Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Hillsdale

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 · Hillsdale

Hillsdale’s post office opened in 1881

Below: maps from 1963 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Hillsdale began

When was Hillsdale founded?

1881

The Hillsdale post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 40145 years
Founding year: the first Hillsdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Hillsdale’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 Hillsdale are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hillsdale’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hillsdale’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
The story so far

Hillsdale, in brief

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

Hillsdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in southeastern Laramie County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 40. It lies along local roads east of the city of Cheyenne, the county seat of Laramie County. Its elevation is 5,640 feet (1,720 m) above sea level. Although Hillsdale is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 82060. Public education in the community of Hillsdale is provided by Laramie County School District #2. Hillsdale was named for Lathrop Hills, a Surveyor for the Union Pacific Railroad who was killed nearby along Lodgepole Creek on June 11, 1867, while leading a party surveying a route of the Tra…

Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 47 to 40 (-15%).

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

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Hillsdale on the map, 1963 to 1981

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

Hillsdale on the 1963 USGS mapHillsdale on the 1981 USGS map1963Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale.

Famous people

Famous people close to Hillsdale

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

See all →
Mildred HarrisAmerican actress · b. 1901
Cynthia LummisAmerican politician · b. 1954
James JohnsonAmerican basketball player · b. 1987
Rensis LikertAmerican statistician · b. 1903
George Clayton JohnsonAmerican writer · b. 1929
J
Jim SiedowAmerican actor · b. 1920

Questions about Hillsdale’s history

What year was Hillsdale founded?

The Hillsdale post office opened in 1881, 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 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.