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History · Kirtland

Kirtland’s post office opened in 1903

Most of Kirtland was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1966 on.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kirtland’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Kirtland began

When was Kirtland founded?

1903

The Kirtland post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Olio (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 585123 years
Founding year: the first Kirtland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kirtland’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 Kirtland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kirtland’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 viewBurnham Ward Meeting House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Kirtland came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kirtland.

Read it all →

Kirtland was founded in the early 1880s by Mormon settlers, who named it after Kirtland, Ohio. (Reflecting its history and principal demographic, the city's principal thoroughfare is Brigham Street, with a Mormon meetinghouse on the street and a release-time seminary building across the street from Kirtland Central High School.) There had been a few Mormons who had settled in Fruitland as early as 1878. As of 2000, Fruitland was designated as part of Kirtland for census purposes. Another Mormon settlement of these early days was Waterflow, just west of Fruitland, which appears on maps to this day. A Mormon meetinghouse was dedicated in Kirtland by Heber J. Grant in 1928.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kirtland, 1884 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Olio post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903Post officeThe Olio post office closes
  5. 1903Post officeThe Kirtland post office opens
  6. 1914In the archiveBurnham Ward Meeting House
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Kirtland, decade by decade

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

1910s1 item
Burnham Ward Meeting House1914Burnham Ward Meeting House
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
Today1 recent
NMMap-doton-Kirtland2004NMMap-doton-Kirtland
On the map

Kirtland on the map, 1966 to 1979

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

Kirtland on the 1966 USGS mapKirtland on the 1979 USGS map1966Kirtland 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 Kirtland.

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.

Burnham Ward Meeting House
Retake this viewBurnham Ward Meeting House, 1914

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

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

Olio
1884–1903
Kirtland
1903–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Kirtland’s history

What year was Kirtland founded?

The Kirtland 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 →
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 (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.