Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Murtaugh

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Murtaugh

Murtaugh’s post office opened in 1905, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Caldron Linn. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1940.

1905first post office
1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Murtaugh’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Murtaugh began

When was Murtaugh founded?

1905

The Murtaugh post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 272 in 19402020 census: 114121 years
Founding year: the first Murtaugh post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Murtaugh’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Murtaugh’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Murtaugh’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 viewMurtaugh Bridge: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Murtaugh came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Murtaugh.

Read it all →

Murtaugh has existed since at least the early 1950s, and is named after Mark Murtaugh, who oversaw a local irrigation project.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Murtaugh, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Murtaugh BridgeDate?Murtaugh Bridge
Today1 recent
IDMap-doton-Murtaugh2004IDMap-doton-Murtaugh
On the map

Murtaugh on the map in 1965

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Murtaugh.

Murtaugh on the 1965 USGS map1965Murtaugh 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 Murtaugh.

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.

Murtaugh Bridge
Retake this viewMurtaugh Bridge

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Murtaugh

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
1972
Caldron Linn
Sites
All 1 listings
Caldron LinnSite · listed 1972

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

People over time

Murtaugh, census by census

010020030019401960198020002020Peak: 272

Between 114 and 272 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Questions about Murtaugh’s history

What year was Murtaugh founded?

The Murtaugh post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Murtaugh?

One place: the Caldron Linn (listed 1972).

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 (1), 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.