Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the First Thurston County Courthouse and the Thurston County Courthouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1890.
The Pender post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pender is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Nebraska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Nebraska town has 16.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Pender’s 21.8 sits above most of its state (65% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Pender’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pender.
European-American settlers founded the village in April 1885, naming it in honor of the Scottish politician and businessman Sir John Pender, a pioneer of the Transatlantic Cable. He founded what is now Cable & Wireless Worldwide, and was a director of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereMaurice Pate is born here
Born hereLoren Miller is born here
In the archivePender, NE - Oct. 1908
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Pender Track and Field sign
2025Pender School B
2025Pender School A
2025Downtown Pender View M
2025Downtown Pender View L
2025Downtown Pender View J
2025Downtown Pender View I
2025Downtown Pender View H
2025Downtown Pender View G
2025Downtown Pender View F
2025Downtown Pender View E
2025Downtown Pender View D
2025Downtown Pender View C
2025Downtown Pender View B
2025Downtown Pender View A
2025Crack in the side of the building
2005NEMap-doton-PenderEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pender. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pender.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pender’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 429 and 1,318 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pender’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pender’s post office has been open since 1885.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Pender post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pender is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the First Thurston County Courthouse (listed 1990) and the Thurston County Courthouse (1990).
33% of Pender’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1955.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
