Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Antelope

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 · Antelope

Antelope’s post office opened in 1910

Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1914 on.

1910first post office
0on the National Register
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Antelope’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Antelope began

When was Antelope founded?

1910

The Antelope post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 74116 years
Founding year: the first Antelope post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Antelope’s past

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

A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1915–1937.
★ What stands out · By decade

Antelope, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s12 items
Bird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and surrounding country1915Bird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and surrounding co…William Hunter in his buckboard. Antelope, Montana1937William Hunter in his buckboard. Antelope, MontanaWilliam Hunter in his buckboard. Antelope, Montana1937William Hunter in his buckboard. Antelope, MontanaFather and son. Bertelson family1937Father and son. Bertelson familyBuckboard and horses owned by William Hunter. Antelope, Montana1937Buckboard and horses owned by William Hunter. Antelop…Buckboard and horses owned by William Hunter. Antelope, Montana1937Buckboard and horses owned by William Hunter. Antelop…Wagon used for hauling water for the old steam tractors. Antelope, Montana1937Wagon used for hauling water for the old steam tracto…Corner of living room in the Bertelson farm home near Antelope, Montana1937Corner of living room in the Bertelson farm home near…Mr. Bertelson, farmer near Antelope, Montana. One of the old-timers and homesteaders1937Mr. Bertelson, farmer near Antelope, Montana. One of …Mr. and Mrs. Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger] and baby. Mennonite farmers near Antelope, Montana1937Mr. and Mrs. Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger] and bab…The Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger] family going to town in their car near Antelope, Montana1937The Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger] family going to …Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger] family going to town in their car near Antelo…1937Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Harshenberge…
1940s–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
Today3 recent
Antelope Mt sign2014Antelope Mt signAntelope Jail2014Antelope JailAntelope,MT,2009aerial2009Antelope,MT,2009aerial
The story

How Antelope came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Antelope.

Read it all →

Named for the nearby creek, Antelope began as a tiny community along the Great Northern Railway's Bainville to Scobey branch line in 1910. That year, John and Richard Grayson built a hardware store next to the Antelope Creek Lutheran Church. A post office, bank, lumberyard, and saloon soon followed. The town was incorporated in 1913. The community thrived during its first decade, adding general mercantiles, a butcher shop, a concrete plant, restaurants, and other businesses to serve the region's growing homesteader population. Over the years, however, better roads to the south siphoned off business, and the “Biggest Little City in Eastern Montana” sank into decline.

ChaptersSchoolCentennial Celebration

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Antelope, 1910 to 1949

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Antelope post office opens
  3. 1915In the archiveBird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and surrounding country
  4. 1937In the archiveWilliam Hunter in his buckboard. Antelope, Montana
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Antelope on the map, 1949 to 1988

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

Antelope on the 1949 USGS mapAntelope on the 1988 USGS map1949Antelope 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 Antelope.

Every building

Antelope, building by building, 1914–1920

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 year, then a sheet.

Antelope fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

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.

Bird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and surrounding country
Retake this viewBird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and surrounding country, 1915

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Antelope’s post office has been open since 1910.

Gone or out of use
Adventist ChurchchurchAntelope Creek Lutheran ChurchchurchAntelope Grain CompanylocaleAntelope SchoolschoolCongregational Churchchurch

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

Help out

Finish Antelope’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBird's eye view of Antelope, Mont. and …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Antelope’s history

What year was Antelope founded?

The Antelope post office opened in 1910, 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 (3), the Library of Congress (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.