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Welcome to Nelson ...

Nelson is located in Lewis and Clark County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Nelson, you might consider that their post office opened in 1904.

Nelson is 3,990 feet [1,216 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the altitude of Nelson is ¾ mile [or ~1¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Nelson lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Nelson: 406

Communities Also Named Nelson ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Montana communities named Nelson: This one is located in Lewis and Clark County and the other is located in Fergus County.

Beyond Montana, there are 52 communities that are also named Nelson - they are located in Alabama (3), Arizona (2), Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho (3), Illinois (2), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Louisiana, Manitoba, Maryland (2), Michigan (2), Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (2), North Carolina, Ohio (2), Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia (2), Washington (2), West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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

Communities near Nelson ...

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

  • Helena
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Helena is located in Lewis and Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 33,737 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Helena <3>
  • East Helena
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Cavetown
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cavetown is located in Lewis and Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavetown
  • Silver City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Silver City is located in Lewis and Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
  • Wolf Creek
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Birdseye
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Birdseye is located in Lewis and Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdseye
  • Craig
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Fort Harrison
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Montana City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Canyon Creek
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)

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 Nelson. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Nelson.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Nelson. 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 Nelson.

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

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Nelson ...

Looking for more information about Nelson? 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 Nelson, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Nelson.

Adding Nelson to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Nelson 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 Nelson was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<4>

From that list, the Nelson post office opened in 1904. The Nelson post office closed in 1937.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Nelson.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Montana's counties, including Lewis and Clark, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Nelson - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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/