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History · Utica

Utica’s post office opened in 1881, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Utica began

When was Utica founded?

1881

The Utica post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 23145 years
Founding year: the first Utica post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Utica’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 Utica are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Utica’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Utica’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Utica’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

Utica, in brief

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

Utica is an unincorporated community in west-central Judith Basin County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Utica had a population of 23. It is approximately 40 miles (64 km) from Lewistown at the intersections of Pig Eye Road, Montana Route 239 (the "Utica highway"), and Montana Route 541. Yogo sapphires were found near Utica in the mid-1890s. Judith River Ranger Station is near town.

Its first post office opened in 1881.

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

Timeline

Utica, 1881 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Utica post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1959Post officeThe Utica post office closes
  5. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Utica on the map, 1970 to 1984

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

Utica on the 1970 USGS mapUtica on the 1984 USGS map1970Utica 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 Utica.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Utica had its own post office from 1881 to 1959.

Utica
1881–1959
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Utica Post Officepost officeUtica Schoolschool

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

Questions about Utica’s history

What year was Utica founded?

The Utica post office opened in 1881, 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.