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History · Murray

Murray’s post office opened in 1884, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1940.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Murray began

When was Murray founded?

1884

The Murray post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 209 in 19402020 census: 480142 years
Founding year: the first Murray post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Murray’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 Murray are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Murray’s collection

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

How Murray came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Murray.

Read it all →

Settlement in the area began in the 1870s, a few miles west of Rock Bluffs, then a steamboat landing on the Missouri River. In 1878 the Presbyterian congregation at Rock Bluffs hauled its church building by wagon to a crossroads several miles inland, placing it, along with a schoolhouse, on land donated by James Walker. An early variant name for the resulting settlement was "Fairview".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Murray, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (3)2013Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (3)Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (2)2013Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (2)Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (1)2013Murray, Nebraska Hwy 1 (1)NEMap-doton-Murray2005NEMap-doton-Murray
On the map

Murray on the map, 1935 to 1984

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

Murray on the 1935 USGS mapMurray on the 1940 USGS mapMurray on the 1956 USGS mapMurray on the 1984 USGS map1935Nehawka sheet · 1:62,500

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

People over time

Murray, census by census

010020030040050019401960198020002020Peak: 481

Between 209 and 481 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Questions about Murray’s history

What year was Murray founded?

The Murray post office opened in 1884, 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 (4), 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.