilding · listed 1978

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Albion

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
Burley E. ParkeAmerican horse trainer · b. 1905
I
Ivan H. ParkeAmerican horse trainer and jockey · b. 1908
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Albion’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Marsh Basin, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Marsh Basin
1878–1879
Albion
1879–today
18701950today
1cemetery inside Albion
Pleasant Hill

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

Questions about Albion’s history

What year was Albion founded?

The Albion post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Albion?

Three places: the Albion Normal School Campus (listed 1980), the Albion Methodist Church (1986) and the Swanger Hall (1978).

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 (8), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.