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History · Winston

Winston’s post office opened in 1892

Most of Winston was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Below: maps from 1950 on.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Winston began

When was Winston founded?

1892

The Winston post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Beaver Creek (1872) and Placer (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 169134 years
Founding year: the first Winston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Winston’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 Winston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Winston.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Winston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Winston’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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Winston had its own post office from 1892 to 1983. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Beaver Creek
1872–1887
Placer
1887–1892
Winston
1892–1983
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Harris SpurlocaleHogans SpurlocaleWinston Post Officepost officeWinston Schoolschool

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

The story so far

Winston, in brief

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

Winston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Broadwater County, Montana, United States. The population was 169 at the 2020 census, up from 147 in the 2010 census. The town was named for the Winston brothers who hauled ore in the 1890s. The post office opened in 1892. A saloon was built in 1894 and the Durnens' Hotel shortly after. The McMaster Ranch was started in 1893 and provided the area with a variety of meat for three generations. The ranch has retained most of its buildings and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. The Spokane Hill Airway Beacon is also on the register. The beacon was one of the chain of airway beacons pilots used to navigate in early aerona…

Its first post office opened in 1892. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 147 to 169 (+15%).

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

Timeline

Winston, 1872 to 1983

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Beaver Creek post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Beaver Creek post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Placer post office opens
  5. 1892Post officeThe Placer post office closes
  6. 1892Post officeThe Winston post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1983Post officeThe Winston post office closes
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

Winston on the map, 1950 to 2001

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

Winston on the 1950 USGS mapWinston on the 1986 USGS mapWinston on the 2001 USGS map1950Townsend sheet · 1:62,500

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Winston

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

See all →
Gary CooperAmerican actor · b. 1901
Myrna LoyAmerican actress · b. 1905
Patrick DuffyAmerican actor · b. 1949
Dirk BenedictAmerican actor (b. 1945) · b. 1945
Max BaucusAmerican politician · b. 1941
Sean O'MalleyAmerican mixed martial artist · b. 1994

Questions about Winston’s history

What year was Winston founded?

The Winston post office opened in 1892, 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.