Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #6 of 42 in Montana. What drives it
35 places in town are on the National Register, among them five historic districts with 142 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
Lewistown first appears in the census in 1880. Two smaller post offices, Reedsfort (1881) and Rayfield (1920), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lewistown is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #6 of 42 in Montana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Lewistown’s 291 sits above most of its state (87% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 177 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first census (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lewistown’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lewistown.
The area was the territory of the Blackfoot Native Americans. In 1874, Fort Lewis was established there by Company "F" of the 7th U.S. Infantry to provide military protection for people traveling on the Carroll Trail, then the shortest route between Carroll, Montana and Helena. Lewistown is named after this fort.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereRoy E. Ayers is born hereBuiltLewistown Carnegie Library is builtBuiltSt. Joseph's Hospital is built
In the archiveLewistown, Mont
BuiltAyers House is built
BuiltHuntoon Residence is built
Born hereAlma Smith Jacobs is born here
Born hereAlbert Bauer is born here
Born hereLoren Acton is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lewistown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lewistown.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lewistown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 72 and 7,408 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lewistown’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lewistown post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1882.
Lewistown is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #6 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.
35 listings: 29 buildings, among them the St. Joseph's Hospital (listed 1978, the first), 5 historic districts with 142 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 177 historic buildings in all.
37% of Lewistown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1954.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (35), 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), 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.
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