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History · Owyhee

Owyhee’s post office opened in 1889

Most of Owyhee was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1990.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Owyhee began

When was Owyhee founded?

1889

The Owyhee post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 908 in 19902020 census: 1,027137 years
Founding year: the first Owyhee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Owyhee’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Owyhee’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 Owyhee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Owyhee.

Read it all →

The Tribes once freely occupied the land in the tri-state area of what is now Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. This changed with the coming of migrants from the eastern United States and Europe, especially after the mid-19th century. Land and resources were wrested away from the Shoshone and Paiute. The tribes made treaties with the United States, of which some were ratified by the Senate and others not. The chiefs signed all the treaties in good faith and for the survival of their peoples.

Descendants of the Western Shoshone and the Northern Paiute occupy the Duck Valley Indian Reservation of Idaho and Nevada. Various bands of the two closely related tribes have jointly used the area for seasonal hunting and gathering from time immemorial.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Owyhee, decade by decade

Today18 recent
2014-08-19 14 25 58 Owyhee High School in20142014-08-19 14 25 58 Owyhee High School in2014-08-19 14 24 09 United States Post Office in20142014-08-19 14 24 09 United States Post Office in2014-08-19 14 23 39 View north along Nevada State Route 225 (Mountain City Highway) about 95.8 miles north of Nevada St…20142014-08-19 14 23 39 View north along Nevada State Rou…2014-08-19 14 22 50 View north along Nevada State Route 225 (Mountain City Highway) about 95.7 miles north of Nevada St…20142014-08-19 14 22 50 View north along Nevada State Rou…2014-08-19 14 21 34 View north along Nevada State Route 225 (Mountain City Highway) about 95.1 miles north of Nevada St…20142014-08-19 14 21 34 View north along Nevada State Rou…2014-08-19 14 19 36 View north along Nevada State Route 225 (Mountain City Highway) about 93.9 miles north of Nevada St…20142014-08-19 14 19 36 View north along Nevada State Rou…2014-08-19 14 17 28 View north along Nevada State Route 225 (Mountain City Highway) about 92.5 miles north of Nevada St…20142014-08-19 14 17 28 View north along Nevada State Rou…2014, What's Your Sign20142014, What's Your Sign2014, Water Tank, Duck Valley Sho-Pai20142014, Water Tank, Duck Valley Sho-Pai2014, Waiting for the 4th of July20142014, Waiting for the 4th of July2014, The Owyhee River20142014, The Owyhee River2014, Sho-Pai Fire Station20142014, Sho-Pai Fire Station2014, Roping Steer's View of the World20142014, Roping Steer's View of the World2014, Owyhee Rodeo Grounds20142014, Owyhee Rodeo Grounds2014, Owyhee Horses20142014, Owyhee Horses2014, About the region's earliest residents20142014, About the region's earliest residents2013-06-16 15 10 39 View of central Owyhee in Nevada from the north20132013-06-16 15 10 39 View of central Owyhee in Nevada …2013-06-16 14 24 38 Entrance sign to Duck Valley Reservation along Nevada State Route 225 near Mountain City in Nevada20132013-06-16 14 24 38 Entrance sign to Duck Valley Rese…
On the map

Owyhee on the map, 1939 to 1971

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

Owyhee on the 1939 USGS mapOwyhee on the 1942 USGS mapOwyhee on the 1971 USGS map1939Owyhee sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Owyhee.

People over time

Owyhee, census by census

02004006008001,00020002020Peak: 1,027

Between 908 and 1,027 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Owyhee’s post office has been open since 1889.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Number One Settlement
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Owyhee
ChinatownGeorge WashingtonNewPremoSmith

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

Questions about Owyhee’s history

What year was Owyhee founded?

The Owyhee post office opened in 1889, 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 (18), Wikipedia, 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.