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History · Bainville

Bainville’s post office opened in 1904

Most of Bainville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1920.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bainville began

When was Bainville founded?

1904

The Bainville post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kenneth (1902), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 396 in 19202020 census: 271122 years
Founding year: the first Bainville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Bainville’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 Bainville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 471 in 1930; 271 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bainville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bainville’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

Bainville, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 471

Peaked at 471 in 1930; 271 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Bainville, in brief

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

Bainville is a town in Roosevelt County, Montana, United States. The population was 271 at the 2020 census. It is named for Charles M. Bain, an early resident and the town's first postmaster. Bainville celebrated its centennial on July 4, 2006.

Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 208 to 271 (+30%).

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

Timeline

Bainville, 1902 to 1983

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Kenneth post office opens
  3. 1904Post officeThe Kenneth post office closes
  4. 1904Post officeThe Bainville post office opens
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 471
  6. 1983On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Bainville on the map in 1983

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

Bainville on the 1983 USGS map1983Bainville 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 Bainville.

Every building

Bainville, building by building, 1910–1920

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.

Bainville fire insurance map, 1910, sheet 11910Sheet 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.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bainville

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

See all →
Chuck StevensonRacecar driver · b. 1919
L
Leila Ben YoussefTunisian pole vaulter · b. 1981
Clyde LambCartoonist · b. 1913
K
Katherine M. BidegarayAmerican judge · b. 1960
R
Rhonda KnudsenAmerican politician
R
Roger A. MarkleAmerican mining engineer · b. 1933
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Bainville’s post office has been open since 1904. Another post office, Kenneth, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kenneth
1902–1904
Bainville
1904–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Fairview Mill ElevatorlocaleFarmers Union Grain Terminal Association Elevatorlocale
1cemetery inside Bainville
Bainville

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

Questions about Bainville’s history

What year was Bainville founded?

The Bainville post office opened in 1904, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.