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History · New Meadows

New Meadows’ post office opened in 1911, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad Depot and the Col. E. M. Heigho House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1920.

1911first post office
2on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From New Meadows’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How New Meadows began

When was New Meadows founded?

1911

The New Meadows post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 141 in 19202020 census: 517115 years
Founding year: the first New Meadows post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about New Meadows’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Then and nowOne place photographed years apart. Drag to compare.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New Meadows’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 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 viewPacific and Idaho Northern Railroad rou…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Then & now

The same spot, 76 years apart

Drag across each photo to compare.

Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad DepotPacific and Idaho Northern Railroad route19312007
Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad routeMatched from the two captions
The story

How New Meadows came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of New Meadows.

Read it all →

Prior to the establishment of Adams County in 1911, Meadows was in Washington County; The Meadows Eagle newspaper served the community, and C. A. Hackney was the publisher.

The Pacific and Idaho Northern (PIN) Railroad ran from Weiser to an area about two miles (3 km) west of Meadows, the site of modern-day New Meadows founded in 1911. The city of New Meadows hosts the last surviving remnants of the PIN; without the railroad, New Meadows would arguably not have existed.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

New Meadows, 1911 to 1980

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1911BuiltCol. E. M. Heigho House is built
  3. 1911Post officeThe New Meadows post office opens
  4. 1931In the archivePacific and Idaho Northern Railroad route
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1980In the archiveVisible gas pump, Route 95
By decade

New Meadows, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad route1931Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad route
1940s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
Visible gas pump, Route 951980Visible gas pump, Route 95
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
Date unknown1 to date
Building FrontDate?Building Front
Today5 recent
New Meadows Barn in winter with tree - Flickr - Knowles Gallery2020New Meadows Barn in winter with tree - Flickr - Knowl…2011 Road Odyssey Pictures of 201120112011 Road Odyssey Pictures of 2011New Meadows, Idaho2008New Meadows, IdahoPacific and Idaho Northern Railroad Depot2007Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad DepotIDMap-doton-NewMeadows2004IDMap-doton-NewMeadows
On the map

New Meadows on the map, 1954 to 2004

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

New Meadows on the 1954 USGS mapNew Meadows on the 1986 USGS mapNew Meadows on the 2004 USGS map1954New Meadows sheet · 1:62,500

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

Every building

New Meadows, building by building, 1914

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 sheet.

New Meadows fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

On the National Register

2 historic places in New Meadows

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad Depot
Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad DepotCol. E. M. Heigho House, built 1911
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Georgian Revival1
Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad DepotItalianate
Col. E. M. Heigho HouseGeorgian Revival · Built 1911

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

People over time

New Meadows, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 647

Between 141 and 647 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to New Meadows

Nobody well known was born in New Meadows itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
James RainwaterAmerican physicist · b. 1917
Larry CraigAmerican politician · b. 1945
S
Scott PattersonAmerican cross-country skier · b. 1992
C
Caitlin PattersonAmerican cross-country skier · b. 1990
Herman WelkerAmerican politician · b. 1906
Leighton Vander EschAmerican football linebacker for the Dallas Cow… · b. 1996

Questions about New Meadows’ history

What year was New Meadows founded?

The New Meadows post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in New Meadows?

Two places: the Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad Depot (listed 1978) and the Col. E. M. Heigho House (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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.