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History · Juniata

Juniata’s post office opened in 1871, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1880.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Juniata began

When was Juniata founded?

1871

The Juniata post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 494 in 18802020 census: 748155 years
Founding year: the first Juniata post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Juniata’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Juniata are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1900 and 1920, then more than doubled.On the map since 18963 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1985. Watch Juniata change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Juniata’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Juniata’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Juniata, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020543 in 1900Low: 329

Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1920, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the map

Juniata on the map, 1896 to 1985

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

Juniata on the 1896 USGS mapJuniata on the 1969 USGS mapJuniata on the 1985 USGS map1896Wood River 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 Juniata.

The story

How Juniata came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Juniata.

Read it all →

Juniata was named by the Burlington Railroad for a river in Pennsylvania and is the oldest town in Adams County. It was platted, organized, and became the county seat in late 1871, the first school district in the county was established there, and the first newspaper in the county, the Adams County Gazette, was published there. During the 1870s the Commercial Hotel, south of the railroad depot, was one of the largest in Nebraska west of Lincoln. It was demolished in 1879. On April 12, 1872, the county commissioners declined a request from the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad for $75,000 in bonds to build 25 miles of track, reasoning that the line would be built anyway and would logically cross the Burlington line at Juniata. Instead the railroad laid its tracks seven miles east and set up the new town of Hastings, which in September 1878 won a five-year Great County Seat War and beca…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Juniata, 1871 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Juniata post office opens
  3. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 811
By decade

Juniata, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Juniata, Nebraska village hall2010Juniata, Nebraska village hallJuniata, Nebraska village hall plaque2010Juniata, Nebraska village hall plaqueJuniata, Nebraska village hall and elevators2010Juniata, Nebraska village hall and elevatorsJuniata, Nebraska downtown 12010Juniata, Nebraska downtown 1AdamsNE-JuniataTownship2008AdamsNE-JuniataTownshipNEMap-doton-Juniata2005NEMap-doton-Juniata
Famous people

Famous people close to Juniata

Nobody well known was born in Juniata itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Sandy DennisAmerican actress · b. 1937
Ivan SutherlandAmerican computer scientist and Internet pioneer · b. 1938
N
Neal HeftiAmerican jazz trumpeter, composer, songwriter, … · b. 1922
Dick CavettAmerican talk show host · b. 1936
Gwen LeeActress, model · b. 1904
Sheila HicksAmerican artist · b. 1934

Questions about Juniata’s history

What year was Juniata founded?

The Juniata post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.