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History · Whitewater

Whitewater’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Whitewater was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1920 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Whitewater began

When was Whitewater founded?

1912

The Whitewater post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 75114 years
Founding year: the first Whitewater post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Whitewater’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 Whitewater are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Whitewater’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whitewater’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

Whitewater, in brief

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

Whitewater is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Phillips County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Whitewater had a population of 75. Whitewater has a post office with ZIP code 59544. In 1927, the town moved about 7 miles west to be on the new Great Northern Railway branch line.

Its first post office opened in 1912. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 64 to 75 (+17%).

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

Whitewater on the map, 1920 to 1954

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

Whitewater on the 1920 USGS mapWhitewater on the 1954 USGS map1920Cowan sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Whitewater.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Whitewater’s post office has been open since 1912.

Gone or out of use
Whitewaterlocale

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

Questions about Whitewater’s history

What year was Whitewater founded?

The Whitewater post office opened in 1912, 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.