Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Belt

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 · Belt

Belt’s post office opened in 1885, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1910.

1885first post office
2on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Belt’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Belt began

When was Belt founded?

1885

The Belt post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,158 in 19102020 census: 510141 years
Founding year: the first Belt post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Belt’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 Belt’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Belt’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belt’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 viewBelt Creek Bridge, Spanning Belt Creek …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Belt came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Belt.

Read it all →

Belt was home to Montana's first coal mine. It supplied fuel to Fort Benton. During the coal boom the town was referred to as "Little Pittsburgh", "Coal Banks", or "Black Diamond City". The post office opened on February 2, 1885, with Eugene Clingan as postmaster.

Several talented Finnish carpenters and architects contributed to the growth of the town. Fifteen buildings are included in the Belt Commercial Historic District listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Belt Museum is housed in the original town jail, also on the National Register of Historic Places.

When the Great Falls smelters converted from coal to natural gas in 1930, the town's economy lost a significant source of income.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Belt, 1885 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Belt post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910Born hereEarl Heikka is born here
  5. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Belt, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Belt Creek Bridge, Spanning Belt Creek at Belt StreetDate?Belt Creek Bridge, Spanning Belt Creek at Belt Street
Today1 recent
Saint Mark Catholic Church in2022Saint Mark Catholic Church in
On the map

Belt on the map, 1956 to 1982

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

Belt on the 1956 USGS mapBelt on the 1982 USGS map1956Belt 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 Belt.

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.

Belt Creek Bridge, Spanning Belt Creek at Belt Street
Retake this viewBelt Creek Bridge, Spanning Belt Creek at Belt Street

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 14 historic buildings

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
14
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Belt Jail
Belt JailBelt Commercial Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and early 20th Century Revival1
Neo-Classical1
Western Commercial1
Western False-Front Commercial1
Belt JailBuilding
All 2 listings
Belt Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004

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

People over time

Belt, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,158

Between 510 and 1,158 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Belt

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
Barbara BessetteAmerican politician
E
Earl HeikkaAmerican sculptor · b. 1910
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Belt’s post office has been open since 1885.

Gone or out of use
Saint Lukes Episcopal ChurchchurchScandinavian Methodist Episcopal Churchchurch

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

Questions about Belt’s history

What year was Belt founded?

The Belt post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Belt?

Two places: the Belt Jail (listed 1980) and the Belt Commercial Historic District (2004).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (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.