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History · Saltese

Saltese’s post office opened in 1892

Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1914 on.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Saltese’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Saltese began

When was Saltese founded?

1892

The Saltese post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 10134 years
Founding year: the first Saltese post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Saltese’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saltese’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBlack bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Ji…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Saltese came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Saltese.

Read it all →

Saltese is an old gold and silver mining town that took its name from a Nez Perce leader, Chief Saltese. The town was first known as Silver City but was renamed in 1891. The post office opened in 1892.

In December 1912, David D. Bogart, the sixth mayor of Missoula, Montana, was killed in an avalanche in Saltese while prospecting for gold.

In 1996, a longtime establishment, the Old Montana Bar and Grille, was destroyed in a fire.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Saltese, 1892 to 1987

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Saltese post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archiveBlack bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12-10 at Saltese, Mont
  5. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1983Post officeThe Saltese post office closes
  7. 1987In the archiveD's Motel cabin
By decade

Saltese, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s3 items
Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12-10 at Saltese, Mont1910Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12…Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12-10 at Saltese, Mont1910Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12…Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5/12/10 at Saltese, Mont1910Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5/12…
1920s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
D's Motel cabin1987D's Motel cabin
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
Today4 recent
This was my view, but it was good enough2007This was my view, but it was good enoughThe lodge2007The lodgeBitterroot Mountains2007Bitterroot MountainsBitterroot Mountains2007Bitterroot Mountains
On the map

Saltese on the map, 1956 to 1999

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

Saltese on the 1956 USGS mapSaltese on the 1988 USGS mapSaltese on the 1999 USGS map1956Saltese 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 Saltese.

Every building

Saltese, building by building, 1914

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.

Saltese fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 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.

Black bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12-10 at Saltese, Mont
Retake this viewBlack bear weighing 252 lbs. shot by Jim O'Brine 5-12-10 at Saltese, Mont, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Saltese had its own post office from 1892 to 1983.

Saltese
1892–1983
18901960today
Gone or out of use
SalteselocaleSaltese Post Officepost officeSaltese Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Saltese
Saltese

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

Questions about Saltese’s history

What year was Saltese founded?

The Saltese post office opened in 1892, 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 →
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 (7), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.