Photograph of Lewistown Federal Building & Post Office — Photograph by Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

US Post Office and Federal Building-Lewistown

Built in 1931 (Beaux-Arts). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“The Lewistown Federal Building & Post Office, also known as the Lewistown Main Post Office, is located at 204 Third Ave. N. in Lewistown in Fergus County, Montana.”
Wikipedia article Lewistown Federal Building & Post Office, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 48 National Register listings published here for Fergus County · listed in 1986 · category: Building · built in 1931, Beaux-Arts.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. US Post Office and Federal Building--Lewistown - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 204 Third Ave. N, Lewistown, 59457
When was it listed? March 1986
Category. building
Also known as. US Post Offices in Montana, 1900-1941, TR
Census division. Lewistown
When was it built? 1931
Architectural style. Beaux-Arts
National Register reference number. 86000684 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

4 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of US Post Office and Federal Building-Lewistown between 2017 and 2019, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3
Debris and open burning	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
4 August 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fergus County	FDH-MTLG08-116
30 July 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Northeastern Land Office	not named
10 July 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Northeastern Land Office	not named
5 May 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Northeastern Land Office	not named

Every fire recorded in Fergus County

Mines and quarries near this property

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of US Post Office and Federal Building-Lewistown: 4 producers, 3 occurrences, 1 past producer. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Limestone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Castle Butte	Limestone, Dimension	Occurrence
Lewiston Pit	Clay	Producer
Unnamed Location	Clay	Occurrence
Unnamed Location	Clay	Occurrence
Casino Creek Concrete	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Konitz #1	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mcdonald Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Welkers Sand & Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Fergus County

Storms near this property

60 of 73 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lewistown, the town this property stands in, in 73 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 36 hail, 27 thunderstorm wind, 6 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 1999	Tornado (F2)	Lewistown	3 hurt, $4,000,000	NUMEROUS HAIL REPORTS 1 TO 2 INCHES...ONE WIND ESTIMATE AHEAD OF TORNADO 87KT
June 2023	Flood	Lewistown	$10,000	Big Spring Creek south of Lewistown came out of its banks in several areas, resulting in flooding. Several small parks and boat entrances were closed and underwater as a result. Nearby and surrounding tributaries also flooded.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	$5,000	Several trees were blown down.
May 1994	Hail	Lewistown	$5,000	no account filed
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	$3,000	Trees down along the Lewistown Trail System blocking the trail. Time estimated based on radar.
June 1999	Tornado (F0)	Lewistown	$3,000	no account filed
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	$1,000	0.75 inch hail and 52kt wind gust...funnel cloud...windows broke out of house.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	$500	Corrects previous thunderstorm wind dmg report from 1 NW Lewistown. Public reported on social media that an abandoned lumber shop collapsed due to the thunderstorms with photos of debris across the property. Time estimated based on radar.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A trained spotter in Lewistown reported a severe caliber gust.
June 2023	Hail	Lewistown	-	Spotter reported hail fell for roughly 15 minutes and was of various sizes. Largest was ping pong size. Impacts from the hail to hay crops were reported.
June 2023	Hail	Lewistown	-	Spotter reported quarter size hail.
June 2023	Hail	Lewistown	-	Public submitted photos of hail near Lewistown Pool being compared to a quarter.
July 2023	Hail	Lewistown	-	Pictures submitted of hail in Lewistown slightly larger than one inch.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	Spotter reported winds snapping off large tree branches, also had pea-size hail.
July 2021	Hail	Lewistown	-	Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A survey conducted by an NWS employee found damage consistent with straight line winds of 70 kts (80 mph). There was a downed power pole and a 12 foot section of roof damage on a building.
May 2020	Hail	Lewistown	-	Trained spotter reports hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter covering the ground a few inches deep in areas.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	Trained spotter estimates 70 mph wind gust. Heavy rain and hail were falling at the time of observation.
July 2019	Hail	Lewistown	-	One inch sized hail reported near Lewistown.
July 2019	Heavy Rain	Lewistown	-	Brief heavy rainfall of .43 inches in 13 minutes, with pea sized hail. Some tree branches were knocked down during the storm.
June 2018	Flash Flood	Lewistown	-	Lewistown News-Argus reported flash flooding in downtown Lewistown. The newspaper's building had basement flooding. Exact extent of flooding in Lewistown was unknown.
June 2018	Hail	Lewistown	-	Spotter reported quarter-size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph from thunderstorm 6-miles ESE of Lewistown.
July 2014	Hail	Lewistown	-	Hail, measuring .75 inches (penny sized), with wind gusts to 40-50 MPH, were reported.
July 2011	Hail	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 4W.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Lewistown 2SW (the Lewistown ASOS site).
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 70 mph at Lewistown 3E.
June 2010	Hail	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced 1 inch diameter hail at Lewistown. The hail accumulated to a depth of two inches on the ground. Power outages were reported in parts of the city.
May 2009	Hail	Lewistown	-	Penny sized hail covered the ground. Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
May 2009	Hail	Lewistown	-	Three-quarter inch hail reported in Lewistown.
May 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	Wind gust of 63 mph measured at the Lewistown Airport.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Lewistown 12NW.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Lewistown 12NNW.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 62 mph at Lewistown 2SW (the Lewistown ASOS site).
August 2009	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 17SE.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Lewistown 10SE.
June 2008	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped 1.25 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 17SE.
July 2007	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped .88 inch diameter hail at Lewistown.
July 2007	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped .88 inch diameter hail at Lewistown.
July 2007	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped .88 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 10E.
July 2007	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 20NNE.
July 2007	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm dropped 2.75 inch diameter hail at Lewistown 8E.
June 2005	Tornado (F0)	Lewistown	-	A tornado was reported by the public at Lewistown 3E. The torndao was on the ground only briefly with no damage or injuries reported.
June 2004	Tornado (F0)	Lewistown	-	Strong thunderstorms over southwest Fergus county spawned a second tornado during the evning hours of the 5th. This tornado also moved over rural areas of the county and caused little property damage.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A dry microburst moved through the Lewistown area during the evening hours on the 14th. Wide spread tree damage occurred, causing power to be knocked out and damaging vehicles.
August 2002	Hail	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm produced 1.00 inch hail at Lewistown 15E.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm produced 0.75 inch hail and wind gusts to 70 mph at Lewistown 10S.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust of 60 mph at Lewistown 8E.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	Microburst wind gust reported by general public in Lewistown...Branches ripped from trees and propelled into side of house...Shingles and six-foot wide sections of skirting ripped from mobile home...Tree uprooted and dropped on house and automobile...Large metal garbage container (dumpster) blown over...Boat moved by wind...Hot tub damaged...Monetary damage unknown.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	Actual spotter location Lewistown 10 S...Measured wind gust of 52 kt reported by ASOS at Lewistown Municipal Airport (occurring at same time).
July 2001	Hail	Lewistown	-	Actual spotter location Lewistown 15 SE.
July 2001	Hail	Lewistown	-	Actual spotter location Lewistown 10 E.
July 2001	Hail	Lewistown	-	Actual spotter location Lewistown 7 E...Some crop damage reported...Monetary damage amounts unknown.
July 2001	Hail	Lewistown	-	Actual event location Lewistown 15 SW.
July 2001	Hail	Lewistown	-	Actual spotter location Lewistown 2 NW.
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	7/8 inch hail...wind gust estimated to 52kt.
June 1997	Tornado (F0)	Lewistown	-	BRIEF TOUCHDOWN
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Lewistown	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Lewistown	-	no account filed
August 2006	Hail	Lewistown	-	no account filed
June 2005	Hail	Lewistown	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fergus County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Masonic Temple	under 500 feet	1979
Lewistown Silk Stocking District	under 500 feet	1985
St. Leo's Catholic Church	under 500 feet	1982
Culver Studio	0.2 miles	1980
Broadway Building	0.2 miles	1985
First Presbyterian Church	0.2 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86000684 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Fergus County	All 48 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.