Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 31 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1890.
The Grant post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grant is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Grant’s 234 sits above most of its state (96% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 33 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Grant’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew 7-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grant’s Wikipedia page.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grant.
Grant was platted in 1886 when the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended to that point. The city is named for Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNebraska - Benedict through
Born hereGary Glick is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereDanielle Ate the Sandwich is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grant.
1973Grant sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Grant.
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 sheet.
1893Sheet 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 Grant’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grant’s post office has been open since 1886.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Grant post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Grant is more historic than 80% 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.
Three places: the Perkins County Courthouse (listed 1990), the Grant City Park (1996) and the Grant Commercial Historic District (1996).
26% of Grant’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1957.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1917
2005