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History · Kilfoil Township

40% of Kilfoil Township’s homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1951 on.

2on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Kilfoil Township’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 Kilfoil Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Kilfoil Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Kilfoil Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kilfoil Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kilfoil Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dale
1883–1894
Keota
1883–1887
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dale
Gone or out of use
Dale Post Officepost officeDale SchoolschoolEast Table SchoolschoolHighland SchoolschoolKeota Post Officepost officeKeota SchoolschoolMaroney SchoolschoolPleasant Valley SchoolschoolPleasant View SchoolschoolPrairie Center SchoolschoolPrairie Hill SchoolschoolSunny Knoll SchoolschoolSunshine SchoolschoolThomas Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kilfoil Township
MernaSaint Andrews

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Kilfoil Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Kilfoil Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Kilfoil Township is one of thirty-one townships in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 592 at the 2020 census. A 2021 estimate placed the township's population at 587. The Village of Merna lies within the Township.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 621 to 602 (-3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Kilfoil Township, 1883 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Dale post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Keota post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Keota post office closes
  5. 1894Post officeThe Dale post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Kilfoil Township on the map, 1951 to 1978

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

Kilfoil Township on the 1951 USGS mapKilfoil Township on the 1978 USGS map1951Merna sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kilfoil Township.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Kilfoil Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Kilfoil Township

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

See all →
J
Jay Wright ForresterAmerican operations researcher · b. 1918
R
Robert D. BookerUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1920
E
Emery BlagdonAmerican artist · b. 1907
L
Leo J. PowersUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1909
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Broken Bow TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTriumph TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCliff TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRyno TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVictoria Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Kilfoil Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.