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History · Ashland Township

Ashland Township’s post office opened in 1866, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1870.

1866first post office
5on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ashland Township began

When was Ashland Township founded?

1866

The Ashland Township post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 653 in 18702020 census: 3,192160 years
Founding year: the first Ashland Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ashland 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 18933 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1982. Watch Ashland Township change.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ashland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ashland 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.+2Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Ashland Township on the map, 1893 to 1982

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

Ashland Township on the 1893 USGS mapAshland Township on the 1969 USGS mapAshland Township on the 1982 USGS map1893Fremont 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 Ashland Township.

On the National Register

5 historic places in Ashland Township

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts

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

The story

How Ashland Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ashland Township.

Read it all →

Ashland is located at the site of a low-water limestone ledge along the bottom of Salt Creek, an otherwise mud-bottomed stream that was a formidable obstacle for wagon trains on the great westward migrations of the late 1840s and 1850s. The Oxbow Trail, a variant route of the Oregon Trail, ran from Nebraska City (on the Missouri River) to Fort Kearny (on the Platte River), where it joined the main route of the Oregon Trail. The limestone bottom of Salt Creek at Ashland made it an excellent fording site.

Ashland was established in 1870 and named after Ashland, the estate of Henry Clay.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Ashland Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Flood plain information: Ashland, Nebraska, Salt Creek, Wahoo CreekDate?Flood plain information: Ashland, Nebraska, Salt Cree…Book
Today9 recent
An old gas station, turned into a branch of the Farmers & Merchants Bank2021An old gas station, turned into a branch of the Farme…KCS 4575 Ashland, NE 10-19-14 12014KCS 4575 Ashland, NE 10-19-14 1Ashland, Nebraska2014Ashland, NebraskaStrategic Air Command2012Strategic Air CommandAshland, Nebraska 32011Ashland, Nebraska 3Ashland, Nebraska 22011Ashland, Nebraska 2Ashland, Nebraska 12011Ashland, Nebraska 1Atlanta, Nebraska Husker Hut2010Atlanta, Nebraska Husker HutNEMap-doton-Ashland2005NEMap-doton-Ashland
People over time

Ashland Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000188019001920194019601980200020203,086

Grew from 653 people in 1870 to 3,086 in 2020, 4 times over.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Clear Creek Township1 historic placeB−

Questions about Ashland Township’s history

What year was Ashland Township founded?

The Ashland Township post office opened in 1866, 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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.