Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1900.
The Wakefield post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.
Wakefield was named for L. W. Wakefield, a railroad engineer.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wakefield is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Nebraska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Nebraska town has 16.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Wakefield’s 7.7 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Wakefield’s history is told.
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.
1900Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wakefield.
Wakefield got its start in the year 1881, following construction of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway through the territory. It was named for L. W. Wakefield, a railroad engineer. Wakefield was incorporated in 1883.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wakefield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Wakefield was incorporated in the summer of '83, having at that time more than two hundred inhabitants. The prime movers in the incorporation were Philo Graves the town site proprietor, and George W. Waite, at that time manager of the flouring mills, and a leading business man of the town, but now a live stock dealer in Sioux Citv.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The C, St. P., M. .V O. railroad reached Wakefield late in the summer of '81 ; hut ere its arrival the first enterprising comers were already erecting buildings. The town site was surveyed by Engineer Wakefield of Sioux City, whence the town derives its name, as well as from its wide awake people.
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.
In the archiveBird's eye view
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wakefield. 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 Wakefield.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wakefield’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 755 people in 1900 to 1,522 in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wakefield’s Wikipedia page.
Wakefield’s post office has been open since 1881.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Wakefield post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wakefield is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church (listed 1983).
31% of Wakefield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1957.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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