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History · Montpelier

Montpelier’s post office opened in 1888

Most of Montpelier was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1942 on and the census since 1960.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Montpelier began

When was Montpelier founded?

1888

The Montpelier post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 197 in 19602020 census: 196138 years
Founding year: the first Montpelier post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Montpelier’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 Montpelier are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 266 in 2010; 196 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Montpelier’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Montpelier, census by census

01002001960198020002020Peak: 266

Peaked at 266 in 2010; 196 people lived here in 2020.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

The story so far

Montpelier, in brief

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

Montpelier is a village in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 197 in 2020. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. Montpelier was the parish seat from 1812-1832.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 266 to 196 (-26%).

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

Timeline

Montpelier, 1888 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Montpelier post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1954Post officeThe Montpelier post office closes
  6. 21st century
  7. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 266
By decade

Montpelier, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Montpelier2004LAMap-doton-Montpelier
On the map

Montpelier on the map, 1942 to 1974

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

Montpelier on the 1942 USGS mapMontpelier on the 1954 USGS mapMontpelier on the 1974 USGS map1942Montpelier sheet · 1:31,680

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Montpelier had its own post office from 1888 to 1954.

Montpelier
1888–1954
18801950today

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

Questions about Montpelier’s history

What year was Montpelier founded?

The Montpelier post office opened in 1888, 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 →
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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), 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.