Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
13 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1907 on and the census since 1910.
The Bridger post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bridger’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bridger.
The Bridger Post Office was officially established on October 29, 1898, with Jno. M. Babcock as the town's first postmaster.
In December 2014, construction began on a large wind farm, Mud Springs Wind Ranch, with 120 wind turbines, at a site 12 miles southeast of Bridger. The project was renamed Pryor Mountain Wind Project and was completed in late 2020.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2020Bridger, Montana in Carbon County
2019Raymond Hough House
2019Methodist Episcopal Church and Parsonage
2019Marcus House
2019Heatherington Boarding House
2019Glidden Mercantile
2019Glidden House
2019Forsman House
2019Corey House
2019Bridger Coal Company House
2014Bridger (Montana) 12-9-2014 9-17-37
2014Bridger (Montana) 12-9-2014 9-17-31
2014Bridger (Montana) 12-9-2014 9-17-24
2014Bridger (Montana) 12-09-2014 9-16-54
2008Bridger monument 2
2008Bridger monument 1
2005MTMap-doton-BridgerEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bridger. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bridger.
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.
1907Sheet 3 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 514 and 854 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bridger’s Wikipedia page.
Bridger’s post office has been open since 1898.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Bridger post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
13 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Corey House (listed 1987, the first). 14 historic buildings in all.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (17), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (13), 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), 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.
