Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Clem's Opera House. Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1900.
The Gresham post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Palo (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Gresham’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gresham. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gresham.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gresham.
Gresham was originally called Poston, and under the latter name was platted in 1887 when the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad was extended to that point. When it was discovered there was another place in the state with the name Poston, the town was renamed in honor of Walter Q. Gresham, Secretary of State of the United States.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Gresham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
When Mr. Byers retired from the farm he moved to Gresham which in that year was being organized and settled. He brought a little house from the farm to the town and placed it in a cornfield and was one of the very first settlers to reside in Gresham. From the commencement of his residence in the town he saw the great possibilities for commercial development which it offered. He established the first hardware store in Gre.sham, styled the Byers & DuUuni Hardware Company, which was under his management for ten years. This was followed by the opening u]) of general merchandise stores and a drug store. Two years after starting
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It was in 1894 that Mr. Williams first came to York county and worked for a time on a farm owned by an uncle, later returning to Kentucky and subsequently entering the military service. In 1901 he returned to York county and settled in Gresham and assisted in the work of the Moorehouse elevator for four years, his connection there giving liim a keen insight into the grain business. The next two years were spent on a farm, from which he moved to Gresham and entered the confectionery business, the results which he obtained from this line proving satisfactory. A desire for more military life came to him when the great World war
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2026Gresham, Nebraska aerial 2026
2026Gresham, Nebraska aerial 2026 (cropped)
2011Gresham, Nebraska funeral chapel
2011Gresham, Nebraska from S
2011Gresham, Nebraska elevators
2011Gresham, Nebraska downtown 4
2011Gresham, Nebraska downtown 3
2011Gresham, Nebraska downtown 2
2011Gresham, Nebraska downtown 1
2011Gresham, Nebraska Gresham State Bank
2005NEMap-doton-GreshamThe 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.
Peaked at 492 in 1920; 219 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gresham’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Gresham itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Gresham’s post office has been open since 1887. Another post office, Palo, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Gresham post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Clem's Opera House (listed 1988).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
