The story
Read it all →How Corvallis came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Corvallis.
Corvallis, Montana was named by settlers who hailed from Corvallis, Oregon. It was platted in 1879.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Corvallis
Corvallis’ post office opened in 1870, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Brooks Hotel, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Summers-Quast Farmstead. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1933 on.
1870first post office
3on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
How Corvallis began
When was Corvallis founded?
1870
The Corvallis post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 1,125156 years
How historic is Corvallis?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Corvallis post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Corvallis’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Corvallis is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Corvallis’ overall grade.
Founding era1870, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194019.5% of homes (±20.0) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register3 listings, 7 historic buildings, 57.0 per 10,000 residents · typical MT town 12.7 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 67%
NewerOlder
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 Corvallis’ 57.0 sits above most of its state (73% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±20.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Corvallis’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Corvallis’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Corvallis’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.By decade
Corvallis, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
19331940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday1 recent
2005Then & 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.
Retake this viewDETAIL OF FRONT PORCH LOOKING TO THE SOUTHWEST - Cowan House, 1021 Main Street, 1933
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Corvallis’ page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
3 historic places in Corvallis
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Brooks Hotel
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Queen Anne1
Late Victorian1
Gothic1
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
Colonial Revival1
Western Farmstead1
Brooks HotelQueen Anne
Methodist Episcopal Church SouthLate Victorian
Summers-Quast FarmsteadLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Corvallis
Nobody well known was born in Corvallis itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Old corners and places now gone
Corvallis’s post office has been open since 1870.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Corvallis Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Fort SkedaddlelocaleWillow Creek Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Corvallis’ history
What year was Corvallis founded?
The Corvallis post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Corvallis rank for history?
Corvallis is more historic than 67% 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.
What is on the National Register in Corvallis?
Three places: the Brooks Hotel (listed 1980), the Methodist Episcopal Church South (1997) and the Summers-Quast Farmstead (1997).
How old are the homes in Corvallis?
20% of Corvallis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±20.0 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 2002.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.