Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Johnson Cabin Museum. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
The Blue Springs post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Putnam (1882), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Blue Springs was named for the local springs, long thought by Native Americans thought to hold medicinal powers.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blue Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Blue Springs.
Blue Springs was founded in the 1850s. It was named for the local springs, long thought by Native Americans thought to hold medicinal powers.
The first post office in Blue Springs was established in 1861.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 963 in 1890; 282 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blue Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Blue Springs, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The historic town of Blue Springs dates its origin from the year 1857, at almost the identical moment that Beatrice was founded. In July of that year James H. Johnson, Jacob Pofl, Martin Elliott and his sons Stephen, William, and Henry Elliott, with their families, settled on the public domain at Blue Springs and its immediate vicinity, and, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Robert A. Wilson Founder and pioneer resident of Blue Springs braska territory and settled in Blue Springs in 1861. Shortly after his arrival he procured the services of Solon M. Hazen and surveyed and platted the original town of Blue Springs.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBest wishes from Blue Springs, Neb
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blue Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Blue Springs.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Blue Springs’ page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Blue Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Blue Springs’s post office has been open since 1861. Another post office, Putnam, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Blue Springs post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Johnson Cabin Museum (listed 2015).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, 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.
2012
2012
2012
2005
