Old US Post Office

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

From the record

“Post Office in Williston, North Dakota, United States, is a former post office building that was built in 1915. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.”
Wikipedia article Old U.S. Post Office (Williston, North Dakota), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 7 National Register listings published here for Williams County · listed in 1979 · category: Building.

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

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 322 Main Ave., Williston, 58801
When was it listed? October 1979
Category. building
City. Williston city
Architectural style. Neoclassical architecture
National Register reference number. 79003729 - 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

56 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 56 fires within 5 miles of Old US Post Office between 2017 and 2020, burning about 113 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were 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
Fireworks	19
Debris and open burning	13
Smoking	6
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Recreation and ceremony	3
Arson/incendiarism	2

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
6 September 2019	Debris and open burning	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	BON FIRE
5 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	42 AVE BURN PILE
21 September 2020	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	North Dakota State Forest Service	NONE
2 September 2020	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	200902
2 September 2020	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	200901
19 September 2020	Smoking	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	200920
15 September 2020	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	WEATHERFORD
12 September 2018	Fireworks	under an acre	North Dakota State Forest Service	THE MEADOWS

Every fire recorded in Williams County

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Old US Post Office: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Cactus 64sh Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Cherry Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Hoffelt Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
K Kulland Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Streifel Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Williams County

Storms near this property

60 of 85 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Williston, the town this property stands in, in 85 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 50 hail, 27 thunderstorm wind, 4 funnel cloud, 2 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
June 2021	Hail	Williston	$1,000,000	This was the first of multiple rounds of hail to strike the Williston area the evening of June 10. With this round, hail up to the size of tennis balls fell over the Williston area. This caused damage to many roofs and vehicles, including damaging every police car in the city, and every vehicle parked in the Williams County facility lot. In addition, strong winds with this storm blew a roof off a truck and car wash.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$1,000,000	Analysis of damage photos indicated that the peak wind was around 80 mph. The Williston Airport ASOS measured 71 mph at 8:33 PM CDT, but the worst damage was in other parts of Williston. Large trees were snapped and uprooted, fences were destroyed, and vehicles were destroyed by falling trees. It was estimated that the high winds lasted for about 10 minutes. Half dollar sized hail was also reported at this time.
July 2022	Hail	Williston	$500,000	Large hail fell over the Williston area causing damage to roofs, siding, and vehicles.
August 1993	Hail	Williston	$500,000	Between 3.00 and 7.00 inches of rain fell over a large part of Williams, Divide, Burke, and Mountrail Counties overnight August 21st and 22nd. Water damage from the heavy rains was widespread. A section of Highway 1804 was completely washed out. The downpour swept a motor home off the highway near Lewis and Clark State Park. Fortunately, the occupants escaped injury.
June 2021	Hail	Williston	$200,000	This is the second in a series of storms to strike the Williston area. Ping pong size hail accompanied this storm, along with very heavy rainfall. Additional damage was done to roofs and vehicles.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$100,000	Estimated 75 mph thunderstorm wind gusts occurred at the Williams County Fairgrounds. The Williams County Fair was ongoing at the time, and almost all the large tents set up were blown over. No injuries or fatalities occurred.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$45,000	Tree branches were broken off at the Williston airport and a new hanger was damaged.
August 2010	Hail	Williston	$40,000	Windows were broken on the north side of a home, and car windshields were broken out.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$40,000	no account filed
August 2010	Hail	Williston	$35,000	Damage was sustained to vehicles and siding on a home.
August 2010	Hail	Williston	$35,000	no account filed
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$30,000	Damage included a quonset door caving in, shingles and soffit being ripped off a building, and tree damage.
July 2010	Lightning	Williston	$25,000	Lightning struck a mobile home in Williston, resulting in a fire to the residence. Nobody was injured in the fire.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$15,000	Elm trees in a park were knocked over by the thunderstorm wind gusts. Minor damage occurred to a tin roof on a structure where some panels lifted off.
August 2010	Hail	Williston	$12,000	A camper and truck were dented.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$10,000	A severe thunderstorm wind gust resulted in the destruction of a storage pole barn.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$5,000	thunderstorm winds caused a tree to fall across a pickup
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	$4,000	Several small tree branches broken. Newspaper article showed one larger branch snapped off at the tree trunk and landed on a camper trailer parked under the tree. The roof of the camper was dented. Accompanied by penny size hail.
June 2021	Tornado (EFU)	Williston	-	The tornado touched down in an open field east of Williston. There was no damage to evaluate and so by National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF Unknown.
September 2014	Hail	Williston	-	The hail was accompanied by severe thunderstorm winds around 80 mph. Damage estimates are noted in the thunderstorm wind storm data entry from 8:30 to 8:40 PM CDT. Half-dollar and quarter sized hail were also reported at the same time in Williston by a co-op observer and by law enforcement respectively.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Delete.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Very heavy rain accompanied the strong winds.
July 2013	Funnel Cloud	Williston	-	A brief funnel cloud was observed.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	A report of severe thunderstorm winds was received.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Over one inch of rain accompanied the thunderstorm.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Strong winds were reported in the city of Williston, resulting in power bumps and displaced trash dumpsters.
May 2008	Hail	Williston	-	Hail was reported near the intersection of highways 2 and 85.
June 2007	Hail	Williston	-	Storm was accompanied by high wind. No hail damage was reported.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Wind speed 58 mph or higher for duration of event. Peak of 69 mph at 233 AM CST and 234 AM CST. Numerous large trees down from Williston to Trenton area. Wind ASOS measured.
July 2005	Hail	Williston	-	Reported at Lewis and Clark State Park.
July 2003	Hail	Williston	-	Winds estimated at 55 mph flipped a couple campers over on their sides and a picnic shelter was blown over at Blacktail Dam Recreational area.
July 2001	Tornado (F0)	Williston	-	Briefly touched down in open country.
August 2000	Lightning	Williston	-	Lightning started a fire which burned 20 acres near a golf course.
July 1999	Hail	Williston	-	Broken windows in moble homes.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Numerous power poles and lines down.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	Twentyone trailers/cabins were damaged at the trailer park near the Black Tail dam. Roofs were torn off trailers, north side windows were broken, trees were knocked over, and trailers were moved off their foundations.
July 1998	Hail	Williston	-	Hail combined with strong winds to increase damage.
June 2025	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2025	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2022	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2021	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2021	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2020	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
May 2018	Funnel Cloud	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2018	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2016	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2016	Funnel Cloud	Williston	-	no account filed
September 2014	Funnel Cloud	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	no account filed
August 2013	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2012	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2012	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2012	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2012	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
June 2012	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
August 2010	Hail	Williston	-	no account filed
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Williston	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Williams 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

4 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
Creaser Building	0.2 miles	2016
James Memorial Library	0.2 miles	1979
Williston High School	0.2 miles	2011
Old Armory	0.3 miles	1985

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 79003729 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Williams County	All 7 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.