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History · Adams Township

Adams Township’s post office opened in 1872, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1880.

1872first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Adams Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Adams Township began

When was Adams Township founded?

1872

The Adams Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 52 in 18802020 census: 919154 years
Founding year: the first Adams Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Adams 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.Old housesHalf of Adams Township’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Adams Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAdams, Nebraska Boy Scout troop 1913: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Adams Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Adams Township.

Read it all →

The area that would become the village of Adams was initially colonized by the namesake of the settlement, an Indiana pioneer named Tyler Adams (1808–1887). He arrived in 1857; however, the village of Adams did not exist until John O. Adams negotiated deals with a railroad company that intended to set tracks through his land in 1873.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Adams Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Adams, Nebraska Boy Scout troop 19131913Adams, Nebraska Boy Scout troop 1913
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Adams, Nebraska Main Street 22012Adams, Nebraska Main Street 2Adams, Nebraska Main Street 12012Adams, Nebraska Main Street 1NEMap-doton-Adams2005NEMap-doton-Adams
On the map

Adams Township on the map, 1965 to 1980

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

Adams Township on the 1965 USGS mapAdams Township on the 1980 USGS map1965Adams sheet · 1:24,000

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

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.

Adams, Nebraska Boy Scout troop 1913
Retake this viewAdams, Nebraska Boy Scout troop 1913, 1913

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Adams Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

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

People over time

Adams Township, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 647

Between 52 and 647 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Hooker TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNemaha TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Adams Township’s history

What year was Adams Township founded?

The Adams Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (4), Wikidata (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.