Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1910.
The Columbus post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Stillwater (1877) and Stillwater (1914), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbus is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Columbus’ 25.0 sits above most of its state (66% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Columbus’s history is told.
Columbus’s post office has been open since 1893. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
1897Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Columbus.
The community originated as a stagecoach station on the Yellowstone River.
The original name was Sheep Dip, then changed to Stillwater, but because of a Stillwater, Minnesota on the Northern Pacific Railway, the mail presented a problem. The name was ultimately changed to Columbus, Montana in 1893.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveSanborn Fire Insurance Map from Columbus, Stillwater County, Montana. LOC sanborn04963 001
BuiltMichael Jacobs House is built
Born hereJack Vaughn is born here
Born hereDonald J. Ruhl is born here
Born hereDwan Edwards is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2026ColumbusMThillsideC
2022Saint Mary Catholic Church in
2018Jacobi House3
2018Jacobi House2
2018Jacobi House1
2015Jacobs House NRHP 86003676 Stillwater County, MT
2015Atlas Block NRHP 11000588 Stillwater County, MTMap
2009Norton House
2008Columbus montana 1-8-2008
2004Yellowstone Bank, Pike Avenue and Pratten StreetThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbus.
1892Stillwater sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Columbus.
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.
Between 521 and 1,893 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Columbus’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Columbus post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Columbus is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the W. H. Norton House (listed 1982, the first), and 1 site.
21% of Columbus’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1969.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
