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History · Amidon

Amidon dates to 1910, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1973 on, and the census since 1920.

1910founded
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Amidon’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Amidon began

When was Amidon founded?

1910

Amidon dates its founding to 1910 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1920.

First census: 145 in 19202020 census: 24116 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1911.The full story ↓

What stands out about Amidon’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Amidon’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Amidon’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Amidon’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDistance from: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Amidon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Amidon.

Read it all →

Amidon was founded in 1910 at the anticipated terminus of a Milwaukee Road branch line that diverged from the railroad's Pacific Extension in McLaughlin, South Dakota. The line was ultimately never built farther west of New England, North Dakota, making Amidon one of the few surviving North Dakota cities never to have been served by a rail line. The original county courthouse was built in 1915. It was also the last county seat in the state to get electricity when Slope Electric Cooperative extended their distribution lines into Amidon in 1950.

Amidon is named after Charles F. Amidon, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Amidon, 1910 to 1978

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910
    FoundingAmidon is established
  3. 1911Post officeThe Amidon post office opens
  4. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1978In the archiveDistance from
By decade

Amidon, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Distance from1978Distance from
1980s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Slope County Courthouse2008Slope County CourthouseAmidon, North Dakota2008Amidon, North DakotaAmidon, North Dakota 52008Amidon, North Dakota 5Amidon, North Dakota 42008Amidon, North Dakota 4Amidon, North Dakota 32008Amidon, North Dakota 3Amidon, North Dakota 22008Amidon, North Dakota 2
On the map

Amidon on the map, 1973 to 1997

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

Amidon on the 1973 USGS mapAmidon on the 1981 USGS mapAmidon on the 1997 USGS map1973Amidon sheet · 1:24,000

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

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.

Distance from
Retake this viewDistance from, 1978

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Amidon’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Amidon, census by census

0100192019401960198020002020Peak: 145

Between 20 and 145 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Amidon’s history

What year was Amidon founded?

In 1910, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Amidon’s post office opened in 1911, and the census of 1920 counted 145 people here.

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 (7), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.