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History · Surprise

Surprise’s post office opened in 1883, and 93% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Surprise Opera House. Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1910.

1883first post office
1on the National Register
93%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Surprise began

When was Surprise founded?

1883

The Surprise post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 323 in 19102020 census: 37143 years
Founding year: the first Surprise post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Surprise’s 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 Surprise are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Surprise’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Surprise’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Surprise came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Surprise.

Read it all →

White people began settling in southwestern Butler County around 1866. In 1881, George Miller built a gristmill on the Big Blue River. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that so much waterpower was available so close to the river's headwaters, and this led him to name the mill "Surprise". Businesses and homes were established near the mill; and in 1883, a post office was established under the name "Surprise". The town plat was registered in 1884. In 1887, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad established a depot in Surprise, resulting in further expansion of local businesses. See also possible relationship with Surprise, Arizona.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Surprise, 1883 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Surprise post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereEva Greenslit Anderson is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1916Born hereWinfred Philip Lehmann is born here
  6. 1932Born hereJennie Robak is born here
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Surprise, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Looking up at the vast sky (Unsplash)2017Looking up at the vast sky (Unsplash)Surprise, Nebraska Center Street 22010Surprise, Nebraska Center Street 2Surprise, Nebraska Center Street 12010Surprise, Nebraska Center Street 1Big Blue River at2010Big Blue River atNEMap-doton-Surprise2005NEMap-doton-Surprise
On the map

Surprise on the map in 1966

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Surprise.

Surprise on the 1966 USGS map1966Surprise sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Surprise.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Surprise

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1988
Surprise Opera House
Surprise Opera House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vault-front Façade1
Surprise Opera HouseVault-front Façade

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Surprise, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 323

Between 37 and 323 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Surprise

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
W
Winfred Philip LehmannAmerican linguist · b. 1916
E
Eva Greenslit AndersonAmerican writer and politician · b. 1889
J
Jennie RobakAmerican politician · b. 1932
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Surprise’s post office has been open since 1883.

Gone or out of use
Surpriselocale

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

Questions about Surprise’s history

What year was Surprise founded?

The Surprise post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Surprise?

One place: the Surprise Opera House (listed 1988).

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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.