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History · Butte Falls

Butte Falls’ post office opened in 1906, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Butte Falls Ranger Station. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1920.

1906first post office
1on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Butte Falls’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Butte Falls began

When was Butte Falls founded?

1906

The Butte Falls post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1911.

First census: 166 in 19202020 census: 443120 years
Founding year: the first Butte Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1911.The full story ↓

What stands out about Butte Falls’ 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 Butte Falls’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFire Warehouse, 730 Laurel Street: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Butte Falls came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Butte Falls.

Read it all →

In the early 1900's, lumberjacks from Michigan started cutting pine timber on the flats beside Big Butte Creek and a sawmill was built at the falls. The industry associated with this mill led to the founding of the town of Butte Falls. The Pacific & Eastern, Medco Logging Railroad line to Butte Falls was completed in 1911.

Butte Falls was incorporated as a city in 1911. A 1927 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map in the Library of Congress collection shows many of the earliest buildings in the Town of Butte Falls. Some are still in use today.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Butte Falls, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Fire Warehouse, 730 Laurel StreetDate?Fire Warehouse, 730 Laurel Street
Today4 recent
Tree in2013Tree inBig Trees2013Big Trees12 miles to our rest stop201212 miles to our rest stopORMap-doton-Butte Falls2004ORMap-doton-Butte Falls
On the map

Butte Falls on the map, 1954 to 1997

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

Butte Falls on the 1954 USGS mapButte Falls on the 1988 USGS mapButte Falls on the 1997 USGS map1954Butte Falls 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 Butte Falls.

Every building

Butte Falls, building by building, 1927

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Butte Falls fire insurance map, 1927, sheet 11927Sheet 1 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Fire Warehouse, 730 Laurel Street
Retake this viewFire Warehouse, 730 Laurel Street

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Butte Falls

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Butte Falls Ranger Station
Butte Falls Ranger Station
Buildings
Butte Falls Ranger StationBuilding

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

People over time

Butte Falls, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020443

Grew from 166 people in 1920 to 443 in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Butte Falls

Nobody well known was born in Butte Falls itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
Jason James RichterAmerican actor · b. 1980
Pinto ColvigAmerican voice actor · b. 1892
Kyle SinglerAmerican basketball player · b. 1988
J
Jonathan StarkAmerican tennis player · b. 1971
Mark RydenAmerican painter · b. 1963
Peter HollensAmerican singer · b. 1982

Questions about Butte Falls’ history

What year was Butte Falls founded?

The Butte Falls post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1911.

What is on the National Register in Butte Falls?

One place: the Butte Falls Ranger Station (listed 1986).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.