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B+History
History · Fort Benton

Fort Benton’s post office opened in 1867, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it

8 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Fort Benton, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1895 on.

1867first post office
8on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Fort Benton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Fort Benton began

When was Fort Benton founded?

1867

The Fort Benton post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,449159 years

How historic is Fort Benton?

B+

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Fort Benton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Fort Benton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Benton is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fort Benton’s overall grade.
Founding era1867, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194026.4% of homes (±8.1) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register8 listings, 54.3 per 10,000 residents · typical MT town 12.7 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 73%
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 Fort Benton’s 54.3 sits above most of its state (72% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 8 listings outnumber those of 74% 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 (±8.1 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 Fort Benton’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A National Historic Landmark8 places on the National Register, including Fort Benton, a National Historic Landmark.Old housesHalf of Fort Benton’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fort Benton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewIndex Chart Number 1, Missouri River Su…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

8 historic places in Fort Benton

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed
8
National Historic Landmark
1
Fort Benton
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Fort Benton
Grand Union HotelFort Benton Bridge, built 1888Chouteau County CourthouseSt. Paul's Episcopal ChurchMasonic BuildingFort Benton Engine House, built 1883I. G. Baker HouseFort Benton★
BuildingsDistrictsStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Victorian1
Queen Anne1
Gothic1
★ Landmark
Fort BentonDistrict
Grand Union HotelVictorian
Fort Benton BridgeBuilt 1888
Chouteau County CourthouseQueen Anne
St. Paul's Episcopal ChurchGothic
Masonic BuildingBuilding
Fort Benton Engine HouseBuilt 1883
I. G. Baker HouseBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Fort Benton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fort Benton.

Read it all →

Established in 1846 as Fort Lewis and relocated 15 miles downstream in 1847 by Alexander Culbertson, who worked for Auguste Chouteau and Pierre Chouteau, Jr. of St. Louis, the original fort was the last fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River, which soon made it an important economic center. For 30 years, the port attracted steamboats carrying goods, merchants, gold miners and settlers, coming from New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Hannibal, Bismarck, and Kansas City, among other places. As the eastern terminus for the 642-mile-long Mullan Road, completed by the United States Army in 1860, and at the head of navigation of the Missouri River, Fort Benton was part of the overland link between the Missouri and the Columbia River, with its own head of navigation at Fort Walla Walla in Washington. Twenty thousand migrants used the road to travel to the Northwest in its first year. It bec…

ChaptersConflict with Natives

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fort Benton, 1867 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Fort Benton post office opens
  3. 1874Born hereRoy Carrington Kirtland is born here
  4. 1883BuiltFort Benton Engine House is built
  5. 1888BuiltFort Benton Bridge is built
  6. 1895In the archiveIndex Chart Number 1, Missouri River Survey: Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Buford, North D…
  7. 20th century
  8. 1932Born hereGene Carlson is born here
  9. 1933In the archive1933 FORT BENTON MT HAND COLORED CACHET COVER
  10. 1945Born hereJim Huffman is born here
  11. 1959Born hereDenise Curry is born here
  12. 1961LandmarkFort Benton named a National Historic Landmark
  13. 1968In the archiveDETAIL VIEW OF SUBDIVIDED PANEL POINT PIN CONNECTION AT CENTER OF BALTIMORE TRUSS - Fort …
By decade

Fort Benton, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Index Chart Number 1, Missouri River Survey: Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Buford, North Dakota1895Index Chart Number 1, Missouri River Survey: Fort Ben…
1900s–1920snothing 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
1930s–1960s3 items
1933 FORT BENTON MT HAND COLORED CACHET COVER19331933 FORT BENTON MT HAND COLORED CACHET COVERDETAIL VIEW OF SUBDIVIDED PANEL POINT PIN CONNECTION AT CENTER OF BALTIMORE TRUSS - Fort Benton Bridge, Spanning Missou…1968DETAIL VIEW OF SUBDIVIDED PANEL POINT PIN CONNECTION …DETAIL VIEW OF SUBDIVIDED PANEL POINT PIN CONNECTION AT END OF BALTIMORE TRUSS - Fort Benton Bridge, Spanning Missouri …1968DETAIL VIEW OF SUBDIVIDED PANEL POINT PIN CONNECTION …
1970s–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
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.

Index Chart Number 1, Missouri River Survey: Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Buford, North Dakota
Retake this viewIndex Chart Number 1, Missouri River Survey: Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Buford, North Dakota, 1895

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

5 famous people were born in Fort Benton

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
Denise CurryAmerican basketball player · b. 1959
Roy Carrington KirtlandAmerican Army officer · b. 1874
Jim HuffmanAmerican politician · b. 1945
G
Gene CarlsonAmerican football and baseball player and coach · b. 1932
J
Joshua KassmierAmerican politician · b. 1981
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Fort Benton’s post office has been open since 1867.

Gone or out of use
Fort BentonlocaleFort CampbelllocaleFort LaBargelocale

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

Questions about Fort Benton’s history

What year was Fort Benton founded?

The Fort Benton post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Fort Benton rank for history?

Fort Benton is more historic than 73% 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 Fort Benton?

8 listings: 6 buildings, 1 historic district, the Fort Benton,, and 1 structure.

How old are the homes in Fort Benton?

26% of Fort Benton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1958.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.