Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mead

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Mead

Mead’s post office opened in 1880, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

1880first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Mead began

When was Mead founded?

1880

The Mead post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saunders (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 617146 years
Founding year: the first Mead post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mead’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 Mead are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Mead’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mead’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mead’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 Mead came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mead.

Read it all →

Mead was originally built up chiefly by Swedes. Mead was first called Saunders, and under the latter name was platted in 1877 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was renamed in 1880, likely for a Union Pacific railroad official.

The E3 Biofuels, an ethanol production facility in the country, used a patented "closed loop" system. E3 started operation in 2007 and went bankrupt a few months later in late 2007. AltEn reopened the plant. The plant closed again in February 2021. The plant property is highly contaminated with neonicotinoids.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mead, 1877 to 1880

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Saunders post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Saunders post office closes
  4. 1880Post officeThe Mead post office opens
By decade

Mead, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Mead, Nebraska aerial 20262026Mead, Nebraska aerial 2026Mead, Nebraska aerial 2026 (cropped)2026Mead, Nebraska aerial 2026 (cropped)Mead, NE Post Office and Bank2017Mead, NE Post Office and BankNEMap-doton-Mead2005NEMap-doton-Mead
Famous people

Famous people close to Mead

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

See all →
Bob CervAmerican baseball player · b. 1925
E
Emmett Louis MurphyAmerican lawyer · b. 1897
Zach MillerAmerican football player · b. 1984
J
James MoellerAmerican judge · b. 1933
M
Melvin Randolph GilmoreAmerican anthropologist and ethnobotanist · b. 1868
J
Jerry KrauseAmerican college basketball executive · b. 1936
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Mead’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Saunders, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saunders
1877–1880
Mead
1880–today
18701950today

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

Questions about Mead’s history

What year was Mead founded?

The Mead post office opened in 1880, 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 (4), 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.