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History · Winston

Winston’s post office opened in 1930

Most of Winston was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1965 on.

1930first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Winston began

When was Winston founded?

1930

The Winston post office opened in 1930, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fair View (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 4796 years
Founding year: the first Winston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Winston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Winston’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

Winston, in brief

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

Winston is a census-designated place in Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Winston had a population of 47. Winston has a post office with ZIP code 87943, which opened on August 15, 1881. The community was named for Frank Winston, a pioneer miner. New Mexico State Road 52 passes through the community.

Its first post office opened in 1930. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 61 to 47 (-23%).

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

Timeline

Winston, 1881 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Fair View post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930Post officeThe Fair View post office closes
  5. 1930Post officeThe Winston post office opens
  6. 1940Born hereFreddie Brown is born here
  7. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Winston, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Winston General Store2019Winston General StoreWinston General Store view out front door2019Winston General Store view out front doorWinston General Store interior2019Winston General Store interiorNM State Road 522019NM State Road 52
On the map

Winston on the map, 1965 to 1999

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

Winston on the 1965 USGS mapWinston on the 1999 USGS map1965Winston 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 Winston.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Winston’s post office has been open since 1930. Another post office, Fair View, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Fair View
1881–1930
Winston
1930–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Winston’s history

What year was Winston founded?

The Winston post office opened in 1930, 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 (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.