Belgrade’s post office opened in 1887, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #33 of 42 in Montana. What drives it
Most of Belgrade was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Its Register listings are the Belgrade City Hall and Jail and the Thomas Quaw House. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Belgrade post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Belgrade’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Belgrade is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #33 of 42 in Montana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Belgrade’s overall grade.
Montana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Montana town has 12.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Belgrade’s 1.7 sits below most of its state (34% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Belgrade’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Belgrade Trailer CourtBelgrade Village Mobile Home ParkFriendly Trailer CourtLexley Acres Mobile Home ParkPotts Trailer CourtPowersStar Mobile Home ParkVoegeles Trailer Court
Gone or out of use
Montana Highway Patrol District VII Officebuilding
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The original townsite of Belgrade was established in 1883 when the Northern Pacific Railroad was constructed through the Gallatin Valley. The original town plat was filed in the Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder's Office by Thomas B. Quaw, a businessman from the midwest, in July 1891. According to Quaw, the townsite was an unmanned railroad siding 9.7 miles west of Bozeman, and was named Belgrade after the capital of Serbia, as an expression of appreciation to the Serbian investors who helped finance a portion of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Quaw and William O. Tracy created the Belgrade Grain and Produce Company and marketed Belgrade as the "Princess of the Prairies."
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Belgrade, census by census
Grew from 30 people in 1880 to 10,460 in 2020, more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Belgrade’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Belgrade’s history
What year was Belgrade founded?
The Belgrade post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Belgrade rank for history?
Belgrade is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #33 of 42 in Montana. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Belgrade?
Two places: the Belgrade City Hall and Jail (listed 1982) and the Thomas Quaw House (1991).
How old are the homes in Belgrade?
3% of Belgrade’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 2002.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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