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History · Phillips

Phillips’ post office opened in 1895, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

1895first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Phillips began, and where its name came from

When was Phillips founded?

1895

The Phillips post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Phillips Station (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 320131 years

How did Phillips get its name?

Phillips was named for Captain R. O. Phillips, member of the town company.

Founding year: the first Phillips post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

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

Start Phillips’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Phillips’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 Phillips came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Phillips.

Read it all →

Phillips was platted in 1884 when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Captain R. O. Phillips, member of the town company.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Phillips, 1884 to 1895

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Phillips Station post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Phillips Station post office closes
  4. 1895Post officeThe Phillips post office opens
By decade

Phillips, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Phillips, Nebraska aerial 20262026Phillips, Nebraska aerial 2026Phillips, Nebraska aerial 2026 (cropped)2026Phillips, Nebraska aerial 2026 (cropped)NEMap-doton-Phillips2017NEMap-doton-PhillipsPhillips, Nebraska downtown 22012Phillips, Nebraska downtown 2Phillips, Nebraska downtown 12012Phillips, Nebraska downtown 1
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Phillips’s post office has been open since 1895. Another post office, Phillips Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Phillips Station
1884–1895
Phillips
1895–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Phillips City Schoolschool

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

Questions about Phillips’ history

What year was Phillips founded?

The Phillips post office opened in 1895, 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 (5), 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.