Sears Gazetteer – Montana

Sears, Montana

The town of Sears, Montana was in Richland County, “a small town located east of the stage road about one-half mile and north of Sears Creek.”

https://mtmemory.org/digital/collection/p15018coll43/id/23906

From the “Courage Enough Mon-Dak Family Histories Bi-Centennial Edition,” we can gather that the new town was founded around 1908 as a speculative venture during the building of the railroad in the area.

“When the railroad was started in 1910 it missed some of these towns. One of these was Sears, which was located about halfway between Crane and Savage. The railroad missed this town by about a mile, so Crane and Savage were started. The business places moved both ways. Some larger concerns started places in both towns.”

https://mtmemory.org/digital/collection/p15018coll43/id/23893

The railroad went through Sidney instead, and after 1912 the town died off.

https://roadsidethoughts.com/mt/sears-xx-richland-profile.htm

Sears Schoolhouse

Another placemark, the Sears Schoolhouse, is also mentioned in the article. After the demise of the town, the schoolhouse “was cut in two and the upper floor was moved about one and one-half miles south where the main road intersected the railroad track. It was graded and named the Washington School.”

The lower half was purchased by Oluf and Serina Jensen.

“The family outgrew the little log house, and at this time, the old Sears schoolhouse which was located about a mile or so north of us, was being auctioned off so our father and another man bought the old school building. They tore it down so that the lumber combined with the new lumber he had bought could be used to build the two-story frame house which we moved into in 1914.”

https://mtmemory.org/digital/collection/p15018coll43/id/23938

Sears Post Office

PO Map
https://www.mtgenweb.com/richland/RichlandPOs.htm

Sears Post Office (historical) was located at 47.3233N 104.1731W Crane

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