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DHistory
History · Four Corners

Half of Four Corners’ homes were built after 2010

More historic than 11% of U.S. towns · #38 of 42 in Montana. What drives it

Most of Four Corners was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2010. Below: 5 old photos and papers and maps from 1953 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Four Corners’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Four Corners’ history

How historic is Four Corners?

D

More historic than 11% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Four Corners’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Four Corners is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #38 of 42 in Montana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Four Corners’ overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19402.9% of homes (±3.2) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MT town 12.7 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 11%
NewerOlder
Montana towns of 2,500+ (42)Ahead of 10%

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 Four Corners’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 Four Corners’ past

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

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Four Corners, and 7 old place names are still on the map.Mystery photos5 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Middle Creek
1869–1873
Sheds
1896–1898
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Forest Park Mobile Home and RV ParkGilroyKorner KourtMiddle CreekMonfortonRiverside Trailer CourtSheds
Gone or out of use
Elk Grove SchoolschoolErskine BridgebridgeGilroylocaleHot SpringslocaleMiddle Creek Post Officepost officeSheds Post Officepost office

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

Help out

Start Four Corners’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo5 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewGabriel Homestead, River Road: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Four Corners, in brief

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

Four Corners is a census-designated place (CDP) in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,901 at the 2020 census, up from 3,146 in 2010. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,146 to 5,901 (+88%).

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

Timeline

Four Corners, 1869 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Middle Creek post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Middle Creek post office closes
  4. 1896Post officeThe Sheds post office opens
  5. 1898Post officeThe Sheds post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Four Corners, decade by decade

Date unknown5 to date
Gabriel Homestead, River RoadDate?Gabriel Homestead, River RoadGabriel Homestead, Barn, River RoadDate?Gabriel Homestead, Barn, River RoadGabriel Homestead, House, River RoadDate?Gabriel Homestead, House, River RoadGabriel Homestead, Granary, River RoadDate?Gabriel Homestead, Granary, River RoadGabriel Homestead, Root Cellar, River RoadDate?Gabriel Homestead, Root Cellar, River Road
On the map

Four Corners on the map, 1953 to 1987

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

Four Corners on the 1953 USGS mapFour Corners on the 1987 USGS map1953Bozeman sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Gabriel Homestead, River Road
Retake this viewGabriel Homestead, River Road

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Four Corners

Nobody well known was born in Four Corners itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Ryan Zinke52nd United States Secretary of the Interior an… · b. 1961
Brannon BragaTelevision producer · b. 1965
P
Philip WinchesterAmerican stage actor, television actor and film… · b. 1981
P
Pete LovelyRacecar driver · b. 1926
Dale W. JorgensonAmerican economist · b. 1933
Peter VoulkosAmerican artist · b. 1924
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Gallatin Gateway1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Four Corners’ history

How does Four Corners rank for history?

Four Corners is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #38 of 42 in Montana. 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.

How old are the homes in Four Corners?

3% of Four Corners’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 2010.

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 the Library of Congress (5), 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.