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History · Newdale

Newdale’s post office opened in 1916, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1920.

1916first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Newdale’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Newdale began

When was Newdale founded?

1916

The Newdale post office opened in 1916, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 381 in 19202020 census: 337110 years
Founding year: the first Newdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Newdale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Newdale.

Read it all →

In the early 1900s, there were only a few homes and farms scattered across the vast terrain east of Teton City. Early settlers in this area include family names such as Siddoway, Briggs, and Schwendiman. The Schwendiman family, consisting of 6 brothers and their mother, a widow, relocated from Paris Idaho to Teton Idaho in 1894. As the Schwendiman brothers grew older and married, they began to homestead and dry farm in the area east of Newdale, and obtained land in 160 acre parcels via the Homestead Acts. Part of this land includes where the City of Newdale now sits. Many families in this area would live on their farms, working from spring to fall, but would move to Teton or other nearby towns during the winter months.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Newdale, 1914 to 1976

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1914In the archiveNewdale 1913or1914 Enhanced
  3. 1916Post officeThe Newdale post office opens
  4. 1920In the archiveNewdale ID Water Tower
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1976In the archiveIDAHO-L-0001- Teton Dam Flood
By decade

Newdale, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s5 items
Newdale 1913or1914 Enhanced1914Newdale 1913or1914 EnhancedNewdale Train Depot Poor Quality Image1917Newdale Train Depot Poor Quality ImageNewdale Operahouse Enchanced1919Newdale Operahouse EnchancedNewdale School 1919 cropped1919Newdale School 1919 croppedNewdale ID Water Tower1920Newdale ID Water Tower
1930s–1960snothing 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
1970s1 item
IDAHO-L-0001- Teton Dam Flood1976IDAHO-L-0001- Teton Dam Flood
1980s–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
Today6 recent
The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato fields near Newdale, Idaho, the western state whose rich, volcanic…2022The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato …The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato fields near Newdale, Idaho, the western state whose rich, volcanic…2022The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato …The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato fields near Newdale, Idaho, the western state whose rich, volcanic…2022The eastern Idaho landscape, including plowed potato …Billiards Newdale ID Token2017Billiards Newdale ID TokenNewdale ID2014Newdale IDIDMap-doton-Newdale2004IDMap-doton-Newdale
On the map

Newdale on the map, 1949 to 1979

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

Newdale on the 1949 USGS mapNewdale on the 1950 USGS mapNewdale on the 1979 USGS map1949Newdale 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 Newdale.

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.

Newdale 1913or1914 Enhanced
Retake this viewNewdale 1913or1914 Enhanced, 1914

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Newdale, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 381

Between 267 and 381 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Newdale

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

See all →
Mike CrapoAmerican politician and Senator of Idaho since … · b. 1951
B
Brad HarrisAmerican actor · b. 1933
Mary KornmanAmerican film actress · b. 1915
H
Heather MoodyAmerican water polo player and coach · b. 1973
Laurel Thatcher UlrichAmerican historian · b. 1938
D. Worth ClarkAmerican politician · b. 1902
Help out

Finish Newdale’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewNewdale 1913or1914 Enhanced: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Newdale’s history

What year was Newdale founded?

The Newdale post office opened in 1916, 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 (9), the Library of Congress (3), 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.