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B+History
History · Alliance

Alliance’s post office opened in 1888, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #18 of 57 in Nebraska. What drives it

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 45 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1890.

1888first post office
3on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Alliance’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Alliance began

When was Alliance founded?

1888

The Alliance post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Reed (1887), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 829 in 18902020 census: 8,151138 years

How historic is Alliance?

B+

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Alliance post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Alliance’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alliance is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #18 of 57 in Nebraska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Alliance’s overall grade.
Founding era1888, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194017.5% of homes (±5.0) · typical NE town 17.8% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register3 listings, 45 historic buildings, 55.7 per 10,000 residents · typical NE town 16.3 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 70%
NewerOlder
Nebraska towns of 2,500+ (57)Ahead of 70%

Nebraska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Nebraska town has 16.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Alliance’s 55.7 sits above most of its state (82% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 45 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Alliance’s past

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

A historic districtThe Alliance Commercial Historic District takes in 44 historic buildings.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Alliance, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1899 to 1920, drew every building in Alliance.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

3 listings protect 45 historic buildings

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
45
each building in a district counts
first listed
1990
Box Butte County Courthouse
Box Butte County CourthouseCity of Alliance Central Park Fountain, built 1935Alliance Commercial Historic District
DistrictsObjects

Architectural styles listings

Beaux Arts1
Late Victorian1
Romanesque1
Mission Revival1
Modern Movement1
Art Moderne1
Box Butte County CourthouseBeaux Arts
City of Alliance Central Park FountainBuilt 1935
Alliance Commercial Historic DistrictLate Victorian

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Alliance’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Reed, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Reed
1887–1888
Alliance
1888–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Meadows Trailer CourtTower Plaza Mobile Home ParkTrailerville Court

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Every building

Alliance, building by building, 1899–1920

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Alliance fire insurance map, 1899, sheet 11899Sheet 1 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Alliance came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Alliance.

Read it all →

The town was originally named Grand Lake. When the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad came to Grand Lake in 1888, the railroad superintendent, G.W. Holdrege, wanted to change it to a simple one-word name closer to the beginning of the alphabet, which he thought would be better for business. The U.S. Post Office gave Holdrege permission, and he picked "Alliance" for the new name of the town. Alliance was incorporated as a city in 1891.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Alliance, 1887 to 1992

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Reed post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Reed post office closes
  4. 1888Post officeThe Alliance post office opens
  5. 1899In the archiveDas Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenbahn von Hemingford ins etwa 30 km entfernte Allian…
  6. 20th century
  7. 1908In the archiveBird's eye view of Alliance Nebraska 1908
  8. 1910In the archiveAllianceNebGoatCart1910s
  9. 1920Born hereChuck Hayward is born here
  10. 1921Born hereJames Emanuel is born here
  11. 1935BuiltCity of Alliance Central Park Fountain is built
  12. 1936In the archiveSod houses. Alliance, Nebraska
  13. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  14. 1975Born hereMoon Bloodgood is born here
  15. 1992Born hereJordan Hooper is born here
By decade

Alliance, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s7 items
Das Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenbahn von Hemingford ins etwa 30 km entfernte Alliance, Nebraska verlegt, Juli 18991899Das Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenbahn von Heming…Bird's eye view of Alliance Nebraska 19081908Bird's eye view of Alliance Nebraska 1908Birds eye view of Alliance, Nebr1908Birds eye view of Alliance, NebrBusiness district of Alliance, Nebraska 19081908Business district of Alliance, Nebraska 1908Business section of Alliance, Nebr1908Business section of Alliance, NebrBusiness section of Alliance, Nebr1908Business section of Alliance, NebrBirds eye view of Alliance, Nebr1908Birds eye view of Alliance, Nebr
1910s–1930s4 items
AllianceNebGoatCart1910s1910AllianceNebGoatCart1910s1911 Alliance, Nebraska tornado19111911 Alliance, Nebraska tornadoAlliance cyclone, August 4, 1911, [Nebraska(?)]1911Alliance cyclone, August 4, 1911, [Nebraska(?)]Sod houses. Alliance, Nebraska1936Sod houses. Alliance, Nebraska
1940s–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
On the map

Alliance on the map, 1947 to 1976

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

Alliance on the 1947 USGS mapAlliance on the 1976 USGS map1947Alliance 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 Alliance.

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.

Das Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenbahn von Hemingford ins etwa 30 km entfernte Alliance, Nebraska verlegt, Juli 1899
Retake this viewDas Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenbahn von Hemingford ins etwa 30 km entfernte Alliance, Nebraska verlegt, Juli 1899, 1899

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Alliance, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 9,920

Between 829 and 9,920 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Alliance

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Moon BloodgoodAmerican actress · b. 1975
Jordan HooperAmerican basketball player · b. 1992
J
James EmanuelPoet · b. 1921
Chuck HaywardAmerican actor · b. 1920
B
Bruce BellasAmerican photographer · b. 1909
Ronald L. CokerUnited States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recip… · b. 1947
Help out

Finish Alliance’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDas Gerichtsgebäude wird mit der Eisenb…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Alliance’s history

What year was Alliance founded?

The Alliance post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Alliance rank for history?

Alliance is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #18 of 57 in Nebraska. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Alliance?

Three places: the Box Butte County Courthouse (listed 1990), the City of Alliance Central Park Fountain (1990) and the Alliance Commercial Historic District (2007).

How old are the homes in Alliance?

18% of Alliance’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1965.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.