Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lost Springs

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
Lost Springs, WyomingPhoto: Idunno00923 at English Wikipedia · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Lost Springs

Lost Springs dates to 1911, and 100% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1910.

1911founded
0on the National Register
100%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Idunno00923 at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Quick answers

How Lost Springs began

When was Lost Springs founded?

1911

Lost Springs dates its founding to 1911 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 207 in 19102020 census: 6115 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1896.The full story ↓

What stands out about Lost Springs’ 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 Lost Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 2000, then grew 6-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lost Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lost Springs’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
People over time

Lost Springs, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020207 in 1910Low: 1

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 2000, then grew 6-fold.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Lost Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lost Springs.

Read it all →

Lost Springs was first inhabited in the 1880s, when it received its name from railroad workers who could not find the springs shown on survey maps of the area. The town was incorporated in 1911, and it originally had 200 residents, most of whom worked at the nearby Rosin coal mine. After the coal mine closed around 1930, the population of Lost Springs steadily declined.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lost Springs, 1896 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Lost Spring post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 207
  5. 1911
    FoundingLost Springs is established
  6. 1950Post officeThe Lost Spring post office closes
  7. 1951Post officeThe Lost Springs post office opens
  8. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lost Springs, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Lost Springs, Wyoming2007Lost Springs, WyomingLost Springs, WY sign2007Lost Springs, WY sign
On the map

Lost Springs on the map, 1970 to 1982

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

Lost Springs on the 1970 USGS mapLost Springs on the 1982 USGS map1970Lost Springs 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 Lost Springs.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Lost Springs’s post office has been open since 1951. Another post office, Lost Spring, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lost Spring
1896–1950
Lost Springs
1951–today
18901960today
Gone or out of use
Lost Springs Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Lost Springs’ history

What year was Lost Springs founded?

In 1911, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lost Springs’ post office opened in 1896, and the census of 1910 counted 207 people here.

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 (2), 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.