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Welcome to Black Bear ...

Black Bear is located in the Idaho Panhandle.

Black Bear is located in Shoshone County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Black Bear, you might consider that their post office opened in 1903.

Black Bear is 3,370 feet [1,027 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the altitude of Black Bear is about ¾ mile [or ~1 km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Black Bear lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you travel east from Black Bear (for example, toward Thompson Falls (MT)), you will leave Pacific Time and cross into the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT).

Area Codes for Black Bear: 208 & 986<3>

Communities Also Named Black Bear ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named Black Bear - they are located in California, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Black Bear.

Communities near Black Bear ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Black Bear.

  • Kellogg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Pinehurst
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Osburn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Wallace
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mullan
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Smelterville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Wardner
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Larson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Larson is located in Shoshone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larson
  • Silverton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Delta
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Delta is located in Shoshone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Black Bear. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Black Bear.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Black Bear. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Black Bear.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Black Bear. See our Newspapers Page for Black Bear.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Black Bear ...

Looking for more information about Black Bear? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Black Bear, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Black Bear.

Adding Black Bear to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Black Bear in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Black Bear was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Black Bear post office opened in 1903. The Black Bear post office closed in 1919.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Black Bear.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Idaho's counties, including Shoshone, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Black Bear - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 208 code has been Overlayed with the 986 area code. New phone numbers in the Black Bear area will be assigned with one of these codes: 208 or 986. As a result, placing a call in the Black Bear area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/