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History · Lowman

Lowman’s post office opened in 1903

Most of Lowman was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 2000.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lowman’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lowman began

When was Lowman founded?

1903

The Lowman post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 38 in 20002020 census: 44123 years
Founding year: the first Lowman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lowman’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.On the map since 19093 editions of the USGS map, 1909 to 1982. Watch Lowman change.Old housesHalf of Lowman’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lowman’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lowman’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 viewBeaver Creek Work Station, Log Cabin: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Lowman on the map, 1909 to 1982

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

Lowman on the 1909 USGS mapLowman on the 1972 USGS mapLowman on the 1982 USGS map1909Garden Valley sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story

How Lowman came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lowman.

Read it all →

The community was named for a homesteader, Nathaniel Winfield Lowman, from Polk County, Iowa, who settled there in 1907.

Lowman is notable for having a one-room school, one of only a couple hundred still in use in the United States.

A devastating wildfire ravaged the area around Lowman 37 years ago in 1989; it destroyed over 45,000 acres (70 mi2; 180 km2) and 26 structures, but without injuries or fatalities.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lowman, 1903 to 1966

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Lowman post office opens
  3. 1909On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1966Post officeThe Lowman post office closes
By decade

Lowman, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Beaver Creek Work Station, Log CabinDate?Beaver Creek Work Station, Log Cabin
Today2 recent
Lowman Schoolhouse and Yard2017Lowman Schoolhouse and YardDave Warm Springs2016Dave Warm Springs
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.

Beaver Creek Work Station, Log Cabin
Retake this viewBeaver Creek Work Station, Log Cabin

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lowman, census by census

020002020Peak: 44

Between 38 and 44 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Lowman had its own post office from 1903 to 1966.

Lowman
1903–1966
19001960today

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

Questions about Lowman’s history

What year was Lowman founded?

The Lowman post office opened in 1903, 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 (2), the Library of Congress (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.