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History · Winnebago

Winnebago’s post office opened in 1867, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1910.

1867first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Winnebago began

When was Winnebago founded?

1867

The Winnebago post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 399 in 19102020 census: 916159 years
Founding year: the first Winnebago post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Winnebago’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 Winnebago are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Winnebago’s collection

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

From Wikipedia’s history of Winnebago.

Read it all →

The first post office at Winnebago was established in 1867, within the Winnebago Reservation established primarily in Thurston County, Nebraska. Both were named for the federally recognized Winnebago tribe, whose name for themselves (autonym) in their own language is transliterated as Ho-Chunk. They were forced by a US treaty to relocate here in 1868 from Minnesota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Winnebago, 1867 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Winnebago post office opens
  3. 1886Born hereChief Johnson is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1914Born hereJohn Raymond Rice is born here
  6. 1958Born hereJulius Drum is born here
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Winnebago, decade by decade

Today6 recent
LPTC Campus 12019LPTC Campus 1Little Priest Tribal College2011Little Priest Tribal CollegeWinnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 42010Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 4Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 32010Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 3Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 22010Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 2Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 12010Winnebago, Nebraska Hwy 75-77 1
On the map

Winnebago on the map, 1966 to 1986

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

Winnebago on the 1966 USGS mapWinnebago on the 1977 USGS mapWinnebago on the 1986 USGS map1966Walthill 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 Winnebago.

People over time

Winnebago, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020916

Grew from 399 people in 1910 to 916 in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Winnebago

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

See all →
Chief JohnsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1886
J
John Raymond RiceUnited States Marine · b. 1914
J
Julius DrumAmerican actor · b. 1958

Questions about Winnebago’s history

What year was Winnebago founded?

The Winnebago post office opened in 1867, 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 →
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 (6), 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.