Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1920.
The Pickrell post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.
Pickrell was named for William Pickrell, one of the original owners of the town site.
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 Pickrell’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pickrell.
Pickrell was laid out in 1884 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was named for William Pickrell, one of the original owners of the town site. Pickrell was incorporated as a village in 1913.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pickrell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Ohio, in April, 1857, and in 1858 he located a Hiram W. Parker claim in old Clay county, near the present village of Pickrell, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1865 he removed to Camden, in Seward county, Nebraska, where he built a saw mill, and followed this, in 1871, by adding a grist mill. On the 2d day of June, 1871, he
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
prising one hundred and sixty acres, is one of the model places of Holt township and is situated in' Section 8, about four miles distant from the village of Pickrell, which is his postoffice address. On this homestead Mr. Hasenohr has made the best of modern improvements, his barn, thirty-six by forty-four feet in dimensions, having been erected in 1910,
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pickrell.
1986Beatrice sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pickrell.
Between 118 and 201 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pickrell’s Wikipedia page.
Pickrell’s post office has been open since 1884.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Pickrell post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (4), 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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