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History · Dewey

Dewey’s post office opened in 1894, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1961 on.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dewey’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dewey began

When was Dewey founded?

1894

The Dewey post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Deweys (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 25132 years
Founding year: the first Dewey post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Dewey’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dewey’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dewey’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDewey, Montana: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Dewey, in brief

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

Dewey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Beaverhead County, Montana, United States. It is in the northeast part of the county, on the south side of the Big Hole River, and bordered to the north, across the river, by Silver Bow County. Montana Highway 43 passes through Dewey, leading east 7 miles (11 km) to Interstate 15 at Divide, and west up the Big Hole River valley 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to Wise River and 44 miles (71 km) to Wisdom. As of the 2020 census, Dewey had a population of 25. Dewey was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1894.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Dewey, 1878 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Deweys post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Deweys post office closes
  4. 1894Post officeThe Dewey post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1913Post officeThe Dewey post office closes
  7. 1942In the archiveDewey, Montana
  8. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dewey, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s2 items
Dewey, Montana1942Dewey, MontanaDewey, Montana1942Dewey, Montana
1950s–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 album
On the map

Dewey on the map, 1961 to 1997

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

Dewey on the 1961 USGS mapDewey on the 1988 USGS mapDewey on the 1997 USGS map1961Dewey 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 Dewey.

Then & 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.

Dewey, Montana
Retake this viewDewey, Montana, 1942

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dewey’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Dewey had its own post office from 1894 to 1913. Another post office, Deweys, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Deweys
1878–1894
Dewey
1894–1913
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Dewey Post Officepost officeDewey Schoolschool

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Butte-Silver Bow20 historic placesA

Questions about Dewey’s history

What year was Dewey founded?

The Dewey post office opened in 1894, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (2), 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.