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History · St. Regis

St. Regis’ post office opened in 1896, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 2000.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From St. Regis’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How St. Regis began

When was St. Regis founded?

1896

The St. Regis post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 315 in 20002020 census: 313130 years
Founding year: the first St. Regis post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about St. Regis’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Regis’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSt. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Mont…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

St. Regis, in brief

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

St. Regis or Saint Regis is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, Montana. The population was 313 at the time of the 2020 census. Pierre-Jean De Smet travelled extensively in this area of Montana. He named the river, after which the town takes its name, after a fellow Jesuit priest. The post office opened in 1896. The Northern Pacific Railway built a railroad through the town in the early 1900's, boosting the economy.

Its first post office opened in 1896. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 319 in 2010, 313 in 2020.

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

Timeline

St. Regis, 1896 to 1987

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Saint Regis post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1987In the archiveSt. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana
By decade

St. Regis, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s3 items
St. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana1987St. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, MontanaSt. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana1987St. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, MontanaSt. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana1987St. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana
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
Today3 recent
StRegisRiverMT2019StRegisRiverMTStRegisMTJuly20192019StRegisMTJuly2019MTMap-doton-StRegis2005MTMap-doton-StRegis
On the map

St. Regis on the map, 1956 to 1999

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

St. Regis on the 1956 USGS mapSt. Regis on the 1988 USGS mapSt. Regis on the 1999 USGS map1956St Regis 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 St. Regis.

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.

St. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana
Retake this viewSt. Regis Camp Motel, Saint Regis, Montana, 1987

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

St. Regis, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 319

Between 313 and 319 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to St. Regis

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

See all →
Marc RacicotAmerican politician · b. 1948
P
Pokey AllenGridiron football player and coach · b. 1943
Ed DiehlAmerican politician
John Melvin YatesUS Ambassador to Cape Verde, 1983-6 · b. 1939
Nels NelsonCanadian politician · b. 1917
W
William S. CrismoreAmerican politician · b. 1933
Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Regis
Gone or out of use
KitchenlocaleSaint Regis Methodist Churchchurch

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

Questions about St. Regis’ history

What year was St. Regis founded?

The St. Regis post office opened in 1896, 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 (6), 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.