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History · Belfield

Belfield’s post office opened in 1883, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1962 on, and the census since 1920.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Belfield’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Belfield began

When was Belfield founded?

1883

The Belfield post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 526 in 19202020 census: 996143 years
Founding year: the first Belfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
The story so far

Belfield, in brief

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

Belfield is a city in Stark County, North Dakota, United States and only 15 minutes from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. Belfield was founded in 1883, and has seen many booms and busts in this oil-rich part of North Dakota. It is part of the Dickinson Micropolitan Statistical Area. In 1883 Belfield was struck by a tornado that swept away nine houses but did not cause any deaths. It was known as "The Remarkable Tornado of 1883." Exactly one year later the area was hit by another tornado, which destroyed crops and caused total losses at some farms near Belfield.

Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 800 to 996 (+25%).

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

Timeline

Belfield, 1883 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Belfield post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1936In the archiveSheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, North Dakota
  5. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Belfield, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s7 items
Sheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, North Dakota1936Sheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, Nort…Sheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, North Dakota1936Sheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, Nort…Shipping sheep out of drought area. Belfield, North Dakota1936Shipping sheep out of drought area. Belfield, North D…Shipping sheep out of drought area. Belfield, North Dakota1936Shipping sheep out of drought area. Belfield, North D…Farmer watering stock thinned by drought. Thirty miles south of Belfield, North Dakota1936Farmer watering stock thinned by drought. Thirty mile…Cattle and sheep grazing on land fourteen miles south of Belfield, North Dakota1936Cattle and sheep grazing on land fourteen miles south…Cattle being driven to stockyards at Belfield, North Dakota, for shipment out of the drought area1936Cattle being driven to stockyards at Belfield, North …
1940s–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
Today5 recent
Belfield, North Dakota2008Belfield, North DakotaBelfield, North Dakota2008Belfield, North DakotaBelfield, North Dakota2008Belfield, North DakotaBelfield, North Dakota2008Belfield, North DakotaBelfield, North Dakota (2008)2008Belfield, North Dakota (2008)
On the map

Belfield on the map, 1962 to 1997

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

Belfield on the 1962 USGS mapBelfield on the 1981 USGS mapBelfield on the 1997 USGS map1962Belfield 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 Belfield.

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.

Sheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, North Dakota
Retake this viewSheep in stockyards awaiting shipment. Belfield, North Dakota, 1936

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Belfield, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,274

Between 526 and 1,274 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Belfield

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

See all →
K
Kellan LutzAmerican actor and model · b. 1985
Byron DorganAmerican author, businessman, and politician · b. 1942
Kelly M. ArmstrongGovernor of North Dakota since 2024 · b. 1976
Dorothy StickneyBroadway actress · b. 1896
M
Malachi RitscherAmerican musician · b. 1954
Austin DufaultAmerican basketball player · b. 1990
Places that used to be

Old burying grounds

Belfield’s post office has been open since 1883.

4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Belfield
Belfield CityBelfield LutheranSaint Bernards CatholicSaint Johns Catholic

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

Help out

Finish Belfield’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

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

Questions about Belfield’s history

What year was Belfield founded?

The Belfield post office opened in 1883, 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 →
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 (5), the Library of Congress (7), 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.