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History · Wauneta

Wauneta’s post office opened in 1877, and 51% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Wauneta Roller Mills. Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 1900.

1877first post office
1on the National Register
51%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Wauneta began

When was Wauneta founded?

1877

The Wauneta post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 181 in 19002020 census: 549149 years
Founding year: the first Wauneta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wauneta’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 Wauneta are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wauneta’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 926 in 1950; 549 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wauneta’s collection

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

From Wikipedia’s history of Wauneta.

Read it all →

The first white settlers at Wauneta were George Rowley and his wife who built a sod house at the Wauneta Falls in 1875. The first post office was established in 1877. A post office has continuously served Wauneta since 1886. “The Wauneta Breeze” newspaper served the community for more than 130 years. Its first edition was printed on January 17, 1887, by a young New Yorker named John Hann. The newspaper printed its final issue on November 12, 2020, and merged with The Imperial Republican.

The railroad reached Wauneta in 1892. This line was built by a division of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. This line left the main line near Culbertson and terminated in Imperial.

ChaptersNational Register of Historic Places listings

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Wauneta, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 926

Peaked at 926 in 1950; 549 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Timeline

Wauneta, 1877 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Wauneta post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Born hereGeorge S. Metcalf is born here
  5. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 926
  6. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Wauneta, decade by decade

Today9 recent
Wauneta, Nebraska elevator2010Wauneta, Nebraska elevatorWauneta, Nebraska downtown 72010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 7Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 62010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 6Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 52010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 5Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 42010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 4Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 32010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 3Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 22010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 2Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 12010Wauneta, Nebraska downtown 1NEMap-doton-Wauneta2005NEMap-doton-Wauneta
On the map

Wauneta on the map in 1974

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

Wauneta on the 1974 USGS map1974Wauneta East 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 Wauneta.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Wauneta

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Wauneta Roller Mills
Wauneta Roller Mills
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Craftsman1
Wauneta Roller MillsCraftsman

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

Questions about Wauneta’s history

What year was Wauneta founded?

The Wauneta post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Wauneta?

One place: the Wauneta Roller Mills (listed 2008).

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 (9), 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.