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History · Crane

Crane’s post office opened in 1910, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on.

1910first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Crane began

When was Crane founded?

1910

The Crane post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 91116 years
Founding year: the first Crane post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Crane’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crane’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

Crane, in brief

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

Crane is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Richland County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Crane had a population of 91. Crane has a post office with the ZIP code 59217. Montana Highway 16 passes through Crane. The town was named for trapper Jimmy Crain when the post office opened in 1910.

Its first post office opened in 1910. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 102 to 91 (-11%).

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.

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On the map

Crane on the map, 1966 to 1981

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

Crane on the 1966 USGS mapCrane on the 1981 USGS map1966Crane sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Crane.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Crane’s post office has been open since 1910.

Gone or out of use
Crane Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Crane
Crane

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Crane’s history

What year was Crane founded?

The Crane post office opened in 1910, 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, 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.