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C−History
History · Lolo

Lolo’s post office opened in 1888, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #36 of 42 in Montana. What drives it

Most of Lolo was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Traveler's Rest, a National Historic Landmark. Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1980.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lolo began

When was Lolo founded?

1888

The Lolo post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,418 in 19802020 census: 4,399138 years

How historic is Lolo?

C−

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Lolo’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lolo is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #36 of 42 in Montana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lolo’s overall grade.
Founding era1888, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.6) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%D−National Register1 listing, 2.3 per 10,000 residents · typical MT town 12.7 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 19%
NewerOlder
Montana towns of 2,500+ (42)Ahead of 15%

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 Lolo’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (39% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. 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 Lolo’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 Lolo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages11 hamlets and corners are still on the map.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Traveler's Rest, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lolo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lolo’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
Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Lolo’s post office has been open since 1888.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ahern Trailer CourtBitterroot Gateway Trailer CourtCozy CourtFoleys Trailer CourtHoliday Trailer CourtLipske Trailer CourtMJB Trailer CourtRocks Trailer CourtTravellers Rest Trailer CourtTwo River Trailer ParkWest Acres Trailer Park
Gone or out of use
Dunham Stage Stationlocale

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Lolo

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Traveler's Rest
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Traveler's Rest
Traveler's Rest★
Sites★ landmark
★ Landmark
Traveler's RestSite

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

The story

How Lolo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lolo.

Read it all →

The Traveler's Rest site, in Lolo, is one of the few sites in the nation with physical confirmation of the visit of Lewis and Clark.

There are several versions of the origin of the town name. One is a French pronunciation of the name Lawrence Rence, a fur trapper in the area. Another is the French name for Meriwether Lewis, "Le Louis". Or it could be based on either a Chinook word or a Nez Perce word. In addition to the town, a national forest, creek, mountain peak, mountain pass, hot springs, and historic trail are all named Lolo.

The 2017 Lolo Peak Fire burned thousands of acres 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Lolo, prompting evacuations and closure of U.S. Route 12.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lolo, 1888 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Lolo post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Born hereWilliam McPherson Allen is born here
  5. 1960LandmarkTraveler's Rest named a National Historic Landmark
  6. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lolo, decade by decade

Today18 recent
Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road72013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road7Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road62013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road6Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road52013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road5Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road42013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road4Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road32013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road3Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road22013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road2Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road112013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road11Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road102013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road10Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek Road2013Elk Meadows Road and East Fork of Lolo Creek RoadBitterroot-flowers-lolo-mt-06012013-rogermpeterson-0022013Bitterroot-flowers-lolo-mt-06012013-rogermpeterson-002Traveler's Rest State Park plaque2011Traveler's Rest State Park plaqueNpnht-travelers-rest-state-parkr-lolo-montana-october-2011-rogermpeterson-0052011Npnht-travelers-rest-state-parkr-lolo-montana-october…Lolo montana 052011Lolo montana 05Lolo montana 042011Lolo montana 04Lolo montana 032011Lolo montana 03Lolo montana 022011Lolo montana 02Lolo montana 012011Lolo montana 012010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
On the map

Lolo on the map, 1964 to 1999

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

Lolo on the 1964 USGS mapLolo on the 1978 USGS mapLolo on the 1999 USGS map1964Southwest Missoula 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 Lolo.

People over time

Lolo, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500198020002020Peak: 4,399

Between 2,418 and 4,399 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Questions about Lolo’s history

What year was Lolo founded?

The Lolo post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Lolo rank for history?

Lolo is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #36 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.

What is on the National Register in Lolo?

One place: the Traveler's Rest (listed 1966).

How old are the homes in Lolo?

0.0% of Lolo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1995.

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.