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History · Hope

Hope’s post office opened in 1890

Most of Hope was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1956. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Hope began

When was Hope founded?

1890

The Hope post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 417 in 19102020 census: 113136 years
Founding year: the first Hope post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hope’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 Hope are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Hope’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hope’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hope’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

How Hope came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hope.

Read it all →

Founded in 1884 as "Badgerville", the name was changed in 1890 for post office purposes.

The town was featured in Life magazine on May 29, 1950, with an account of the newly elected Petticoat City Government under Mayor Ethel Altman.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hope, 1890 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Hope post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919Born hereRobert Mellard is born here
  5. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Hope, decade by decade

Today1 recent
NMMap-doton-Hope2004NMMap-doton-Hope
On the map

Hope on the map in 1955

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hope.

Hope on the 1955 USGS map1955Hope NE 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 Hope.

People over time

Hope, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 430

Between 90 and 430 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Hope’s history

What year was Hope founded?

The Hope post office opened in 1890, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, 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.