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History · Winifred

Winifred’s post office opened in 1913, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Stafford's Grocery. Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1920.

1913first post office
1on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Winifred began

When was Winifred founded?

1913

The Winifred post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 262 in 19202020 census: 172113 years
Founding year: the first Winifred post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Winifred’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 Winifred are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Winifred’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Winifred’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

How Winifred came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Winifred.

Read it all →

Winifred was founded in 1913 as the terminus of a newly built branch line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road"). It is popularly believed to have been named after one of the railroad owner's two daughters (the other being Christina, another small town about 15 miles away). Built in 1914, Stafford's Grocery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Winifred, decade by decade

Today3 recent
WinifredMT StaffordsGrocery2017WinifredMT StaffordsGroceryDJI 0002 (2).MP4.00 03 25 20.Still0012016DJI 0002 (2).MP4.00 03 25 20.Still001Winifred-Montana2007Winifred-Montana
On the map

Winifred on the map in 1954

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Winifred.

Winifred on the 1954 USGS map1954Lewistown sheet · 1:250,000

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

Every building

Winifred, building by building, 1916

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 sheet.

Winifred fire insurance map, 1916, sheet 11916Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Winifred

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2016
Stafford's Grocery
Stafford's Grocery
Buildings
Stafford's GroceryBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Winifred, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 300

Between 150 and 300 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Winifred

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

See all →
A
Art StevensAmerican animator · b. 1915
D
Don KoehlerAmerican 'giant' · b. 1925
J
James A. SheltonUnited States Navy officer · b. 1916
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Winifred’s post office has been open since 1913.

Gone or out of use
Cracins Independent ElevatorlocaleFreeman Brothers ElevatorlocaleWinifredlocale

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

Questions about Winifred’s history

What year was Winifred founded?

The Winifred post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Winifred?

One place: the Stafford's Grocery (listed 2016).

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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.