Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Spencer

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 · Spencer

Spencer’s post office opened in 1897, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Spencer Rock House. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1950.

1897first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Spencer began

When was Spencer founded?

1897

The Spencer post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 70 in 19502020 census: 31129 years
Founding year: the first Spencer post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Spencer’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Spencer are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1960 and 1990, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spencer’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Spencer, census by census

01001960198020002020100 in 1960Low: 11

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1960 and 1990, then more than doubled.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

The story so far

Spencer, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Spencer yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Spencer is an incorporated hamlet in Clark County, Idaho, United States. It serves as the base for the state's opal mine and is called the "Opal Capital of America": the mine proper is located 5–6 miles outside of town. The population was 31 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1897. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 37 to 31 (-16%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Spencer, 1897 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1897Post officeThe Spencer post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 100
  5. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1985Post officeThe Spencer post office closes
By decade

Spencer, decade by decade

Today12 recent
The bright-yellow color of these Union Pacific Railroad locomotives blend well with the rusty color of these desolate p…2022The bright-yellow color of these Union Pacific Railro…The bright-yellow color of these Union Pacific Railroad locomotives blend well with the rusty color of these desolate p…2022The bright-yellow color of these Union Pacific Railro…A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) amid storm clouds over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer…2022A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) ami…A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) amid storm clouds over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer…2022A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) ami…A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) amid storm clouds over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer…2022A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) ami…A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) amid storm clouds over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer…2022A double rainbow (one of its arcs somewhat faint) ami…Storm clouds roil over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer in eastern Idaho's Clark County2022Storm clouds roil over the desolate plains near the h…Storm clouds roil over the desolate plains near the hamlet of Spencer in eastern Idaho's Clark County2022Storm clouds roil over the desolate plains near the h…SpencerDrone2020SpencerDroneSpencer idaho2010Spencer idahoOld Trading Post2005Old Trading PostIDMap-doton-Spencer2004IDMap-doton-Spencer
On the map

Spencer on the map, 1972 to 1983

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

Spencer on the 1972 USGS mapSpencer on the 1983 USGS map1972Spencer South 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 Spencer.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Spencer

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Spencer Rock House
Spencer Rock House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Bungalow/Craftsman1
Spencer Rock HouseBungalow/Craftsman

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Spencer

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

See all →
R
Ralph EricksonAmerican baseball player · b. 1902
B
Ben CheneyAmerican baseball player · b. 1905
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Spencer had its own post office from 1897 to 1985.

Spencer
1897–1985
18901960today

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

Questions about Spencer’s history

What year was Spencer founded?

The Spencer post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Spencer?

One place: the Spencer Rock House (listed 1989).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (8), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.