Beatrice’s post office opened in 1857, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #6 of 57 in Nebraska. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 165 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Beatrice post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1859.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Beatrice’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Beatrice is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #6 of 57 in Nebraska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Beatrice’s overall grade.
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 Beatrice’s 145 sits above most of its state (90% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 177 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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 (±4.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1859 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Beatrice’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Beatrice, building by building, 1885–1913
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.
Gage County was one of the 19 counties originally established by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature in 1854. At the time of its establishment, there were no settlers living within its boundaries.
In 1857, the steamboat Hannibal, carrying 300 passengers up the Missouri River from St. Louis, Missouri to Nebraska City, Nebraska, ran aground near Kansas City, Missouri. While it was stranded, 35 of the passengers agreed to form the "Nebraska Association", under which name they would unite in seeking a townsite and establishing a settlement in the territory.
Passages that mention Beatrice, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Gage County, Nebraska1918 · page 190Read the page →
Read the text
township 4 north, of range 6 east of the 6th principal meridian. Gage county, Nebraska the same being the originally surveyed townsite of Beatrice, and all the legal additions which may now or may hereafter be attached to the said town of Beatrice, be and are hereby declared incorporated, a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the town
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Gage County, Nebraska1918 · page 189Read the page →
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Beatrice, 1857 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Beatrice post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1859.
How does Beatrice rank for history?
Beatrice is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #6 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 Beatrice?
14 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Burlington Northern Depot (listed 1975, the first), and 4 historic districts with 165 contributing buildings. 177 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Beatrice?
32% of Beatrice’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1908
1917
1917
