Overton’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of Overton. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Overton got its start following construction of the Union Pacific Railroad through the territory. The town was first settled in 1873.
A group of African Canadian families from Elgin, Ontario began moving near Overton in 1879. Over the course of five years, members of the Robinson, Guilds, Green, Emanuel, Riley, Hatter, Meehan, Small, and Walker families relocated to Nebraska, filing homestead petitions and starting farms. Many of these families left Dawson County by 1907 to move to DeWitty in Cherry County.
The Plectron company, which manufactured alert radio receivers used by fire departments, was started in Overton in 1955; it transferred operations to Lexington in the 1980s
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Overton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Overton’s history is told.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewOvertonGrocery1904, 1904: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Overton
See all 1 →
Overton, decade by decade
1970s
1990s
Nothing in Overton is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Overton has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Brenstrom Farmstead in Overton, 3.6 miles away.
Overton and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as OvertonGrocery1904 (1904) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.