Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Dubois

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 · Dubois

Dubois’ post office opened in 1889, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 7 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1920.

1889first post office
4on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dubois’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dubois began

When was Dubois founded?

1889

The Dubois post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Neversweat (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 243 in 19202020 census: 911137 years
Founding year: the first Dubois post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Dubois’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1950, then grew 3-fold.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dubois’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHay stacker. Dubois, Wyoming: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Dubois, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020412 in 1940Low: 279

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1950, then grew 3-fold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

On the National Register

4 historic places in Dubois

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
10
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Welty's General Store
Welty's General StoreELS Bridge over Big Wind RiverTwin Pines Lodge and Cabin CampAmoretti, Welty, Helmer & Co Bank, built 1913
BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Log Architecture1
Welty's General StoreBuilding
ELS Bridge over Big Wind RiverStructure
Twin Pines Lodge and Cabin CampLog Architecture
Amoretti, Welty, Helmer & Co BankBuilt 1913

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

The story

How Dubois came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dubois.

Read it all →

The original residents of Dubois wanted to name the town Tibo, after the Shoshone language word for "stranger" or "white man," which was the Natives' affectionate name for their Episcopal priest, Father John Roberts. However, the postal service found this name unacceptable, so Governor Joseph M. Carey chose Dubois after his friend Fred Dubois, an Idaho senator at the time. In protest, the citizens of Dubois rejected the French pronunciation of "deh-bwah", instead opting for Du, with u as in "Sue"; bois, with oi as in "voice". This local legend is most likely not true as the town in Idaho, named after the same Idaho Senator, is pronounced the same way as the town in Wyoming. The accent is on the first syllable.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dubois, 1889 to 1997

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Dubois post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Neversweat post office opens
  4. 1897Post officeThe Neversweat post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1913BuiltAmoretti, Welty, Helmer & Co Bank is built
  7. 1936In the archiveHay stacker. Dubois, Wyoming
  8. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1968In the archiveVIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD NORTH WEB - Big Wind River Bridge, Spanning Big Wind River on Co…
  10. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 1,067
  11. 1997In the archiveWyoming 1977 06
By decade

Dubois, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1990s4 items
Hay stacker. Dubois, Wyoming1936Hay stacker. Dubois, WyomingVIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD NORTH WEB - Big Wind River Bridge, Spanning Big Wind River on County Road No. 211968VIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD NORTH WEB - Big Wind River B…VIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD WEST PORTAL - Big Wind River Bridge, Spanning Big Wind River on County Road No. 211968VIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD WEST PORTAL - Big Wind River…Wyoming 1977 061997Wyoming 1977 06
Today7 recent
The nice lady at the Main St Mart in Dubois gave me this map to find a camping spot; it is one that does not have a sig…2011The nice lady at the Main St Mart in Dubois gave me t…MapDubois WY32007Dubois WY3Dubois WY22007Dubois WY2Dubois WY12007Dubois WY1Dubois Drug WY12007Dubois Drug WY1Dubois, Wyoming2006Dubois, WyomingWYMap-doton-Dubois2004WYMap-doton-Dubois
On the map

Dubois on the map, 1956 to 1979

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

Dubois on the 1956 USGS mapDubois on the 1979 USGS map1956Dubois sheet · 1:24,000

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

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.

Hay stacker. Dubois, Wyoming
Retake this viewHay stacker. Dubois, Wyoming, 1936

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Dubois’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, Neversweat, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dubois
1889–today
Neversweat
1895–1897
18801950today
1cemetery inside Dubois
Dubois

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

Questions about Dubois’ history

What year was Dubois founded?

The Dubois post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Dubois?

4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Welty's General Store (listed 1979, the first), 1 historic district, the Twin Pines Lodge and Cabin Camp, with 7 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 10 historic buildings in all.

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