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History · Fairview

Fairview’s post office opened in 1904, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1920.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Fairview began

When was Fairview founded?

1904

The Fairview post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1906.

First census: 513 in 19202020 census: 896122 years
Founding year: the first Fairview post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1906.

What stands out about Fairview’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 Fairview are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,366 in 1980; 896 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fairview’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Fairview, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,366

Peaked at 1,366 in 1980; 896 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairview’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Fairview, in brief

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

Fairview is a town in Richland County, Montana, United States. The population was 896 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1913, the town lies on the North Dakota border.

Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 840 to 896 (+7%).

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

Timeline

Fairview, 1904 to 1980

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1904Post officeThe Fairview post office opens
  3. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 1,366
By decade

Fairview, decade by decade

Today1 recent
MTMap-doton-Fairview2005MTMap-doton-Fairview
On the map

Fairview on the map, 1972 to 1997

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

Fairview on the 1972 USGS mapFairview on the 1981 USGS mapFairview on the 1997 USGS map1972Fairview 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 Fairview.

Every building

Fairview, building by building, 1914–1920

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.

Fairview fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Fairview’s post office has been open since 1904.

Gone or out of use
Brodhead Maternity HomehospitalSaint Johns Lutheran Church Missouri Synodchurch
1cemetery inside Fairview
Pioneer

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

Questions about Fairview’s history

What year was Fairview founded?

The Fairview post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1906.

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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.