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History · Fort Peck

19% of Fort Peck’s homes were built before 1940

9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 12 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1990.

9on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Fort Peck’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Fort Peck’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register9 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fort Peck’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fort Peck’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 viewAerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

9 historic places in Fort Peck

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
9
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
21
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Fort Peck Theatre
Fort Peck TheatreAdministration BuildingEmployee's Hotel and GarageFort Peck Original Houses Historic DistrictGarage and Fire Station, built 1934HospitalRecreation HallSchool
BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Swiss Chalet Style6
Colonial Revival1
Art Deco1
Cottage Picturesque1
Fort Peck TheatreSwiss Chalet Style
Administration BuildingColonial Revival
Employee's Hotel and GarageSwiss Chalet Style
Fort Peck DamArt Deco · Built 1933
Fort Peck Original Houses Historic DistrictCottage Picturesque
Garage and Fire StationSwiss Chalet Style · Built 1934
HospitalSwiss Chalet Style
Recreation HallSwiss Chalet Style
All 9 listings
SchoolBuilding · listed 1986

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

The story

How Fort Peck came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fort Peck.

Read it all →

The name Fort Peck is associated with Col. Campbell K. Peck, the partner of Elias H. Durfee in the Leavenworth, Kansas trading firm of Durfee and Peck. In 1867, company employee Abe Farwell constructed the Fort Peck trading post along the Missouri River, which enjoyed a virtual monopoly in trade with the Sioux and Assiniboine people. After its short life as a trading post, Fort Peck served as an Indian agency from 1873 until 1878. At that time, the agency was moved to its current location at Poplar. Fort Peck had a post office from 1879 to 1881.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fort Peck, 1933 to 1972

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1933BuiltFort Peck Dam is built
  3. 1934BuiltGarage and Fire Station is built
  4. 1934Post officeThe Fort Peck Dam post office opens
  5. 1934Post officeThe Fort Peck Dam post office closes
  6. 1938In the archiveAerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B
  7. 1938Born hereWayne Hawkins is born here
  8. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Fort Peck, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Aerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B1938Aerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B
1940s–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
Today4 recent
Nelson Creek Road2016Nelson Creek RoadNelson Creek Recreation Area Montana2016Nelson Creek Recreation Area MontanaMilk Coulee Bay2016Milk Coulee BayMTMap-doton-FortPeck2005MTMap-doton-FortPeck
On the map

Fort Peck on the map in 1972

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fort Peck.

Fort Peck on the 1972 USGS map1972Fort Peck 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 Fort Peck.

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.

Aerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B
Retake this viewAerial Fort Peck Dam before slide B, 1938

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Fort Peck, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 325

Between 233 and 325 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Another post office, Fort Peck Dam, opened and closed inside today’s town.

1cemetery inside Fort Peck
Fort Peck

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

Questions about Fort Peck’s history

What is on the National Register in Fort Peck?

9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Fort Peck Theatre (listed 1983, the first), 1 historic district, the Fort Peck Original Houses Historic District, with 12 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 21 historic buildings in all.

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.