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History · Leigh

Leigh’s post office opened in 1875, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

1875first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Ammodramus · Public domain
Quick answers

How Leigh began

When was Leigh founded?

1875

The Leigh post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 435151 years
Founding year: the first Leigh post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Leigh’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 Leigh are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Leigh’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Leigh’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Leigh’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
The story

How Leigh came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Leigh.

Read it all →

Leigh was founded in the 1870s. Leigh was the maiden name of the first postmaster's wife. A post office was established at Leigh in 1875. Carl H. Jark (1905–1984), United States Army Lieutenant General, was born in Leigh.

Audrey Stevens Niyogi (1932–2010), an American biochemist best known as a co-discoverer of RNA polymerase was born near Leigh.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Leigh, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Colfax County2014Colfax CountyLeigh, Nebraska downtown 12010Leigh, Nebraska downtown 1NEMap-doton-Leigh2005NEMap-doton-Leigh
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Leigh’s post office has been open since 1875.

Gone or out of use
Leighlocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Leigh
LeighSaint MarysZion Lutheran

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

Questions about Leigh’s history

What year was Leigh founded?

The Leigh post office opened in 1875, 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 →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.