Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Carlton was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Its Register listing is the Carlton Community Church. Below: maps from 1912 on.
The Carlton post office opened in 1883, 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 Carlton’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlton. 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 Carlton.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Carlton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Carlton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States. The population was 721 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 694 to 721 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Carlton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Carlton had its own post office from 1883 to 1908.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Carlton post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Carlton Community Church (listed 2011).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
