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History · Overton

Overton’s post office opened in 1873, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1900.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Overton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Overton began

When was Overton founded?

1873

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

First census: 255 in 19002020 census: 607153 years
Founding year: the first Overton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Overton’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.On the map since 18963 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1985. Watch Overton change.Old housesHalf of Overton’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Overton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewOvertonGrocery1904: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Overton on the map, 1896 to 1985

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

Overton on the 1896 USGS mapOverton on the 1962 USGS mapOverton on the 1985 USGS map1896Lexington 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 Overton.

The story

How Overton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Overton.

Read it all →

Overton got its start following construction of the Union Pacific Railroad through the territory. The town was first settled in 1873.

A group of African Canadian families from Elgin, Ontario began moving near Overton in 1879. Over the course of five years, members of the Robinson, Guilds, Green, Emanuel, Riley, Hatter, Meehan, Small, and Walker families relocated to Nebraska, filing homestead petitions and starting farms. Many of these families left Dawson County by 1907 to move to DeWitty in Cherry County.

The Plectron company, which manufactured alert radio receivers used by fire departments, was started in Overton in 1955; it transferred operations to Lexington in the 1980s

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Overton, 1873 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Overton post office opens
  3. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904In the archiveOvertonGrocery1904
  6. 1923Born hereCharles C. Edwards is born here
  7. 1982In the archiveBank of Overton, C Street
By decade

Overton, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
OvertonGrocery19041904OvertonGrocery1904
1910s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
Bank of Overton, C Street1982Bank of Overton, C Street
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
Today3 recent
Overton, Nebraska from W2010Overton, Nebraska from WNEMap-doton-Overton2005NEMap-doton-OvertonOverton grain elevator2004Overton grain elevator
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.

OvertonGrocery1904
Retake this viewOvertonGrocery1904, 1904

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Overton, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 646

Between 255 and 646 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Overton’s post office has been open since 1873.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Area Mobile ParkNorthside Village Mobile Home Park

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

Questions about Overton’s history

What year was Overton founded?

The Overton 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 (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.