Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Hanover Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Hanover Township

Hanover Township’s post office opened in 1868, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Hollenberg Pony Express Station, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1880.

1868first post office
1on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hanover Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hanover Township began

When was Hanover Township founded?

1868

The Hanover Township post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 578 in 18802020 census: 913158 years
Founding year: the first Hanover Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hanover Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1983. Watch Hanover Township change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,039 in 1910; 690 people lived here in 2020.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Hollenberg Pony Express Station, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hanover Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hanover Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHollenberg Pony Express Station, Route …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Hanover Township on the map, 1889 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hanover Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hanover Township on the 1889 USGS mapHanover Township on the 1894 USGS mapHanover Township on the 1966 USGS mapHanover Township on the 1983 USGS map1889Marysville sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hanover Township.

People over time

Hanover Township, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,039

Peaked at 1,039 in 1910; 690 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hanover Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Hanover Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hanover Township.

Read it all →

The "Hollenberg Station" became an important hub along the way for Pony Express travelers and Geret Hollenberg eventually established a grocery and stage depot on his farm in 1858. The Hollenberg farm housed nine boarding rooms, and the success of "Hollenberg Station" as a business attracted more people to the area and many settled alongside the Hollenbergs in the decade leading up to the establishment of Hanover.

Prior to the establishment of the town, in 1868 a school district was established in the area to satisfy the need to educate children of settlers who continued to arrive near the "Hollenberg Station."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hanover Township, 1857 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857BuiltHollenberg Pony Express Station is built
  3. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 1,039
  6. 1961LandmarkHollenberg Pony Express Station named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Hanover Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Hollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles south of Nebraska borderDate?Hollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles…
Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Hanover2005KSMap-doton-Hanover
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Hollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles south of Nebraska border
Retake this viewHollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles south of Nebraska border

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hanover Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Hanover Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Hollenberg Pony Express Station
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Hollenberg Pony Express Station
Hollenberg Pony Express Station, built 1857★
Buildings★ landmark
★ Landmark
Hollenberg Pony Express StationBuilt 1857

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Coufal-Warren Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hanover Township
HanoverSaint John's

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Charleston TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLittle Blue TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependence TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hanover Township’s history

What year was Hanover Township founded?

The Hanover Township post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Hanover Township?

One place: the Hollenberg Pony Express Station (listed 1966).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.