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History · Paradise

Paradise’s post office opened in 1907, and 100% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Paradise School. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1910 on.

1907first post office
1on the National Register
100%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Paradise’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Paradise began

When was Paradise founded?

1907

The Paradise post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 166119 years
Founding year: the first Paradise post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Paradise’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 Paradise’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paradise’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 viewQuinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Paradise, in brief

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

Paradise (Salish: čɫl̓q̓ʷe) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sanders County, Montana, United States. The population was 166 at the 2020 census. The community began in 1883, when the Northern Pacific Railroad chose the site as a division point. It was also the place where railroaders would change their watches from Mountain to Pacific time.

Its first post office opened in 1907. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 163 in 2010, 166 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Paradise, 1907 to 1959

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907Post officeThe Paradise post office opens
  3. 1909In the archiveQuinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont
  4. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Paradise, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Quinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont1909Quinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont
1910s–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
Today1 recent
MTMap-doton-Paradise2005MTMap-doton-Paradise
On the map

Paradise on the map, 1959 to 1999

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

Paradise on the 1959 USGS mapParadise on the 1984 USGS mapParadise on the 1999 USGS map1959Plains 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 Paradise.

Every building

Paradise, building by building, 1910

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 sheet.

Paradise fire insurance map, 1910, sheet 11910Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Quinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont
Retake this viewQuinn's Hot Springs, near Paradise, Mont, 1909

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Paradise

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2021
Paradise School
Paradise School
Buildings
All 1 listings
Paradise SchoolBuilding · listed 2021

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Paradise’s post office has been open since 1907.

Gone or out of use
Minnehanlocale
1cemetery inside Paradise
Paradise

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

Questions about Paradise’s history

What year was Paradise founded?

The Paradise post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Paradise?

One place: the Paradise School (listed 2021).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.