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History · Talmage

Talmage’s post office opened in 1882, and 68% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
68%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Talmage began, and where its name came from

When was Talmage founded?

1882

The Talmage post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 429 in 18902020 census: 198144 years

How did Talmage get its name?

Talmage was named for Archibald A. Talmage, a superintendent of the railroad, Talmage was the birthplace (in 1913) of film actor Anthony Dexter.

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

What stands out about Talmage’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 Talmage are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Talmage’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 525 in 1920; 198 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Talmage’s collection

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

From Wikipedia’s history of Talmage.

Read it all →

The area in the vicinity of Talmage began to be settled in the late 1850s. The Missouri Pacific Railroad's Kansas City-Omaha line construction reached the area by 1881. The town was platted on March 7, 1882, on land donated by local farmer Clark Puffer. It was named for Archibald A. Talmage, a superintendent of the railroad,

Talmage was the birthplace (in 1913) of film actor Anthony Dexter.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Talmage, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 525

Peaked at 525 in 1920; 198 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Timeline

Talmage, 1882 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Talmage post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913Born hereAnthony Dexter is born here
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 525
  6. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Talmage, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Talmage, Nebraska from N 12013Talmage, Nebraska from N 1Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 32013Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 3Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 22013Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 2Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 12013Talmage, Nebraska Main from Second 1NEMap-doton-Talmage2005NEMap-doton-Talmage
On the map

Talmage on the map, 1966 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Talmage. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Talmage on the 1966 USGS mapTalmage on the 1986 USGS map1966Talmage 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 Talmage.

Every building

Talmage, building by building, 1900–1913

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.

Talmage fire insurance map, 1900, sheet 11900Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Questions about Talmage’s history

What year was Talmage founded?

The Talmage post office opened in 1882, 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, 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.