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History · Walnut Grove Township

Walnut Grove Township’s post office opened in 1875

Most of Walnut Grove Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1954 on.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Walnut Grove Township began

When was Walnut Grove Township founded?

1875

The Walnut Grove Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Walnut Grove (1875), Venus (1880) and Walnut (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 96151 years
Founding year: the first Walnut Grove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Walnut Grove Township’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 Walnut Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Walnut Grove Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Walnut Grove Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walnut Grove Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Walnut Grove
1875–1894
Venus
1880–1959
Walnut
1894–1956
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
VenusWalnut
Gone or out of use
Venus Post Officepost officeWalnut Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Walnut Grove Township
GrimtonHope - Enterprise

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

The story so far

Walnut Grove Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Walnut Grove Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Walnut Grove Township is one of thirty townships in Knox County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 80 at the 2020 census. A 2023 estimate placed the township's population at 80.

Its first post office opened in 1875. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 107 to 96 (-10%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Walnut Grove Township, 1875 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Walnut Grove post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Venus post office opens
  4. 1894Post officeThe Walnut Grove post office closes
  5. 1894Post officeThe Walnut post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1956Post officeThe Walnut post office closes
  9. 1959Post officeThe Venus post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Walnut Grove Township on the map, 1954 to 1986

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

Walnut Grove Township on the 1954 USGS mapWalnut Grove Township on the 1986 USGS map1954Walnut 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 Walnut Grove Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Walnut Grove Township

Nobody well known was born in Walnut Grove Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
Joseph G. HanefeldtEighth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of … · b. 1958
William R. SchmidtUnited States general · b. 1889
Tony WraggeAmerican football player · b. 1979
A
Al ClosterBaseball player · b. 1943
Pauline DavisAmerican politician · b. 1917
R
Rodney J. CliftonAmerican scientist in engineering of mechanics · b. 1937
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Iowa TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWashington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWillowdale TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJefferson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Walnut Grove Township’s history

What year was Walnut Grove Township founded?

The Walnut Grove Township post office opened in 1875, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.