Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1880.
The Hooper Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Logan (1864), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Hooper Township was named for Samuel Hooper, a US congressman from Massachusetts.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hooper Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Hooper Township’s 150 sits above most of its state (91% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 22 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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 Hooper Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hooper Township.
Hooper was established in 1871, following construction of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad through the territory. It was named for Samuel Hooper, a US congressman from Massachusetts.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hooper Township.
1986Blair sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hooper Township.
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.
Between 204 and 1,014 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hooper Township’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Logan, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hooper Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hooper Township is more historic than 85% 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.
43% of Hooper Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (1), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2005