Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Inkster

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Inkster

Inkster’s post office opened in 1880, and 61% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1963 on, and the census since 1890.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
61%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Inkster’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Inkster began

When was Inkster founded?

1880

The Inkster post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1884.

First census: 211 in 18902020 census: 38146 years
Founding year: the first Inkster post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1884.

What stands out about Inkster’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 Inkster’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 368 in 1920; 38 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Inkster’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Inkster’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 viewGeorge T. Inkster log cabin: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Inkster, in brief

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

Inkster is a small city in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States, with a population of 38 as of the 2020 census. Inkster was founded in 1884, in an area that had been settled by George T. Inkster in 1878.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 50 to 38 (-24%).

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

People over time

Inkster, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 368

Peaked at 368 in 1920; 38 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Timeline

Inkster, 1880 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Inkster post office opens
  3. 1894Born hereJohn Silas Lundy is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910In the archiveGeorge T. Inkster log cabin
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 368
  7. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Inkster, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
George T. Inkster log cabin1910George T. Inkster log cabin
1920s–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
Today2 recent
Inkster North Dakota Cancellation 18922020Inkster North Dakota Cancellation 1892Inkster, North Dakota2005Inkster, North Dakota
On the map

Inkster on the map, 1963 to 1985

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

Inkster on the 1963 USGS mapInkster on the 1985 USGS map1963Inkster 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 Inkster.

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.

George T. Inkster log cabin
Retake this viewGeorge T. Inkster log cabin, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Inkster TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStrabane Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Inkster’s history

What year was Inkster founded?

The Inkster post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1884.

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 (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.