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History · Barneston

66% of Barneston’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1900.

0on the National Register
66%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about Barneston’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Barneston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Barneston’s homes were built before 1938.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Barneston.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Barneston’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Barneston came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Barneston.

Read it all →

The present-day town of Barneston was settled at the site of one of the largest Oto villages in the 19th century. The agency and a trading post were located there. Barneston was founded by a French fur trapper who was married to an Oto woman.

Barnestown was platted in 1884 when the Marysville and Blue Valley Railroad was extended to that point. The community was named after Francis M. Barnes, an early settler.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Barneston’s post office has been open since 1950. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Otoe Agency
1862–1880
Barnston
1880–1950
Barneston
1950–today
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Barneston Schoolschool

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Barneston in 1918

Passages that mention Barneston, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The permanent Indian village was located in Barneston township, mainly on the site of the present village of Barneston. At this point there was and still is a splendid spring of purest water, similar in quality to the well known Zimmerman spring from which the city of Beatrice draws its entire supp…
History of Gage County, Nebraska1918 · page 88Read the page →
Read the text

The permanent Indian village was located in Barneston township, mainly on the site of the present village of Barneston. At this point there was and still is a splendid spring of purest water, similar in quality to the well known Zimmerman spring from which the city of Beatrice draws its entire supply of water.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The townsite of Barneston comprises the greater portion of the northwest quarter of section 18, township 1 north, range 8 east, while West Barneston, an addition to the original town, lies in the northeast quarter of section 13, township 1 north, range 7 east, where the railway line, sidetracks and…
History of Gage County, Nebraska1918 · page 275Read the page →
Read the text

The townsite of Barneston comprises the greater portion of the northwest quarter of section 18, township 1 north, range 8 east, while West Barneston, an addition to the original town, lies in the northeast quarter of section 13, township 1 north, range 7 east, where the railway line, sidetracks and station are located. The owners of the originaltown-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Barneston, 1862 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Otoe Agency post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Otoe Agency post office closes
  4. 1880Post officeThe Barnston post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1950Post officeThe Barnston post office closes
  7. 1950Post officeThe Barneston post office opens
  8. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Barneston, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Barneston, NE2017Barneston, NENEMap-doton-Barneston2005NEMap-doton-Barneston
On the map

Barneston on the map, 1970 to 1986

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

Barneston on the 1970 USGS mapBarneston on the 1986 USGS map1970Barneston 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 Barneston.

People over time

Barneston, census by census

01002001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 258

Between 90 and 258 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Barneston

Nobody well known was born in Barneston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Harold LloydAmerican actor and comedian · b. 1893
T
Thomas OlmstedRoman Catholic prelate; 4th Bishop of the Dioce… · b. 1947
Charles H. CorlettUnited States general · b. 1889
Jake DiekmanAmerican baseball player · b. 1987
Clair Armstrong CallanAmerican politician · b. 1920
Gaylord Fraser LloydAmerican film actor · b. 1888

Questions about Barneston’s history

Memory lane

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

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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 (2), Wikipedia, 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.