USA > Nebraska > York County > York County, Nebraska and its people : together with a condensed history of the state, Vol. I > Part 18
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RICHARDSON COUNTY
Th .. . > the southeast corner county of the state, and has an area of 545 square naes. Much of it- early settlement and seration of its first towns has hereto- for ven covered. It was one of the eight original counties, and its settlement bredated the territorial government. >alem. Archer. Falls City. Rulo and Hum- boldt were deretofore discussed. Stella was laid out on and donated by Mr. J. T.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
Clark. in 15-1. Saint Stephen. Yankton. Winnebago. Geneva were flourishing villages in very early days of the county and long since abandoned. Arago. Middle- burg. Well- Mills. Miles Ranch. Long Branch. Flowerdale. Highland. Barada. and Williamsville were village- inland from a railroad. having a postoffice. store. etc .. some forty years ago. Rulo. Pre-ton. Salem. Dawson and Humboldt were on the Burlington line. and Falls ('ity and Elmore on the Missouri Pacific forty years ago. Verdon and Stella built up early in the 20- along the Missouri Pacific. Verdon i- a junction between that line and a Burlington line up the river to Nebra-ka City. and shubert i- north of Verdon on that line.
ROCK COUNTY
The carly history of this county. which lie- directly south of Keya Paha County. i- embraced in that of Holt and Brown counties. It is a large county with 1.0004 -quare miles of territory. It wa- formed a- a county in lass. and theretofore had not been very thickly settled. H. M. Uttley went up from Wisner to Long Pine with a steam saw and was the first settler there. Dennis Sullivan settled soou thereafter. A. N. Bassett settled on the creek there miles above. These settle- ment- were probably a little west of the present Rock County line. but pre-age the opening of that locality. Bassett. the county seat. and Newport, which bear> the reputation of being the largest small sized >tation in the country for hay shipments. were located and built up before the separate establishment of the county and soon after the railroad. Northwestern line. went through. Menla was the only point in the northern part of the county, forty years ago. Cuba. Mariaville, and Kirk- wood are now in that part of the county. and inland point, in the southern section of the county are Butka. Duff, Sybrant. Hammond. Seldon. Perch. Shebesta. and Thurman. This county i- not given to very inten-ive cultivation. but is a great hay producing region.
SALINE COUNTY
While created in 1555. Saline County was organized in 1862. It lies directly west of the southern half of Lancaster County, and the Blue River flows through the eastern part of the county. It has an area of 573 square miles. The first permanent settlement was in 1×58 when Gen. Victor Vifquain located near the Fork of the Blue. Early settlers following very closely were E. Frink. W. Rem- ington, C. Haynes, T. Stevens. J. Bickle. Tobias Castor. Win. Stanton and James Johnson. Swan City. at the junction of Swan Creek with Turkey Creek. was the early county seat, after the first election in 1862. Wilber, the permanent county seat. was laid out in 1872 : Crete. the metropoli- of the county. was laid out in 1870, and failed to capture the county seat, though fifty years later. in 1920. it hasn't given up hope entirely. DeWitt began in 1922; Dorchester was laid out in 1811; as was also Friendville, now known as Friend. in the northwestern corner of the county. After the removal of the county seat from Swan City, that town dwindled away. In fact, the necessity of a county seat in the early years was slight, as the pockets of the officials were their office vaults usually. Various postoffices established early in the county's career included. Western. 1872: Pleasant Hill. which was made the county >eat in 1871 and held it until 1878 when Wilber took it as a result of an election in 1877 in which it defeated Crete. Albany. Atlanta. Blue
Vol. 1-10
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
Island, Danville, Fairview, Girard. Repose, Goldrinsey, Ronesdale, Varna, Hornes- dale, LeGrand, Lucieville, Mandana, North Fork, Saxon, Riceville and Tabor. The railroad towns in the county are now: Tobias, Western and Swanton in the southern part; DeWitt. Shestak, and Crete in the eastern edge: and Dorchester and Friend in the northern part of the county. Plato and Pleasant Hill are the principal inland points.
SARPY COUNTY
This is the smallest county in size in the state, of 240 square miles, and the oldest county in the state in settlement. The story of Bellevue, reaching back to 1810, of the posts, trading centers and Indian locations there have been covered in chapters heretofore. The story of Peter A. Sarpy for whom the county was named was therein touched upon, as was the settlement of its first towns. Papil- lion, the county seat, started in 1869: La Platte on the B. & M., was laid out in 1820: Sarpy Center was surveyed in 1875; Springfield came to life in 1881 ; Fair- view early in the '60s. Xenia postoffice, and Saling's Grove community, not exactly towns, also very early ; and Forest City, Plattford, Nasby were early inland points, and Gilmore an early railroad station. In later years, Chalco. Deerfield, Portal, Gretna, Avery, Fort Crook station, Pappio, and Meadow have built up along the railroad lines honeycombing this small county.
SAUNDERS COUNTY
Saunders County, first called Calhoun, until the unpopularity of the Federal Revenue Collector of that name eaused its change to the honor of the last territorial Governor and early U. S. Senator, Alvin Saunders. In 1865, it was attached to Cass County for revenue, judicial and election purposes, and in 1866, its own organization was formed. It is located directly north of Lancaster and west of Douglas counties, and is 756 square miles in area. Joseph Stambaugh, in 1856, was the first settler in the county. Its early towns were started, as fol- lows :- Wahoo, only a village of a few houses when it was made the county seat in 1823; Ashland, the oldest town in the county, held the county seat until 1873, but has grown to be an important town ; Valparaiso, settled ten years prior to that, was incorporated in 1880; Alvin (Mead), Weston, Clear Creek, Crowder were early railroad stations ; and inland postoffices or trading points in the county, some forty years ago, were Ithaca, Rose Hill, Cereseo, Bradford, Milton, Swedeburgh, Head- Jand. Isla, Colon, Esteina, Sand Creek, Platteville, Clayton, Cedar Bluffs, Benton, Cedar Hill, Willow Creek, Resene, Newton, Pilsen, Troy and Chaslaw. Railroad towns in the county are now (1920) on the Northwestern, Cereseo, Swedeburg. Wahoo, Colon, Cedar Blutis and Platte River on one line, and Morsebluff and Lin- wood on another. The Burlington line cares for Rescue, Prague, Malmo, Wahoo, Ithaca and Memphis. The Union Pacific feeds Yutan, Mead, Wahoo, Weston, Touhy, and Valparaiso.
SCOTTS BLUFF COUNTY
Until the election of November 6, 1888, and the establishment thereafter separ- ately of this county, its history is embraced in that of the great mother county, Chey-
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
enne. It is the western county in the state, of the North Platte River group. Even though so young, no county in the state approximates Scotts Bhiff in its rapid gains in population, development of resources and material wealth. It is 723 square miles in area, the seat of the greatest irrigation activities in the state, and the wonder county of the state in the past decade. Twenty years ago. there was a broad prairie where now stands a city of some seven thousand inhabitants, Scottsbluff. This town did not start until the extension of the Guernsey branch of the Burlington, from Alliance and Bridgeport, and the foregoing sentence flashes the history of its rapid growth. Along this same line of railroad have built up a wonderful group of towns, which are not yet through growing by any means :- Minatare, Mitchell, Morrill and Henry, with Toohey, Covert. Snell and Bradley as smaller stations. Gering, which has been the county seat of the county since its organization and still holds that honor against the jealous and zealous desires of Scottsbluff, was the oldest town in the North Platte Valley, being a village of some proportions over twenty years ago. It was not until ten years ago that the railroad reached this town, when the Union Pacific branch came up the valley and Haig (ville). Melbeta, Brockhoff and MeGrew also sprang up. Gering now has a beet sugar factory and is a prosper- ing young city of over 2,500 inhabitants, a growth achieved mainly in the past ten years. With sugar factories at both Scottsbluff and Gering, and a factory building at Mitchell, and two proposed for Minatare, it is hard to foretell what another decade will show for this thriving county.
SEWARD COUNTY
Seward County is located in the Blue River Valley, just west of the northern part of Lancaster County, and has an arca of 574 square miles. The first settle- ment in the county was made by Daniel Morgan and his three sons, who located a pre-emption claim in the fall of 1858. It was created by the Legislature in 1855, under the name of Greene. but the conduet of the Missouri Senator in the Civil war period brought that name into unpopularity and it was changed to that of the Union Secretary of State in 1862. The county accomplished its organization in 1865. The city of Seward, county seat of this county, was surveyed and platted in 1868; Milford started from a settlement made by J. L. Davison in 1864 and a postoffice established then. A dam and a flouring mill was built in 1866; Camden was started in 1864, and Beaver Crossing, Utica, Pleasant Dale, Tamora and Germantown were early stations on the Burlington line from Lincoln northwest, and Staplehurst and Ruby Center on a north and south line of this system. Wests Mill, Pittsburg, Marysville, Orton, and Oak Grove were very early inland points. Later railroad stations to come into a flourishing condition were Cordova, Grover, Goehner, Leahey, Bee and a few of the early inland points remain.
SHERIDAN COUNTY
Sheridan County, containing 2,469 square miles of territory, prior to its estab- lishment in 1885, was a part of the great Unorganized Territory, and Big Sioux County. It lies immediately west of Cherry County on the northern border of the state. Since the Northwestern line to the Black Hills went through this county, several thriving towns sprang up; of which Rushville, the largest, is the
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
county seal ; Gordon is a very enterprising town, Hay Springs and Clinton good stations. Along the line of the Burlington, traversing the southern edge of the county, is another line of railroad stations, Bingham, Ellsworth, Lakeside, Antioch and Birdsall. Since the discovery of potash within the last five years mainly in the lakes of southern Sheridan County. several of these towns, and most particularly Antioch and Lakeside, have jumped from small villages to little cities. And if this wonderful potash industry lives up to expectations in the next decade, a very bright future can be predicted for southern Sheridan County. Among the numerous inland points in this county are Hazleton, Long Lake, Jennings, Lulu, Hamilion. Spade. Strassberger, Schill, Kenomi, Hilton, Moomaw, Grayson, Hunter, Ilinchley, and Peters between the two railroad lines, and Adaton, Dullaghan, Whiteclay. Billing. Albany, in the northern part of the county. The Sioux Indian, Pine Ridge, reservation near Pine Ridge, South Dakota, laps over into this county.
SIOUX COUNTY
Sioux is the corner northwest county of the state, and has an area of 2,055 square miles. Prior to 1883, this county embraced all of that vast extent of country north of Cheyenne, and west of Holt. Though unorganized, and officially, for years, called the "Unorganized Territory" it went by the unoflieial name of Sioux, long before it received that name officially. Camp Robinson Military Agency was located in the final territory of Sioux County proper. Camp Sheridan Military Reservation was in the territory finally assigned to Sheridan County. When the Northwestern Railroad line came through this county, stations were built up at Fort Robinson, serving the present Fort Robinson Military Reservation. Glen, Andrews, and Harrison, the county seat. The county has a large number of inland points, among which are, Malinda. Mud Springs. Kelley, Townsend. Empire, Curly, Canton, Ashbrook, Aldine, Dome, Dowling and Agate, south of the Niobrara River which traverses the county east and west. North of the river and railroad are Cross, Story. Montrose, and Unit, and between the river and railroad, Colville, while Orella, Joder and Mansfield are on a Burlington line lo Edgemont that crosses the northeast corner of the county.
SHERMAN COUNTY
This county borders on the east of C'uster County, and north of Buffalo, so is very near the center of the state. It has an area of 523 square miles. It was settled in 1822-3 by the impeins of efforts by a party of Grand Island men. It was organized by proclamation of Governor Furnas, January 13, 1873, and the first cleetion in April, 1823, resulted in the selection of Loup City as county seat. Loup City started up in 1823, before it had any railroad facilities. Other towns that also started up while in the inland stage were. Rockville, Hayestown. Balsora. Buffion, Cedarville, Fitzalon, and AAustin. When the branches of the Union Pacific and Burlington came over from St. Paul. they placed the following towns, as they sprang up- or developed as railroad stations, Rockville, Austin and Loup City, and the Burlington branch continuing to Sargent, fed MeAlpine : Schaupps and Ashton were on the branch from St. Paul, coming through Farwell in Howard County.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
The Billings line of the Burlington cuts across the southwest corner of the county, and there are located Hazard and the very thriving town of Litchfield.
STANTON COUNTY
Stanton County is in the northeastern part of the state, so situated that two counties are east of it between the Missouri River and this county; and two to north before the northern boundary of the state is reached. It has an area of 431 square miles. Up until 1867, when it was named after Edwin M. Stanton, of Lincoln's cabinet, it was called Izard County, and contained one tier of town- ships now belonging to Cuming County. It had been created since 1861, but its first permanent settlements did not come until 1865, when a group of homesteads were located on Humbug Creek, near the present town of Stanton. Stanton was located as the county seat at the first election, in 1866. Nothing was done for some three years toward building a town, or establishing county buildings until Densmore & Kendall moved their store from Clinton, three miles east. The fol- lowing year they secured the Pleasant Run postoffice, a half mile west, but they had desired the Clinton postoffice. Canton postoffice which became the town of Pilger. was the next permanent town in the county. laid out in 1880 by the Elkhorn Valley Land and Town Lot Company. Clinton, Kingsberry, Canton, just men- tioned, Donap, Orion, Schwedt, Craig City, and Bega were the other early towns or postoffice points in the county. Pilger and Stanton are the only two railroad towns in the county in 1920. Haymow and Bega still survive as inland points.
THAYER COUNTY
Thayer County was created in 1856, designated as Jefferson. As noted in the account of the present Jefferson County, this name was lost, and the new name of Thayer taken, in 1861, when the 1867 consolidation of the old Jefferson (now Thayer) and Jones (now Jefferson) was undone. The first settlements were made in 1869, though the county, as a part of the famous Overland Trail, had been traversed considerably before then. The final organization of the county ensued in 1871. Hebron, the county seat, was located in June, 1868, but its real estab- lishment occurred in 1869. Alexandria was located in 1871, and named for S. J. Alexander, afterwards Secretary of State: Hubbell was laid out in 1880 by the Lincoln Land Company, Carleton was laid out in the early '70s; Belvidere was platted in 1822 but really started in 1823; Davenport, a town named after Daven- port, Iowa, was laid ont in 1872. Chester was laid out by the Lincoln Land Company in July, 1880; Friedensan, about eight miles northwest of Hebron was a postoffice and Lutheran settlement started in the '208: Harbine was started about 1882: Deshler, a very enterprising little town in the southwest part of the county was laid out in 1887. H. J. Struve was the first settler and F. J. Hendershot started the town. Bruning, in the north part of county started about twenty years ago. Suckler Mill, Dryden. Kiowa, Gazelle, Prairie Star were early inland points. Newer towns not heretofore mentioned, in this county, are Byron, Stoddart, Wil- liams, and Gilead.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
TIFOMAS COUNTY
This is one of the smaller "sandhill" counties along the southern edge of big Cherry County. Its separate organization and permanent settlement accompanied the arrival of the Burlington railroad line in 1882. A division station was set at Seneca, and a town has grown up at this point, practically a railroad town. Virtually in the center, as between east and west borders, but to the northern part. has been built up the town of Thedford, the county seat. Norway to the west of Thedford. and Natick to the east, and Halsey on the Blaine county line, are the other railroad towns in the county. To the extreme southwest corner lies Summit and north lies Sunflower, inland points. The Thomas county towns receive much trade from southern Cherry County.
THURSTON COUNTY
The early history of this county is entwined in the story of the proposed Black- bird County which became the Omaha Indian Reservation. As the railroad went through this territory, the towns of Baneroft, Athens, station at Middle Creek, and town of Emerson sprang up. Winnebago was an interior supply station. In 1889, this territory was again given individual recognition and formed into a county, of 387 square miles in area, named for Nebraska's Senator John M. Thurston. This county now contains the remaining Omaha Reservation, and the thriving towns of Rosalie, Walthill and Winnebago on the Burlington line : Pender, Thurston, and Emerson on the C., St. P., M. & O. Macy is an inland settlement in eastern edge, on Blackbird Creek.
VALLEY COUNTY
This county is the second one north of Buffalo and has two counties yet to the north before reaching the northern boundary of the state. It is in the fertile Loup Valley, and has an area of 520 square miles. Its first actual settlement was in May, 1872, when a party of Danes from Wisconsin settled on the west side of the North Loup River, above two miles from the present town of Ord, on what is known as Dane Creek. Another colony had sent representatives to scout this country in 1871, and its first group, under the leadership of Rev. Oscar Babcock, arrived in 1842, a few days later than the Danish colony. This colony developed the North Loup settlement, and a postoffice was established at North Loup in 1872. The town of Ord was surveyed and platted in 1854, and named for Gen. E. O. C. Ord, then in command of the Department of the Platte. When the county was organized early in 1823, the county seat was located on the site of Ord, though the name was chosen later. The court house was built in 1876, the same year in which Fort Hlartsuff, in the northern edge of the county was completed. Arcadia was started soon after this, in the western part of the county, and has developed into a very good town. Vinton, Mira Creek, Yale, Geranium, Sedlor, Ida, Garfield. Adair and Springdale were early postoffices or inland trading points. North Loup, Spelts, Oleau, Ord, Elyria, and Arcadia are the railroad points now.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Very much of the early history of Washington County that belongs in this short sketeh has been heretofore given, in the discussion of the establishment of the old Fort Calhoun ( Fort Atkinson in 1819) and the town later; of Fontanelle, 1854; DeSoto, about 1855; Cuming City, 1854; and Blair, the final county seat in 1869. The county was one of the eight original counties that came in with the terri- torial government. Bell ('reek was laid out in 1869 and Herman in 1870. Kennard was settled in 1856 by Nathaniel Brewster, who purchased the townsite, but the post- office was established in 1868; Ililand, formerly Mead station, was early, its name changed to Hiland in 1881, but the postoffice located there in 1882 under the name of Giles. Admah, in the northwest corner of the county was named after a Bible town of that name. Nero and Amherst were other early inland points. Arlington, Bowen, Hillside, Tyson and Coffman are later points to develop, and are all rail- road stations.
WAYNE COUNTY
Wayne County lies in the northeastern corner, to the south of Cedar and Dixon, border counties. It has an area of 450 square miles. It was organized by procla- mation of Governor Butler in 1870, about two years after its first permanent settle- ment. Mr. B. F. Whitten was the pioneer settler. LaPorte was laid out in May, 1874, and was the early county seat of the county. Wayne P. O. or Brookdale, which was laid out by the railroad townsite company in 1881, rapidly grew and soon became the county seat. LaPorte was left as an inland point, and Wayne, Donop. Northside, became railroad stations. The towns of Hoskins, Apex and Winside are now the railroad stations southwest of Wayne in this county, and Carroll and Sholes to the northwest. Altona and Melvin are inland points.
WEBSTER COUNTY
Webster County is in the southern tier of counties, with six counties to each side of it in this tier. It has an area of 578 square miles. The first permanent settlement in the county was in the spring of 1870 by members of the Rankin Colony, they locating at Guide Rock. The same season, Silas Garber, later a governor of the state, pushed on up the Republican River to where Red Cloud now is, and projected a settlement at that point. The county was organized in 1873, and for some months the dugout of Silas Garber was used as a court house. Blue Ilill was surveyed and platted in September, 1878, by A. B. Smith, the town surveyor, for the railroad company. Amboy started about 1876. Cowles was laid out in September, 1878, and named in honor of W. D. Cowles, who prior to his death had been general freight agent of the B. & M. Other points in this eounty some forty years ago were Inavale, on the Burlington line, Stockdale on the U. P., Eckley, Thomasville, Catherton, Wheatland, Wells, Stillwater, and Scott, inland points. Lester. Bladen and Rosemont are towns that sprang up after the railroad lines were well established in this county.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
WHEELER COUNTY
This territory was for years in the great "Unorganized Territory." Wheeler County was anthorized by Legislative aet and named in 1822, but it was on April 11, 1881, that its formal organization was accomplished. Its first organization was a territory forty-eight miles long. being the entire territory adjacent to the present county of Holt on the south, and twenty-four miles wide. From the west half of this, in 1884, Garfield County was taken. J. F. Cummins was elected as the first county clerk and for some time he kept the records at Cumminsville, on Beaver Creek, which might therefore be termed the first county seat. But this place was too far east to suit the settlers, so a new county seat was projected and a lown laid out, near the middle of the county, on Cedar Creek, or as often designated "River." This new town. Cedar City, with its nineteen blocks to be built around a court house square. also proved to be a "bird of passage" and in 1884. Bartlett was made the county seat, and Cedar City passed entirely out of sight. Bartlett has succeeded in holding the county seat against the onslaughts of a new town. in the southwestern corner of the county. Erieson, that became the terminus of a branch on the Burlington from Greeley. Pibel, Cumminsville, Headquarters, Arden, Newboro, and Francis are inland points, and Deloit is barely across the HIolt county line.
YORK COUNTY
This county is 525 square miles in area. situated second county west of Lan- caster and third tier from the south line of the state. Its first permanent settle- ment was made in 1865 by William Anderson and sons, upon the West Blue River. It had in 1863 some five stations along the Mormon trail, and in 1864 Mr. Lush- baugh had established what became known as the Jack Smith ranch. The first settlements were mainly along the valley of the West Blue. Settlements continued rapidly until by 1872 practically all of the government land was taken, and every part of the county had received a start toward permanent settlement. Prior to 1870 the county had been attached to Seward County for judicial, revenue and election purposes, though it received legislative establishment and a name in the Aet of 1855. York was started in 1869. and was located as the county seat at the start. This has become one of the enterprising and beautiful small cities of the state. Bradshaw was started in 1849; McCool Junction, started in 1888; Hender- son was incorporated in 1899; Benedict, in 1890; Lushton was surveyed and platted in 1887; Waco was laid ont in 1877 when the Burlington came through; Arborville was laid out in 1824; and other early towns or postoffices in the county were, MeFadden, Lisbon, Indian. Cana, Long Hope. Blue Valley, Westifield and Plaintield, railroad stations: the others being mainly inland points, and in the northern part of the county, were Staplehurst, Thayer, Arborville. Palo, and Creswell. Houston and Gresham have built up since the Northwestern came in from David City. Mapps, Knox and Charleston are railroad station points, and Arborville and Bluevale are the principal inland points in the county now.
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