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Pony Montana 03Photo: Mike Cline · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Pony

Pony’s post office opened in 1877, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 95 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1950 on.

1877first post office
2on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pony’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pony began

When was Pony founded?

1877

The Pony post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 127149 years
Founding year: the first Pony post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pony’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Pony Historic District takes in 95 historic buildings.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

2 listings protect 96 historic buildings

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
96
each building in a district counts
first listed
1987
Powder House
Powder HousePony Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Powder HouseBuilding
All 2 listings
Pony Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1987

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

By decade

Pony, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s12 items
General store. Pony, Montana1939General store. Pony, MontanaMain street. Pony, Montana1939Main street. Pony, MontanaMiner's cabin. Pony, Montana1939Miner's cabin. Pony, MontanaAbandoned stores. Pony, Montana1939Abandoned stores. Pony, MontanaGhost mining town. Pony, Montana1939Ghost mining town. Pony, MontanaGhost mining town. Pony, Montana1939Ghost mining town. Pony, MontanaVolunteer fire department. Pony, Montana1939Volunteer fire department. Pony, MontanaMine owner's home and church. Pony, Montana1939Mine owner's home and church. Pony, MontanaAbandoned United States Assay Office. Pony, Montana1939Abandoned United States Assay Office. Pony, MontanaRuins of gold ore mill. Pony, Montana1939Ruins of gold ore mill. Pony, MontanaAbandoned home of a gold prospector. Pony, Montana1939Abandoned home of a gold prospector. Pony, MontanaGold mine owners built substantial homes1939Gold mine owners built substantial homes
1940s–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
The story

How Pony came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pony.

Read it all →

The town gained its name from one of its early miners, Tecumseth Smith, a man nicknamed "Pony" because of his diminutive size.

Settled in the 1860s, Pony was a prosperous gold-mining community in the late nineteenth century, with at least 5,000 residents. Mining operations declined in the early 20th century, and all were closed by 1922.

A number of historic buildings from Pony's boom era remain in the old town today. Major buildings are managed, voluntarily, by the Pony Homecoming Club, a non-profit organization that maintains the town's public spaces.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pony, 1877 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Pony post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1939In the archiveGeneral store. Pony, Montana
  5. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Pony on the map, 1950 to 1996

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

Pony on the 1950 USGS mapPony on the 1988 USGS mapPony on the 1996 USGS map1950Harrison 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 Pony.

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.

General store. Pony, Montana
Retake this viewGeneral store. Pony, Montana, 1939

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Pony

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

See all →
P
Philip WinchesterAmerican stage actor, television actor and film… · b. 1981
Chet HuntleyAmerican broadcaster · b. 1911
William Boyce ThompsonAmerican engineer · b. 1869
Angela McLeanAmerican politician · b. 1970
Timothy M. SwagerAmerican chemist · b. 1961
A
Art LundAmerican politician · b. 1920
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Pony’s post office has been open since 1877.

Gone or out of use
PonylocalePony Catholic ChurchchurchPony SchoolschoolSaint Johns Episcopal ChurchchurchSW SE Section 18 Minemine
1cemetery inside Pony
Pony

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

Help out

Finish Pony’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGeneral store. Pony, Montana: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Pony’s history

What year was Pony founded?

The Pony post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Pony?

Two places: the Powder House (listed 1987) and the Pony Historic District (1987).

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 the Library of Congress (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.