Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1900.
The Preston post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Sac (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Preston’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Preston. 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 Preston.
From Wikipedia’s history of Preston.
The Sac Post Office, established in 1874, was named for the Sac and Fox Indian tribes that live in this area. The offspring of mixed marriages (primarily progeny of early French trappers and adventurers) were given land on the Half-Breed Tract. Some of their descendants still live there, while others sold their land and moved on.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Preston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The construction of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad line marked the beginning of an era of development and prosperity for the surrounding country and rendered imperative the need of a station with adequate shipping facilities, .\round this station the pretty little town of Preston sprang up. A big elevator was constructed to take care of the grain that was to l>e shipped while the railroad yards furnished accommodations for the stock raisers who desired to ship stock to the markets of Kansas City and St. Joseph. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At the second crossing of the Xemaha river coming up from Atchison, and in this county midway between Rulo and Falls City, in point of northwest quarter of southwest quarter of section 22, township No. i, north of range 1,7, about a nu'le east of the present village of Preston and east of the Nemaha river, was a tract of about ten acres of land owned bv the railroad company. In Augu.st, 1871, Major Firth had these grounds laid off into one of the finest picnic grounds that could at that time be found in two states. These acres were heavily covered with natural timber and
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Between 19 and 149 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Preston’s Wikipedia page.
Preston had its own post office from 1881 to 1971. Another post office, Sac, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Preston post office opened in 1881, 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 (3), 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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