Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Fort Calhoun

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
BHistory
History · Fort Calhoun

Fort Calhoun’s post office opened in 1854, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm House.

1854first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Fort Calhoun began

When was Fort Calhoun founded?

1854

The Fort Calhoun post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,108172 years

How historic is Fort Calhoun?

B

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Fort Calhoun post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Fort Calhoun’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Calhoun is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fort Calhoun’s overall grade.
Founding era1854, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194014.4% of homes (±6.9) · typical NE town 17.8% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 25.6 per 10,000 residents · typical NE town 16.3 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder

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 Fort Calhoun’s 25.6 sits above most of its state (69% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 Fort Calhoun’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 Fort Calhoun are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fort Calhoun’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Fort Calhoun came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fort Calhoun.

Read it all →

The area surrounding present-day Fort Calhoun was historically inhabited by Native American peoples, including nations of the central Great Plains. Its location along the Missouri River made the region significant for transportation, trade, and diplomatic relations between Indigenous nations and European-American explorers.

In 1804, members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition visited the area and held a diplomatic meeting with representatives of the Otoe and Missouri tribes at a location known as Council Bluff. The site was later considered strategically important because of its position overlooking the Missouri River.

ChaptersEarly history and Fort AtkinsonSettlement and establishmentModern historyClimate

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fort Calhoun, 1854 to 1905

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Fort Calhoun post office opens
  3. 1891Born hereEdith Neale is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905BuiltAlfred H. and Sarah Frahm House is built
By decade

Fort Calhoun, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Fort-calhoun-nebraska2021Fort-calhoun-nebraskaFort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 32013Fort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 3Fort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 22013Fort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 2Fort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 12013Fort Calhoun, Nebraska downtown 1NEMap-doton-Fort Calhoun2005NEMap-doton-Fort Calhoun
On the National Register

1 historic place in Fort Calhoun

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2006
Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm House
Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm House, built 1905
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm HouseColonial Revival · Built 1905

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Fort Calhoun’s post office has been open since 1854.

Gone or out of use
Calhounlocale

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

Questions about Fort Calhoun’s history

What year was Fort Calhoun founded?

The Fort Calhoun post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Fort Calhoun rank for history?

Fort Calhoun is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. 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 Fort Calhoun?

One place: the Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm House (listed 2006).

How old are the homes in Fort Calhoun?

14% of Fort Calhoun’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1983.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.