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History · Bearcreek

Bearcreek’s post office opened in 1905, and 46% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Bearcreek Bank and the Bearcreek Cemetery. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1944 on, and the census since 1910.

1905first post office
2on the National Register
46%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bearcreek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bearcreek began

When was Bearcreek founded?

1905

The Bearcreek post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 302 in 19102020 census: 91121 years
Founding year: the first Bearcreek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bearcreek’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.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1970, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bearcreek’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Bearcreek, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020744 in 1920Low: 31

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1970, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Bearcreek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bearcreek.

Read it all →

Bearcreek owes its existence to area coal mining that began in the 1890s to supply coal for the Northern Pacific Railway and the Anaconda Company. The Bearcreek Post Office was established on November 22, 1905, with Sarah Criger as the town's first postmaster. The town was platted and incorporated after the arrival of the Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad in 1906.

ChaptersThe Montana Wyoming and Southern RailroadAttraction of American and foreign born workersSmith Mine DisasterEvents after the Smith Mine Disaster

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bearcreek, 1850 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Montana - Carbon County - ED 5-24, ED 5-2…
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Bearcreek post office opens
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 744
  6. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Bearcreek, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Montana - Carbon County - ED 5-24, ED 5-25, ED 5-26, ED 5-27, ED 5-28, …18501940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Monta…
Today2 recent
Bearcreek Bank NRHP 04000251 Carbon County, MT2015Bearcreek Bank NRHP 04000251 Carbon County, MTMTMap-doton-Bearcreek2005MTMap-doton-Bearcreek
On the map

Bearcreek on the map, 1944 to 1996

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

Bearcreek on the 1944 USGS mapBearcreek on the 1969 USGS mapBearcreek on the 1985 USGS mapBearcreek on the 1996 USGS map1944Red Lodge sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Montana - Carbon County - ED 5-24, ED 5-25, ED 5-26, ED 5-27, ED 5-28, …
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Montana - Carbon County - ED 5-24, ED 5-25, ED 5-26, ED 5-27, ED 5-28, …, 1850

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Bearcreek

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Bearcreek Bank
Bearcreek Bank
BuildingsSites

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
Romanesque Revival1
Bearcreek BankLate Victorian
All 2 listings
Bearcreek CemeterySite · listed 2011

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Bearcreek

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

See all →
D
Darren DaltonAmerican actor, screenwriter and film producer · b. 1965
Chris CooleyPlayer of American football · b. 1982
H
Harry Franklin VickersAmerican inventor and Industrialist · b. 1898
Jack VaughnRecipient of the Purple Heart medal · b. 1920
Dwan EdwardsAmerican football player · b. 1981
Laurie NiemiAmerican football player · b. 1925
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Bearcreek’s post office has been open since 1905.

Gone or out of use
BearcreeklocaleBearcreek SchoolschoolFosterlocale

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

Questions about Bearcreek’s history

What year was Bearcreek founded?

The Bearcreek post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Bearcreek?

Two places: the Bearcreek Bank (listed 2004) and the Bearcreek Cemetery (2011).

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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.