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History · Box Elder

Box Elder’s post office opened in 1889, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1904 on.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Box Elder began

When was Box Elder founded?

1889

The Box Elder post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 85137 years
Founding year: the first Box Elder post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Box Elder’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 Box Elder are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Box Elder’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Box Elder, in brief

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

Box Elder is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hill County in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, Box Elder had a population of 85. Before 2010 the Box Elder CDP was split into the current much-smaller Box Elder CDP, while most of the former CDP area went into the new Rocky Boy West CDP. Box Elder is the headquarters of the Chippewa-Cree tribe. The post office was established in 1889. The town was first called "Bremer", the name of an early homesteader. Eventually it was changed to "Box Elder", for the nearby creek lined with box elder trees.

Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 87 to 85 (-2%).

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

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.
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On the map

Box Elder on the map, 1904 to 1969

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

Box Elder on the 1904 USGS mapBox Elder on the 1969 USGS map1904Boxelder 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 Box Elder.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Rocky Boy WestIts storyC−

Questions about Box Elder’s history

What year was Box Elder founded?

The Box Elder post office opened in 1889, 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 →
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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 and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.