Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1910.
The Oconto post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1887. Another post office, Lomax (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oconto’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oconto.
The community was founded in 1887 as Olax, but the original name conflicted with another Nebraska location, so it was renamed to Oconto. The exact source of the name has been debated, some hold Oconto was the name of a pioneer settler, while others believe the town was named after Oconto, Wisconsin. Oconto was incorporated in 1906.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Oconto, cut from the printed page as they were published.
course of time he became generally interested in stock. He now owns 700 acres of fine land and has additionally two handsome residences in the town of Oconto, as well as his business office. \\'henever his farm duties do not claim him he may be found at Oconto, where he has built up a very satisfactory real-estate business.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1885 Ernest Schneider came with his family to Custer county, Nebraska, and located on Redfern Table, eight miles west of the present town of Oconto. The daughter Susie continued to reside at the parental home until the time of her marriage to William Helmuth, which took place September 11, 1899. Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oconto.
1951Oconto sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oconto.
Between 138 and 272 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oconto’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Oconto itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Oconto’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Lomax, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Oconto post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1887.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (8), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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