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History · Lincoln Township

57% of Lincoln Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1870.

0on the National Register
57%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Lincoln 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 Lincoln Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18963 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1986. Watch Lincoln Township change.Old housesHalf of Lincoln Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lincoln Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Lincoln Township on the map, 1896 to 1986

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

Lincoln Township on the 1896 USGS mapLincoln Township on the 1970 USGS mapLincoln Township on the 1986 USGS map1896Holdrege 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 Lincoln Township.

The story

How Lincoln Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lincoln Township.

Read it all →

Before the expansion westward of settlers, the prairie was covered with buffalo grass. Plains Indians, descendants of indigenous peoples who occupied the area for thousands of years, lived in and hunted along Salt Creek. The Pawnee, who included four tribes, lived in villages along the Platte River. The Great Sioux Nation, including the Ihanktonwan and the Lakota, to the north and west, used Nebraska as a hunting and skirmish ground, but did not have any long-term settlements in the state. An occasional buffalo could still be seen in the plat of Lincoln in the 1860s.

ChaptersNativesFoundingState capitalGrowth and expansionRevitalization and growthInto the 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

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People over time

Lincoln Township, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,000140,000160,000180,000200,000220,000240,000260,000280,000300,000320,00018801900192019401960198020002020291,082

Grew from 2,441 people in 1870 to 291,082 in 2020, more than tenfold.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ash Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSalem TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lincoln 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 Wikidata (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.