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History · White Clay

White Clay’s post office opened in 1904

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1969 on, and the census since 2000.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From White Clay’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How White Clay began

When was White Clay founded?

1904

The White Clay post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 14 in 20002020 census: 8122 years
Founding year: the first White Clay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about White Clay’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start White Clay’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how White Clay’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 viewWhiteclay Nebraska Taverm 1940: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How White Clay came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of White Clay.

Read it all →

The border town of Whiteclay has always been tied to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to the north within the state boundaries of South Dakota. The majority of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) live at Pine Ridge reservation. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate), also known as the Brulé Sioux, have an independent and federally recognized reservation to the northeast within the boundaries of South Dakota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

White Clay, 1904 to 1969

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1904Post officeThe Whiteclay post office opens
  3. 1940In the archiveWhiteclay Nebraska Taverm 1940
  4. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

White Clay, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Whiteclay Nebraska Taverm 19401940Whiteclay Nebraska Taverm 1940
1950s–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
Today4 recent
Whiteclay, Nebraska from S 12013Whiteclay, Nebraska from S 1Whiteclay, Nebraska from N 22013Whiteclay, Nebraska from N 2Whiteclay, Nebraska from N 12013Whiteclay, Nebraska from N 1Whiteclay-nebraska-postoffice2012Whiteclay-nebraska-postoffice
On the map

White Clay on the map in 1969

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of White Clay.

White Clay on the 1969 USGS map1969Whiteclay 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 White Clay.

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.

Whiteclay Nebraska Taverm 1940
Retake this viewWhiteclay Nebraska Taverm 1940, 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

White Clay, census by census

020002020Peak: 14

Between 8 and 14 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Pine RidgeWhiteclay

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

Questions about White Clay’s history

What year was White Clay founded?

The White Clay post office opened in 1904, 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), 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.