Wibaux’s post office opened in 1895, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 12 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1910.
The Wibaux post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Keith (1882) and Mingusville (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 487 in 19102020 census: 462131 years
Founding year: the first Wibaux post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Wibaux’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town originally had names such as Keith, Beaver, and Mingusville (named for Minnie and Gus Grisy, who ran the town's post office in the late 19th century). In 1895, the town was renamed for prominent local cattle rancher Pierre Wibaux, who had immigrated to the area from France in 1883. Wibaux expanded his herds by buying stock from less fortunate ranchers.
After Wibaux's arrival, the town became a major cattle shipping center for the Northern Pacific Railroad, notably receiving some of the cattle from Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cross and Elkhorn ranches near Medora, North Dakota. The great cattle drives of the 1880s often passed by Wibaux on their way from Texas to the northern ranges.
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.
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.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Wibaux.
Every building
Wibaux, building by building, 1910–1928
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1910Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Retake this viewPierre Wibaux brand, 1894
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wibaux’s page.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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