Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Shawmut

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Shawmut

Shawmut’s post office opened in 1885, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1986 on.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Shawmut began

When was Shawmut founded?

1885

The Shawmut post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 42141 years
Founding year: the first Shawmut post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Shawmut’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 Shawmut are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Shawmut’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shawmut’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Shawmut, in brief

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

Shawmut is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Wheatland County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Shawmut had a population of 42. Shawmut has a post office with ZIP code 59078, which opened on October 27, 1885. The community is located along U.S. Route 12 and Montana Highway 3.

Its first post office opened in 1885. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 42 in 2010, 42 in 2020.

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

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Shawmut on the map, 1986 to 1993

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

Shawmut on the 1986 USGS mapShawmut on the 1993 USGS map1986Shawmut 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 Shawmut.

Questions about Shawmut’s history

What year was Shawmut founded?

The Shawmut post office opened in 1885, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.