The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Amsterdam was platted in 1891. The city was named after Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands. Arthur Stilwell, an early-20th-century railroad executive, chose it because the Dutch capital was where the firm of an important railway financier, Jan de Goeijen, was located. A post office has been in operation at Amsterdam since 1892.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Be one of the first
Start Amsterdam’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Amsterdam’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10By decade
Amsterdam, decade by decade
Before
2000
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your albumNational Register of Historic Places
Nothing in Amsterdam is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Amsterdam has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site in Valley, 5 miles away.
Amsterdam and the nearest listed places
Dashed line = Amsterdam. Tap a dot.
How a place gets listed
1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Amsterdam?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Amsterdam’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old placeNational Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.