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History · Tohatchi

Tohatchi’s post office opened in 1898

Most of Tohatchi was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1900 on.

1898first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Tohatchi’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Tohatchi began

When was Tohatchi founded?

1898

The Tohatchi post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 785128 years
Founding year: the first Tohatchi post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Tohatchi came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tohatchi.

Read it all →

The name (Navajo: Tó Haachʼiʼ) translates as "Water in rock ledge," or "water dug out". A settlement was built here around an Indian school established by the US government in 1897.

The Two Grey Hills Trading Post was established here soon thereafter, and as of 2025, is one of the few Navajo trading posts still in operation. The community is the center for Navajo weaving of the Two Grey Hills weaving patterns.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tohatchi, 1898 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Tohatchi post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveGeneral view of the Painted Desert from Tohatchi, New Mexico, ca.1900 (CHS-3268)
  5. 1917In the archiveNew Mexico - Silver City through Zuni Buttes
  6. 1930In the archiveNavajo workers building road through Tohatchi Canyon. Southern Navajo Agency, 1933
By decade

Tohatchi, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s5 items
General view of the Painted Desert from Tohatchi, New Mexico, ca.1900 (CHS-3268)c. 1900General view of the Painted Desert from Tohatchi, New…Navajo chieftain standing outside in front of an adobe wall, Tohatchi, New Mexico, ca.1900 (CHS-3267)c. 1900Navajo chieftain standing outside in front of an adob…Family and teacher in a Navajo hogan, Tohatchi, New Mexico, 1901 (CHS-3249)1901Family and teacher in a Navajo hogan, Tohatchi, New M…New Mexico - Silver City through Zuni Buttes1917New Mexico - Silver City through Zuni ButtesNew Mexico - Silver City through Zuni Buttes1917New Mexico - Silver City through Zuni Buttes
1930s1 item
Navajo workers building road through Tohatchi Canyon. Southern Navajo Agency, 1933c. 1930Navajo workers building road through Tohatchi Canyon.…
1940s–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
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.

General view of the Painted Desert from Tohatchi, New Mexico, ca.1900 (CHS-3268)
Retake this viewGeneral view of the Painted Desert from Tohatchi, New Mexico, ca.1900 (CHS-3268), c. 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Tohatchi’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGeneral view of the Painted Desert from…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Tohatchi’s history

What year was Tohatchi founded?

The Tohatchi post office opened in 1898, 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 (6), 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.