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History · West Kootenai

20% of West Kootenai’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on.

0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about West Kootenai’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 West Kootenai are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start West Kootenai’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how West Kootenai’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

West Kootenai, in brief

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

West Kootenai is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lincoln County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, West Kootenai had a population of 422.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 365 to 422 (+16%).

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.
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On the map

West Kootenai on the map, 1963 to 1997

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

West Kootenai on the 1963 USGS mapWest Kootenai on the 1983 USGS mapWest Kootenai on the 1997 USGS map1963Rexford 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 West Kootenai.

Questions about West Kootenai’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.