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History · Shepherd

Shepherd’s post office opened in 1915

Most of Shepherd was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: maps from 1956 on.

1915first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Shepherd began

When was Shepherd founded?

1915

The Shepherd post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 507111 years
Founding year: the first Shepherd post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Shepherd’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 Shepherd are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shepherd’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shepherd’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

Shepherd, in brief

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

Shepherd is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Shepherd had a population of 507. Shepherd is a Billings suburb located to the northeast. The unincorporated town was named after R.E. Shepherd, a prominent early settler and owner of the Billings Land and Irrigation Company and the Merchants National Bank. The post office opened in 1915. The farming community is near the Yellowstone River.

Its first post office opened in 1915. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 516 in 2010, 507 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.

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On the map

Shepherd on the map, 1956 to 1975

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

Shepherd on the 1956 USGS mapShepherd on the 1969 USGS mapShepherd on the 1975 USGS map1956Huntley 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 Shepherd.

Famous people

Famous people close to Shepherd

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

See all →
Bud LuckeyAmerican animator · b. 1934
Stanley AndersonAmerican actor · b. 1939
Jeff KoberAmerican actor · b. 1953
John DahlAmerican film and television director and writer · b. 1956
Cody MillerAmerican swimmer · b. 1992
Denny RehbergAmerican politician · b. 1955

Questions about Shepherd’s history

What year was Shepherd founded?

The Shepherd post office opened in 1915, 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 →
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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.