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History · St. Ignatius

St. Ignatius’ post office opened in 1872, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the St. Ignatius Mission. Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1940.

1872first post office
1on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Ignatius began, and where its name came from

When was St. Ignatius founded?

1872

The St. Ignatius post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 768 in 19402020 census: 768154 years

How did St. Ignatius get its name?

St. Ignatius was named for and is the site of the St. Ignatius Mission, established by Fr.

Founding year: the first St. Ignatius post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Ignatius’ 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 St. Ignatius are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of St. Ignatius’ homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Ignatius’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Ignatius’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

How St. Ignatius came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Ignatius.

Read it all →

It was named for and is the site of the St. Ignatius Mission, established by Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit Catholic missionary who worked for his entire career in the American Midwest and West. The mission is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In July 1919 the town was all but wiped out by raging forest fire. Only a bank, one store and a hotel, remained standing.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Ignatius, 1854 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854BuiltSt. Ignatius Mission is built
  3. 1872Post officeThe Saint Ignatius post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904Born hereD'Arcy McNickle is born here
  6. 1947Born hereDiane Sands is born here
  7. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

St. Ignatius, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Mission Mountain range viewed from the NBR2013Mission Mountain range viewed from the NBR
On the map

St. Ignatius on the map in 1964

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Ignatius.

St. Ignatius on the 1964 USGS map1964Saint Ignatius 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 St. Ignatius.

On the National Register

1 historic place in St. Ignatius

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
St. Ignatius Mission
St. Ignatius Mission, built 1854
Buildings
St. Ignatius MissionBuilt 1854

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

People over time

St. Ignatius, census by census

02004006008001,00019401960198020002020Peak: 940

Between 768 and 940 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Ignatius’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in St. Ignatius

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
Diane SandsAmerican politician · b. 1947
D
D'Arcy McNickleAmerican writer · b. 1904
S
Shelly FyantAmerican politician
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Ignatius
Gone or out of use
Industrial Arts SchoolschoolMission HospitalhospitalSaint Ignatius MissionlocaleSaint Joseph SchoolschoolVilla Ursulaschool
1cemetery inside St. Ignatius
Saint Ignatius Old Catholic

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

Questions about St. Ignatius’ history

What year was St. Ignatius founded?

The St. Ignatius post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in St. Ignatius?

One place: the St. Ignatius Mission (listed 1973).

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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.