The story
Read it all →How Yaak came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Yaak.
Settlers wandered into the area from Canada in the 1860s, with the first homestead said to be in 1906.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Yaak
Yaak’s post office opened in 1914
Most of Yaak was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1963 on.
1914first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Yaak began
When was Yaak founded?
1914
The Yaak post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Taylor (1912), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 338112 years
Founding year: the first Yaak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Yaak’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Yaak’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Yaak’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Yaak, 1912 to 1963
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Yaak on the map, 1963 to 1997
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yaak. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1963Yaak sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Yaak.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Yaak had its own post office from 1914 to 1953. Another post office, Taylor, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Taylor
Yaak
19101970today
Gone or out of use
Taylor Post Officepost officeYaak Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Yaak
Boyd Mill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Yaak’s history
What year was Yaak founded?
The Yaak post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikipedia, 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.