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History · Pinnacle

Half of Pinnacle’s homes were built after 1998

Most of Pinnacle was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1964 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Pinnacle’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 Pinnacle are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pinnacle’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pinnacle’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

Pinnacle, in brief

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

Pinnacle is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Flathead County, Montana, United States. It is in the eastern part of the county, along U.S. Route 2 in the valley of the Middle Fork Flathead River. It is 6 miles (10 km) north of Essex and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of West Glacier. The community is bordered to the east, across the Middle Fork, by Glacier National Park, and to the west by Flathead National Forest. Pinnacle was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Pinnacle had a population of 45.

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

Timeline

Pinnacle, 1914 to 1964

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1914Post officeThe Paola post office opens
  3. 1928Post officeThe Paola post office closes
  4. 1964On 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

Pinnacle on the map, 1964 to 1994

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

Pinnacle on the 1964 USGS mapPinnacle on the 1994 USGS map1964Pinnacle 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 Pinnacle.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

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

Gone or out of use
Paola Post Officepost officePaola Schoolschool

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

Questions about Pinnacle’s history

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.