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History · Kooskia

Kooskia’s post office opened in 1890, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the State Bank of Kooskia. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1966 on, and the census since 1900.

1890first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kooskia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Kooskia began

When was Kooskia founded?

1890

The Kooskia post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Stuart (1896), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 68 in 19002020 census: 514136 years
Founding year: the first Kooskia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kooskia’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 809 in 1970; 514 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kooskia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Kooskia, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 809

Peaked at 809 in 1970; 514 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Kooskia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kooskia.

Read it all →

Chief Looking Glass lived in a village a short distance above what is now Kooskia with his band of Nez Perce. This regular home was well within the boundaries of the reservation created in 1863, but just before the Nez Perce War an American General was sent to arrest Chief Looking Glass and all other Nez Perce with him. When trigger-happy militiamen opened fire into the village, many Nez Perce died and their village was destroyed in the scuffle. Because of this incident, Looking Glass joined with the Nez Perce for the Nez Perce War.

ChaptersTramwayKooskia Internment CampKooskia National Fish Hatchery

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kooskia, 1880 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Idaho County - ED 25-1 - ED 25-61
  3. 1890Post officeThe Kooskia post office opens
  4. 1896Post officeThe Stuart post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Stuart post office closes
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 809
By decade

Kooskia, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s2 items
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Idaho County - ED 25-1 - ED 25-6118801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Idaho…Pack train leaving Kooskia, Idaho1880Pack train leaving Kooskia, Idaho
1890s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Flying R Lodge and Motel, 1964 - Syringa, Idaho2021Flying R Lodge and Motel, 1964 - Syringa, IdahoPostcardNorthwest Passage Scenic Byway - Looking Glass Camp2004Northwest Passage Scenic Byway - Looking Glass CampNorthwest Passage Scenic Byway - Kooskia Crossing/Welcome Center2004Northwest Passage Scenic Byway - Kooskia Crossing/Wel…IDMap-doton-Kooskia2004IDMap-doton-Kooskia
On the map

Kooskia on the map, 1966 to 1994

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

Kooskia on the 1966 USGS mapKooskia on the 1984 USGS mapKooskia on the 1994 USGS map1966Kooskia 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 Kooskia.

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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Idaho County - ED 25-1 - ED 25-61
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Idaho County - ED 25-1 - ED 25-61, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Kooskia

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
State Bank of Kooskia
State Bank of Kooskia
Buildings
State Bank of KooskiaBuilding

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Kooskia’s post office has been open since 1890. Another post office, Stuart, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kooskia
1890–today
Stuart
1896–1902
18901960today

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

Questions about Kooskia’s history

What year was Kooskia founded?

The Kooskia post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Kooskia?

One place: the State Bank of Kooskia (listed 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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.