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History · Monument

Monument’s post office opened in 1874, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1910.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Monument began

When was Monument founded?

1874

The Monument post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905.

First census: 119 in 19102020 census: 115152 years
Founding year: the first Monument post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.

What stands out about Monument’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 Monument are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 228 in 1950; 115 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Monument’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Monument’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monument’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
People over time

Monument, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 228

Peaked at 228 in 1950; 115 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Monument, in brief

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

Monument is a city in Grant County, Oregon, United States. The population was 115 at the 2020 census. It is located near the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the John Day River. Its post office was established in 1874 and named for a nearby mountain or rock formation. As of 2000, the Monument School District, consisting of the Monument School, had a 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) science building for its environmental sciences curriculum, which was paid for by a federal grant of about a $500,000. The program taught students about the ecology of local Ponderosa Pine forest and sagebrush steppe and the water quality and habitat of streams. The school had over 100 students in 1997, but …

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 128 to 115 (-10%).

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

Timeline

Monument, 1874 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Monument post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 228
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Monument, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Painted Hills State Park2015Painted Hills State ParkCavender swart odfw2012Cavender swart odfwMonument, Oregon2009Monument, OregonORMap-doton-Monument2004ORMap-doton-Monument
On the map

Monument on the map, 1951 to 1990

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

Monument on the 1951 USGS mapMonument on the 1990 USGS map1951Monument 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 Monument.

Questions about Monument’s history

What year was Monument founded?

The Monument post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

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), 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.