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History · Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee’s post office opened in 1886, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Wounded Knee was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 5 old photos and papers from 1876 on.

1886first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Wounded Knee’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Wounded Knee began

When was Wounded Knee founded?

1886

The Wounded Knee post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Brennan (1915), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 364140 years
Founding year: the first Wounded Knee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wounded Knee’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Wounded Knee, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 historic place in Wounded Knee

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Wounded Knee
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee, built 1890★
Sites★ landmark
★ Landmark
Wounded KneeBuilt 1890

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

The story

How Wounded Knee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wounded Knee.

Read it all →

On December 29, 1890, in the same area, in an incident known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, the United States 7th Cavalry killed more than 300 men, women and children who were being relocated to the Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge.

On February 27, 1973, during the Wounded Knee Occupation, the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the Pine Ridge Reservation near Wounded Knee in protest against the federal government and its policies related to Native Americans. A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the AIM ensued. The group members surrendered on May 8.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Wounded Knee, 1876 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876In the archiveRed cloud agency
  3. 1886Post officeThe Wounded Knee post office opens
  4. 1890BuiltWounded Knee is built
  5. 1890In the archiveRemains of a Lakota Sioux man lying dead in the snow after being killed by United States …
  6. 20th century
  7. 1915Post officeThe Brennan post office opens
  8. 1932Post officeThe Brennan post office closes
  9. 1965LandmarkWounded Knee named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Wounded Knee, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1890s5 items
Red cloud agency1876Red cloud agencyRemains of a Lakota Sioux man lying dead in the snow after being killed by United States Army soldiers at the Wounded K…1890Remains of a Lakota Sioux man lying dead in the snow …Remains of Lakota Sioux people, lying dead in the snow after being killed by United States Army soldiers at the Wounded…1890Remains of Lakota Sioux people, lying dead in the sno…Remains of Spotted Elk, chief of the Miniconjou, Lakota Sioux, lying dead in the snow after being killed by United Stat…1890Remains of Spotted Elk, chief of the Miniconjou, Lako…The opening of the fight at Wounded Knee1891The opening of the fight at Wounded Knee
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
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.

Red cloud agency
Retake this viewRed cloud agency, 1876

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Wounded Knee

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

See all →
Billy MillsAmerican Olympic athlete · b. 1938
V
Vine Deloria, Jr.Standing Rock Sioux author, lawyer, seminarian,… · b. 1933
Arthur AmiotteOglala Lakota painter, collage artist, author, … · b. 1942
J
Jay NovacekPlayer of American football · b. 1962
E
Edgar Bear RunnerActor · b. 1951
B
Bobby RobertsonAmerican football player · b. 1917
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Wounded Knee’s post office has been open since 1886. Another post office, Brennan, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Wounded Knee
1886–today
Brennan
1915–1932
18801950today
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Wounded Knee
Messiah EpiscopalSacred Heart CatholicWounded Knee Monument

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

Help out

Finish Wounded Knee’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRed cloud agency: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Wounded Knee’s history

What year was Wounded Knee founded?

The Wounded Knee post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Wounded Knee?

One place: the Wounded Knee (listed 1966).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.