Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Neah Bay

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Peter Roose HomesteadPeter Roose Homestead · Photo: Dog Walking Girl · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Neah Bay

Neah Bay’s post office opened in 1874

Most of Neah Bay was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1938 on.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Neah Bay’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Neah Bay began

When was Neah Bay founded?

1874

The Neah Bay post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 935152 years
Founding year: the first Neah Bay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Neah Bay came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Neah Bay.

Read it all →

The name "Neah" refers to the Makah Chief Dee-ah, pronounced Neah in the Klallam language. The town is named for the water body Neah Bay, which acquired its name in the early 19th century. A number of names were used for the bay before it was established as Neah Bay. In August 1788 Captain Charles Duncan, a British trader, charted a bay at the location of Neah Bay, but did not give it a name. In 1790 Manuel Quimper took possession of the bay for Spain and named it "Bahía de Núñez Gaona" in honor of Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta, viceroy of New Spain. In 1792 Salvador Fidalgo began to build a Spanish fort on Neah Bay, but the project failed within the year and the cannon and supplies were transported to the more northerly colony of Santa Cruz de Nuca. While Fidalgo was working on the fort George Vancouver charted but did not stop at the bay. American traders called Neah Bay "Poverty Cov…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Neah Bay, 1861 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861In the archiveHMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861
  3. 1874Post officeThe Neah Bay post office opens
  4. 1877In the archive031 Pacific Coast views near Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery, 1877
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900In the archiveMakah Indian boy rowing canoe, ca. 1900
  7. 1938On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1943Born herePeter DePoe is born here
By decade

Neah Bay, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1900s6 items
HMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861c. 1861HMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861031 Pacific Coast views near Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery, 18771877031 Pacific Coast views near Tatoosh Island and Cape …Makah Indian boy rowing canoe, ca. 1900c. 1900Makah Indian boy rowing canoe, ca. 1900Makah man and woman with canoe and fish, ca. 1900c. 1900Makah man and woman with canoe and fish, ca. 1900Makah men pulling a canoe on shore, Neah Bay, ca. 1900c. 1900Makah men pulling a canoe on shore, Neah Bay, ca. 1900Whaling canoes at Neah Bay, 19001900Whaling canoes at Neah Bay, 1900
1910s–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
On the map

Neah Bay on the map, 1938 to 1957

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

Neah Bay on the 1938 USGS mapNeah Bay on the 1957 USGS map1938Cape Flattery 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 Neah Bay.

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.

HMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861
Retake this viewHMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861, c. 1861

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Neah Bay’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Neah Bay’s history

What year was Neah Bay founded?

The Neah Bay post office opened in 1874, 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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.