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History · Noonan

Noonan’s post office opened in 1907, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Travelers Hotel. Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1910.

1907first post office
1on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Noonan began

When was Noonan founded?

1907

The Noonan post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 153 in 19102020 census: 137119 years
Founding year: the first Noonan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Noonan’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 Noonan are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 625 in 1960; 137 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Noonan’s homes were built before 1950.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Noonan’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Noonan, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 625

Peaked at 625 in 1960; 137 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Noonan, in brief

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

Noonan is a city in Divide County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 137 at the 2020 census. Noonan was founded in 1907 and named after a family that had business, farm, and coal interests in the area. It was once known as "The White City" because of an ordinance requiring all buildings to be painted white. It is the birthplace of Gerald W. VandeWalle, who served a record-longest 45 years on the North Dakota Supreme Court beginning in 1978, including 26 years as its Chief Justice, from 1993 to 2019.

Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 121 to 137 (+13%).

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

Timeline

Noonan, 1907 to 1960

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907Post officeThe Noonan post office opens
  3. 1933Born hereGerald W. VandeWalle is born here
  4. 1939Born hereNed McIlroy is born here
  5. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 625
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 album
On the map

Noonan on the map, 1947 to 1981

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

Noonan on the 1947 USGS mapNoonan on the 1950 USGS mapNoonan on the 1981 USGS map1947Noonan 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 Noonan.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Noonan

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
2010
Travelers Hotel
Travelers Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Commercial Style1
Travelers HotelCommercial Style

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Noonan

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Gerald W. VandeWalleAmerican judge · b. 1933
N
Ned McIlroyAmerican water polo player · b. 1939
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Coalfield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Noonan’s history

What year was Noonan founded?

The Noonan post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Noonan?

One place: the Travelers Hotel (listed 2010).

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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.