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–Not graded
History · Buxton

Buxton’s post office opened in 1880, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the First State Bank of Buxton. Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1930.

1880first post office
1on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Buxton began

When was Buxton founded?

1880

The Buxton post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 410 in 19302020 census: 348146 years
Founding year: the first Buxton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Buxton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Buxton’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 Buxton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Buxton.

Read it all →

Buxton was founded in 1880 in Buxton Township as a townsite along the Great Northern Railroad in 1880. The post office began operating in November of that year. It was incorporated as a village in 1922. It became a city in 1967, after the North Dakota Legislature enacted legislation that eliminated all existing incorporation titles for towns and villages in the state.

The town was named after Thomas J. Buxton, at the time the city treasurer of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Buxton was a close friend and business associate of the town's founder, Budd Reeve.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Buxton, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Buxton, North Dakota sign2007Buxton, North Dakota signNDMap-doton-Buxton2004NDMap-doton-Buxton
On the map

Buxton on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

Buxton on the 1971 USGS mapBuxton on the 1985 USGS map1971Buxton 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 Buxton.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Buxton

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
1978
First State Bank of Buxton
First State Bank of Buxton
Buildings
First State Bank of BuxtonBuilding

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

People over time

Buxton, census by census

010020030040019401960198020002020Peak: 410

Between 235 and 410 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Buxton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Buxton’s history

What year was Buxton founded?

The Buxton post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Buxton?

One place: the First State Bank of Buxton (listed 1978).

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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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) 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.