Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Herman post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cuming City (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Herman was named for Samuel Herman, a railroad employee.
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 Herman’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Herman.
Herman was platted in 1871 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Samuel Herman, a railroad employee.
On June 13, 1899, Herman was struck by a tornado that killed 13 people.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Herman, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Herman was laid out in 1871, on a tract of land owned by tlie Omaha and Northwestern railroad company, James G. Megeath. and T.W.' T. Richards, and named in honor of Samuel Herman, who has occupied the position of conductor on the Omaha and Northwestern since it was put in operation. The new town soon became an important shipping point for stock and grain as it has been the terminus of the railroad up to this time, though at the present writing, July 28, 1876, it Is being rapidly pushed through to Tekamah, the county seat of Burt county.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Herman’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Cuming City, 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 Herman post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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