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History · Bone Creek Township

18% of Bone Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1899 on.

0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Bone Creek 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 writtenNo old photos of Bone Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18993 editions of the USGS map, 1899 to 1985. Watch Bone Creek Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bone Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bone Creek Township’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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On the map

Bone Creek Township on the map, 1899 to 1985

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

Bone Creek Township on the 1899 USGS mapBone Creek Township on the 1968 USGS mapBone Creek Township on the 1985 USGS map1899David City 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 Bone Creek Township.

The story so far

Bone Creek Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bone Creek Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Bone Creek Township is one of seventeen townships in Butler County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 366 at the 2020 census. A 2021 estimate placed the township's population at 369. The name is from the translation of a Pawnee language term for Bone Creek, referring to the fossils of mastodons and other ancient creatures found along its eroding banks. The Village of Octavia lies within the Township. The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art is in David City, Nebraska.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 358 to 319 (-11%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Bone Creek Township, 1892 to 1933

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Edholm post office opens
  3. 1899On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1933Post officeThe Edholm post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Bone Creek Township

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

See all →
Ruth EttingAmerican singer, vaudevillian, musical theatre … · b. 1896
Ray KegerisAmerican swimmer · b. 1901
Roman HruskaAmerican politician · b. 1904
J
Jerome HanusAmerican Benedictine monk and archbishop · b. 1940
K
Kenneth SteinerAuxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland… · b. 1936
Walter JuddAmerican politician · b. 1898
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Edholm, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Edholm
Gone or out of use
Edholm Post Officepost office

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Linwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSavannah TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFranklin TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPlatte Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bone Creek Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.