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C+History
History · Gering

Gering’s post office opened in 1887, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #46 of 57 in Nebraska. What drives it

Most of Gering was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listings are the Severin Sorensen House, the Scotts Bluff County Courthouse and the Gering Courier Building. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1900.

1887first post office
3on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
10old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Gering’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Gering began

When was Gering founded?

1887

The Gering post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 433 in 19002020 census: 8,564139 years

How historic is Gering?

C+

More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Gering’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gering is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #46 of 57 in Nebraska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gering’s overall grade.
Founding era1887, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19409.6% of homes (±3.6) · typical NE town 17.8% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register3 listings, 3.5 per 10,000 residents · typical NE town 16.3 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 39%
NewerOlder
Nebraska towns of 2,500+ (57)Ahead of 20%

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 Gering’s 3.5 sits below most of its state (27% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 3 listings 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 C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.6 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 Gering’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 18984 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1985. Watch Gering change.
★ What stands out · On the map

Gering on the map, 1898 to 1985

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

Gering on the 1898 USGS mapGering on the 1963 USGS mapGering on the 1976 USGS mapGering on the 1985 USGS map1898Scotts Bluff 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 Gering.

The story

How Gering came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gering.

Read it all →

Gering was officially founded on March 7, 1887, being located at the base of the bluff that is now the center of Scotts Bluff National Monument. Although settled in 1886, Gering officially became a town in 1887 by a corporation headed by Oscar Gardner of Broken Bow, Nebraska and named for Martin Gering, a pioneer merchant with whom Gardner started the first dry goods store. Gardner, who was also a lawyer and Gering's first notary public, started the post office 1887, becoming Gering's first Postmaster. Union Pacific Railroad platted the town in 1887, but did not lay any track until 1910. In November 1888, Scottsbluff county split from Cheyenne County, and Gering became the new county seat. The city of Scottsbluff was founded across the North Platte River from the bluff in 1899, by a subsidiary of the Burlington Railroad, and had track and a makeshift depot by 1900. Separated only by the…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gering, 1887 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Gering post office opens
  3. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1908In the archiveDome rock
  6. 1941In the archiveAuction at Union Livestock Commission Company
  7. 1986Born hereSara Vaughn is born here
By decade

Gering, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
Dome rock1908Dome rockDome rock1908Dome rock
1910s–1930snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1940s8 items
Auction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Auction at Union Livestock Commission CompanyAuction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Auction at Union Livestock Commission CompanyAuction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Auction at Union Livestock Commission CompanyUntitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union…Men outside the Union Livestock Commission Company during an auction sale. Gering, Nebraska1941Men outside the Union Livestock Commission Company du…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union Livestock Commission Company1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction at Union…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men outside the Union Livestock Commission Company during an auction sale. Gering,…1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men outside the …
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today14 recent
Runza in2022Runza inScotts Bluff County Road Map2015Scotts Bluff County Road MapMapGering, Nebraska 10th from N2010Gering, Nebraska 10th from NGering, Nebraska 10th from M 22010Gering, Nebraska 10th from M 2Gering, Nebraska 10th from M 12010Gering, Nebraska 10th from M 1View towards the northeast from the North Overlook Trail, Scotts Bluff National Monument, 20092009View towards the northeast from the North Overlook Tr…SBNMScottsbluffGering 22112009SBNMScottsbluffGering 2211SBNMGering 22082009SBNMGering 2208SBNMGering 22072009SBNMGering 2207Gering, Neb2007Gering, NebGering P71802842007Gering P7180284Gering 103 degrees P71702222007Gering 103 degrees P7170222NEMap-doton-Gering2005NEMap-doton-GeringD-28. North Platte Valley Museum (11th and J Streets, Gering) on the California, Mormon Pioneer, Oregon, and Pony Expre…2005D-28. North Platte Valley Museum (11th and J Streets,…
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Dome rock
Retake this viewDome rock, 1908

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Gering’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Gering

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Severin Sorensen House
Severin Sorensen HouseScotts Bluff County CourthouseGering Courier Building
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Renaissance Revival1
Classical Revival1
Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals1
Neoclassical Revival1
Severin Sorensen HouseRenaissance Revival
Scotts Bluff County CourthouseClassical Revival
Gering Courier BuildingLate 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals

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

People over time

Gering, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00019001920194019601980200020208,564

Grew from 433 people in 1900 to 8,564 in 2020, more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gering’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Gering’s post office has been open since 1887.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Evergreen Estates Mobile Homes
Gone or out of use
McKinley Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Gering
West Lawn Or Westlawn

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

Help out

Finish Gering’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDome rock: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

TerrytownIts storyD−Scottsbluff9 historic placesB

Questions about Gering’s history

What year was Gering founded?

The Gering post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Gering rank for history?

Gering is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Gering?

Three places: the Severin Sorensen House (listed 1983), the Scotts Bluff County Courthouse (1990) and the Gering Courier Building (2004).

How old are the homes in Gering?

10% of Gering’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1975.

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 (14), the Library of Congress (10), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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.