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History · Ord Township

Ord Township’s post office opened in 1873, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1880.

1873first post office
1on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ord Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ord Township began

When was Ord Township founded?

1873

The Ord Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 181 in 18802020 census: 2,477153 years
Founding year: the first Ord Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ord 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ord Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Ord Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ord Township.

Read it all →

Ord was platted in 1874. It is named in honor of Civil War general Edward O. C. Ord. Under the Union Pacific Railroad, the Omaha and Republican Valley Railway established the 59-mile (95 km) Ord Subdivision between Grand Island and Ord in 1886. Today, the subdivision is serviced by the Nebraska Central Railroad, a subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation. The railway currently connects to Union Pacific's nationwide rail system and serves as a means of transportation for the agricultural produce of the Valley County area.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ord Township, 1880 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Nebraska - Valley County - Ord - ED 88-15
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907In the archiveSnow Scene in Ord Nebraska 1907
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Ord Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s2 items
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Nebraska - Valley County - Ord - ED 88-1518801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Nebraska - Va…Snow Scene in Ord Nebraska 19071907Snow Scene in Ord Nebraska 1907
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today7 recent
2022-03-24 17 39 35 UTC minus 5 View down from an airplane across Valley County, Nebraska, with the North Loup River vi…20222022-03-24 17 39 35 UTC minus 5 View down from an air…2022-03-24 17 38 36 UTC minus 5 View down from an airplane across eastern Valley County, Nebraska, with the North Loup …20222022-03-24 17 38 36 UTC minus 5 View down from an air…2022-03-24 17 37 51 UTC minus 5 View down from an airplane across western Greeley County and eastern Valley County in N…20222022-03-24 17 37 51 UTC minus 5 View down from an air…2022-03-24 17 37 36 UTC minus 5 View down from an airplane across western Greeley County and eastern Valley County in N…20222022-03-24 17 37 36 UTC minus 5 View down from an air…Ord, Nebraska L Street 12010Ord, Nebraska L Street 1Ord, Nebraska 16th Street 12010Ord, Nebraska 16th Street 1V103.9 KNLV FMLogo2008V103.9 KNLV FMLogo
On the map

Ord Township on the map, 1954 to 1985

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

Ord Township on the 1954 USGS mapOrd Township on the 1985 USGS map1954Ord NW sheet · 1:24,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Nebraska - Valley County - Ord - ED 88-15
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Nebraska - Valley County - Ord - ED 88-15, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ord Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ord Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Ord Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,658

Between 181 and 2,658 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saunders

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

North Loup Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ord Township’s history

What year was Ord Township founded?

The Ord Township post office opened in 1873, 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 (9), Wikidata (1), 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.