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History · Pine Creek

Pine Creek’s post office opened in 1904

Most of Pine Creek was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1951 on.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Pine Creek began

When was Pine Creek founded?

1904

The Pine Creek post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Pinecreek (1904), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 80122 years
Founding year: the first Pine Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Pine Creek’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 Pine Creek are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pine Creek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pine Creek’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Pine Creek, in brief

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

Pine Creek is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States. It is in the central part of the county, on the east side of the Paradise Valley, where Pine Creek joins the Yellowstone River. As of the 2020 census, Pine Creek had a population of 80. Montana Secondary Highway 540 (East River Road) passes the community, leading southwest 11 miles (18 km) to Pray and north the same distance to Livingston, the Park county seat. Pine Creek Road leads west across the Yellowstone River 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to U.S. Route 89, the main highway through the Paradise Valley. Pine Creek was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1904.

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

Timeline

Pine Creek, 1904 to 1951

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1904Post officeThe Pinecreek post office opens
  3. 1914Post officeThe Pinecreek post office closes
  4. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Pine Creek on the map, 1951 to 2000

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

Pine Creek on the 1951 USGS mapPine Creek on the 1981 USGS mapPine Creek on the 2000 USGS map1951Brisbin 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 Pine Creek.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pine Creek

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

See all →
Ryan Zinke52nd United States Secretary of the Interior an… · b. 1961
Brannon BragaTelevision producer · b. 1965
P
Philip WinchesterAmerican stage actor, television actor and film… · b. 1981
P
Pete LovelyRacecar driver · b. 1926
Dale W. JorgensonAmerican economist · b. 1933
Peter VoulkosAmerican artist · b. 1924
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Pinecreek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Pinecreek Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Pine Creek’s history

What year was Pine Creek founded?

The Pine Creek post office opened in 1904, 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 →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.