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History · Westhope

Westhope’s post office opened in 1903, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

1903first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Westhope began

When was Westhope founded?

1903

The Westhope post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Scotia (1895), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 374123 years
Founding year: the first Westhope post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Westhope’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Westhope’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
The story so far

Westhope, in brief

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

Westhope is a city in Bottineau County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 374 at the 2020 census. Westhope was founded in 1903 along a Great Northern Railway branch line that began in Rugby. The name was based on the slogan "Hope of the West," created by Great Northern officials to promote prosperity for the new town.

Its first post office opened in 1903. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 429 to 374 (-13%).

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

Timeline

Westhope, 1895 to 1903

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Scotia post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903Post officeThe Scotia post office closes
  5. 1903Post officeThe Westhope post office opens
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.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Westhope’s post office has been open since 1903. Another post office, Scotia, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Scotia
1895–1903
Westhope
1903–today
18901960today

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

Questions about Westhope’s history

What year was Westhope founded?

The Westhope post office opened in 1903, 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 →
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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 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.