Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Big Piney

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
–Not graded
History · Big Piney

Big Piney’s post office opened in 1879, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1939 on, and the census since 1920.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Big Piney’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Big Piney began

When was Big Piney founded?

1879

The Big Piney post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 173 in 19202020 census: 395147 years
Founding year: the first Big Piney post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Big Piney’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 663 in 1960; 395 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · People over time

Big Piney, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 663

Peaked at 663 in 1960; 395 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Big Piney came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Big Piney.

Read it all →

Big Piney is the oldest settlement in Sublette County. It was founded in 1879, when rancher Daniel B. Budd and his partner Hugh McKay came with a thousand head of cattle from Nevada hoping to ship them, but got caught instead in severe winter weather in the Green River Valley. The following year, Dan Budd relocated his family to what became Big Piney.

The town was named after Big Piney Creek. The creek took its name from the pine trees growing along the banks of the creek.

Cattle and oil have traditionally been the two primary industries for the area.

ChaptersHistorical documentaries

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Big Piney, 1879 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Big Piney post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1927Born hereDan S. Budd is born here
  5. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1941In the archiveHouse
  7. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 663
By decade

Big Piney, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s6 items
House1941HouseHotel1941HotelHotel1941HotelGhost town near Big Piney, Wyoming1941Ghost town near Big Piney, WyomingUntitled photo, possibly related to: Hotel1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: HotelUntitled photo, possibly related to: Ghost town near Big Piney, Wyoming1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Ghost town near …
1950s–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

Big Piney on the map, 1939 to 1980

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

Big Piney on the 1939 USGS mapBig Piney on the 1942 USGS mapBig Piney on the 1970 USGS mapBig Piney on the 1980 USGS map1939Big Piney sheet · 1:125,000

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

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.

House
Retake this viewHouse, 1941

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Big Piney’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 viewHouse: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

MarbletonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Big Piney’s history

What year was Big Piney founded?

The Big Piney post office opened in 1879, 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 the Library of Congress (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.