The Marion post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Swan (1904), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,119134 years
How historic is Marion?
C−
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Marion post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Marion’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marion is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marion’s overall grade.
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 Marion’s 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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 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 Marion’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Marion yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Marion is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Flathead County, Montana, United States. Its population was 1,119 as of the 2020 census. Marion has a post office with ZIP code 59925. The Great Northern Railway created Marion in 1891 as the terminus of a short spur line that ran west from Kalispell. Between 1892 and 1902, this would be part of the Great Northern Main Line between Columbia Falls and Libby through Haskell Pass. The post office in Marion was established in 1892. Located just off of U.S. Route 2, Marion is 21 miles from Kalispell. The town is next to Little Bitterroot Lake. The railroad between Kalispell and Marion was abandoned in the 1940s. Part of it is no…
Its first post office opened in 1892. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 886 to 1,119 (+26%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Marion, 1892 to 1906
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Marion post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Marion rank for history?
Marion is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns. 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 Marion?
3% of Marion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 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.
