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2015-04-20 14 36 38 View south along Main Street about 2.4 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Route 724) in Midas, NevadaPhoto: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0
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History · Midas

Midas’ post office opened in 1907, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Midas Schoolhouse. Below: maps from 1965 on.

1907first post office
1on the National Register
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Quick answers

How Midas began

When was Midas founded?

1907

The Midas post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

119 years
Founding year: the first Midas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Midas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Midas’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Midas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Midas.

Read it all →

Midas' history began with the town being named Gold Circle. In June 1907, James McDuffy discovered gold at the base of Owyhee Bluffs in Elko County, Nevada. Two towns, Gold Circle and Summit were quickly created in proximity thereto. A post office was established at Gold Circle in 1907, and remained in operation until 1942. By 1908, many people moved to Gold Circle to establish mines, with the population exceeding 1,000 people by April that year. Then in 1909, with the dissolution of Summit, the federal government changed the name of Gold Circle to Midas, after King Midas.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Midas, 1907 to 1965

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907Post officeThe Midas post office opens
  3. 1942Post officeThe Midas post office closes
  4. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Midas, decade by decade

Today18 recent
2015-04-20 14 38 20 View south along Main Street about 2.0 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 38 20 View south along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 37 38 Old truck along Main Street in20152015-04-20 14 37 38 Old truck along Main Street in2015-04-20 14 36 38 View south along Main Street about 2.4 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 36 38 View south along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 36 00 View south along Main Street about 2.5 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 36 00 View south along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 35 22 View south along Main Street about 2.7 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 35 22 View south along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 34 17 Old cart in20152015-04-20 14 34 17 Old cart in2015-04-20 14 34 12 Old building and wagon wheel in20152015-04-20 14 34 12 Old building and wagon wheel in2015-04-20 14 33 44 View north along Main Street about 2.6 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 33 44 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 32 59 View north along Main Street about 2.4 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 32 59 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 32 19 "No Long Trucks Allowed Beyond This Point" and "Slow Old Children At Play" signs along Main Street …20152015-04-20 14 32 19 "No Long Trucks Allowed Beyond Th…2015-04-20 14 32 08 View north along Main Street about 2.3 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 32 08 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 30 49 "Welcome to Midas" sign in20152015-04-20 14 30 49 "Welcome to Midas" sign in2015-04-20 14 30 25 View north along Main Street about 1.9 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 30 25 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 30 14 View north along Main Street about 1.9 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 30 14 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 26 38 View north along Main Street about 0.2 miles north of the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Rou…20152015-04-20 14 26 38 View north along Main Street abou…2015-04-20 14 25 58 View north along Main Street from the junction with Midas Road (Elko County Route 724) in20152015-04-20 14 25 58 View north along Main Street from…2015-04-20 14 25 52 Signs at the intersection of Midas Road (Elko County Route 724) and Main Street near20152015-04-20 14 25 52 Signs at the intersection of Mida…2004 0406 playground020042004 0406 playground0
On the map

Midas on the map, 1965 to 1982

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

Midas on the 1965 USGS mapMidas on the 1982 USGS map1965Midas 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 Midas.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Midas

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Midas Schoolhouse
Midas Schoolhouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Craftsman1
Midas SchoolhouseCraftsman

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Midas had its own post office from 1907 to 1942.

Midas
1907–1942
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Gold Circle MinemineMidas Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Midas’ history

What year was Midas founded?

The Midas post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Midas?

One place: the Midas Schoolhouse (listed 2004).

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.