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History · Custer Township

Custer Township’s post office opened in 1877, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Custer Township began

When was Custer Township founded?

1877

The Custer Township post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Custer (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 84149 years
Founding year: the first Custer Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Custer 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 Custer Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Custer Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Custer 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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The story so far

Custer Township, in brief

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

Custer Township is one of thirty-one townships in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 91 at the 2020 census. A 2021 estimate placed the township's population at 92.

Its first post office opened in 1877. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 101 to 84 (-17%).

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

Timeline

Custer Township, 1877 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Custer post office opens
  3. 1899Post officeThe Custer post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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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On the map

Custer Township on the map, 1951 to 1985

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

Custer Township on the 1951 USGS mapCuster Township on the 1985 USGS map1951Callaway SE 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 Custer Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Custer Township

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

See all →
J
Jay Wright ForresterAmerican operations researcher · b. 1918
Earl CooperAmerican racecar driver · b. 1886
Earl J. AtkissonColonel of the 1st Gas Regiment in World War I · b. 1886
R
Robert D. BookerUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1920
A
Amanda GrosserodeAmerican politician · b. 1975
E
Emery BlagdonAmerican artist · b. 1907
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Center SchoolschoolCuster SchoolschoolHappy Hill SchoolschoolHoesel AirportairportLodi SchoolschoolMaier SchoolschoolRiverside Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Custer Township
LodiRiverside

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.

Ryno TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDelight Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast Custer TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWood River TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Custer Township’s history

What year was Custer Township founded?

The Custer Township post office opened in 1877, 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 →
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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.