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Loma, MontanaPhoto: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Loma

Loma’s post office opened in 1911

Most of Loma was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2012. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 2000.

1911first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Loma’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Loma began

When was Loma founded?

1911

The Loma post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 92 in 20002020 census: 65115 years
Founding year: the first Loma post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Loma’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Loma’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Loma’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 viewGrain storage elevators, freight car an…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Loma came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Loma.

Read it all →

James Kipp, of the American Fur Company, founded the first community here in 1831. The Blackfeet laid siege to the fort, and the inhabitants quickly abandoned the site. The next year, the American Fur Company established another trading post, Fort McKenzie, a few miles upstream of the old site. During the 1860s, businessmen built a townsite called Ophir near the confluence of the Marias and the Missouri rivers. On May 25, 1865, the Blackfeet killed 10 men in the developing town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Loma, 1911 to 1953

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1911Post officeThe Loma post office opens
  3. 1941In the archiveGrain storage elevators, freight car and railroad station. Loma, Montana
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Loma, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Grain storage elevators, freight car and railroad station. Loma, Montana1941Grain storage elevators, freight car and railroad sta…
1950s–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
Loma, Montana USA 062013Loma, Montana USA 06Loma, Montana USA 052013Loma, Montana USA 05Loma, Montana2012Loma, MontanaMTMap-doton-Loma2005MTMap-doton-Loma
On the map

Loma on the map, 1953 to 1984

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

Loma on the 1953 USGS mapLoma on the 1984 USGS map1953Loma West 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 Loma.

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.

Grain storage elevators, freight car and railroad station. Loma, Montana
Retake this viewGrain storage elevators, freight car and railroad station. Loma, Montana, 1941

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Loma, census by census

010020002020Peak: 92

Between 65 and 92 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Loma

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

See all →
D
Denise CurryAmerican basketball player · b. 1959
John Louis ClarkeAmerican artist · b. 1881
Roy Carrington KirtlandAmerican Army officer · b. 1874
Jim HuffmanAmerican politician · b. 1945
G
Gene CarlsonAmerican football and baseball player and coach · b. 1932

Questions about Loma’s history

What year was Loma founded?

The Loma post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.