Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Djembayz · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 19% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Double Arrow Lodge and the Double Arrow Lookout. Most of Seeley Lake was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 2000.
The Seeley Lake post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Corlett (1912), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Seeley Lake is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Montana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Montana town has 12.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Seeley Lake’s 13.4 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seeley Lake’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Seeley Lake.
The community of Seeley Lake is named for Jasper B. Seely, who built a cabin on what was in 1881 known as Clearwater Lake. Seely served as the first ranger on the Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve. The first road to Seeley Lake came in 1895.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Seeley Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Seeley Lake.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,436 and 1,682 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Seeley Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Seeley Lake itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Seeley Lake’s post office has been open since 1918. Another post office, Corlett, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Seeley Lake post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Seeley Lake is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the Double Arrow Lodge (listed 2014) and the Double Arrow Lookout (2018).
2% of Seeley Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1994.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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