Mountain Home’s post office opened in 1876, and 8 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #34 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
Most of Mountain Home was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Mountain Home post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Mountain Home’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mountain Home is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #34 of 59 in Idaho. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mountain Home’s overall grade.
Idaho towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Idaho town has 8.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Mountain Home’s 4.9 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Idaho towns have fewer) while its 8 listings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Mountain Home’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Mountain Home, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mountain Home yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mountain Home is the largest city in and the county seat of Elmore County, Idaho, United States. The population was 15,979 in the 2020 census. The population in 2024 is projected to be 16,921. It is the principal city of the Mountain Home Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Elmore County. Mountain Home was originally a post office at Rattlesnake Station, a stagecoach stop on the Overland Stage Line, about seven miles (11 km) east of the city, on present-day US-20 towards Fairfield. With the addition of the Oregon Short Line Railroad in 1883, the post office was moved downhill and west to the city's present site. Mountain Home Air Force Base, an Air Combat Command installation, is …
Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 14,206 to 15,979 (+12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Mountain Home, 1876 to 1964
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mountain Home. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1956Mountain Home North 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 Mountain Home.
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.
Retake this viewIDAHO-L-0151- Mountain Home flood, 1907
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mountain Home’s page.
The Mountain Home post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mountain Home rank for history?
Mountain Home is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #34 of 59 in Idaho. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Mountain Home?
8 listings: 7 buildings, among them the St. James Episcopal Church (listed 1977, the first), and 1 structure.
How old are the homes in Mountain Home?
3% of Mountain Home’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 1989.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (10), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
1907
1907
1907
1907
1907
1907
1910
1910
1910
