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History · Augusta

Augusta’s post office opened in 1884, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Quinn's Garage and the F.M. Mack General Store. Its Register listings are the Quinn's Garage and the F.M. Mack General Store. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1963 on.

1884first post office
2on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Augusta’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Augusta began

When was Augusta founded?

1884

The Augusta post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Southvale (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 316142 years
Founding year: the first Augusta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Augusta’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Augusta’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Augusta’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 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 viewDearborn River High Bridge, Spanning De…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Augusta, in brief

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

Augusta is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, United States. The population was 309 at the 2010 census and rose to 316 in the 2020 census. The most accepted version in the naming of this town is after Augusta Hogan, thought to be the first child born in this town, the daughter of J. D. Hogan, an early rancher. Augusta is part of the Helena Micropolitan Statistical Area. The original townsite was dedicated on May 8, 1893. A fire on April 4, 1901, destroyed part of the town. On October 10, 2020, a fire caused by an electrical issues engulfed the historic Bunkhouse Inn.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 309 to 316 (+2%).

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

Timeline

Augusta, 1879 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Southvale post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Southvale post office closes
  4. 1884Post officeThe Augusta post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Augusta, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Dearborn River High Bridge, Spanning Dearborn RiverDate?Dearborn River High Bridge, Spanning Dearborn River
On the map

Augusta on the map in 1963

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Augusta.

Augusta on the 1963 USGS map1963Augusta 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 Augusta.

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.

Dearborn River High Bridge, Spanning Dearborn River
Retake this viewDearborn River High Bridge, Spanning Dearborn River

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Augusta

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2020
Quinn's Garage
Quinn's GarageF.M. Mack General Store
Buildings
All 2 listings
Quinn's GarageBuilding · listed 2020F.M. Mack General StoreBuilding · listed 2021

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Augusta

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

See all →
J. Frank GlendonAmerican actor · b. 1885
C
Clarence Sinclair BullAmerican photographer · b. 1895
E
Emma L. BrockAmerican writer and artist · b. 1886
James WoodruffAmerican military officer · b. 1877
C
Christy ClarkAmerican politician in Montana · b. 1966
J
J. K. RalstonPainter of the American West · b. 1896
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Augusta’s post office has been open since 1884. Another post office, Southvale, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Southvale
1879–1879
Augusta
1884–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
AugustalocaleSouthvale Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Augusta’s history

What year was Augusta founded?

The Augusta post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Augusta?

Two places: the Quinn's Garage (listed 2020) and the F.M. Mack General Store (2021).

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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.