This is a NEGenWeb Project On-Line Library presentation.

        Nuckolls county was organized on June 27, 1871. It was named in honor of Stephen F. Nuckolls (1825-1879), a prominent pioneer. The boundanes of the county were defined by an act of the legislature approved January 13, 1860.

• Abdal. A village on the Missouri Pacific railroad in Highland precinct. The word is Arabic in origin, meaning a good or a religious man.
  
• Angus. This town was named for J. B. Angus, a former official of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad.
  
• Bostwick. No one seems to know why Bostwick is so named. Probably it was for an official of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. There is a Bostwick, Georgia. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Cadams. The Pioneer Town-Site Company platted this town in 1901. The citizens wished to name the town for C. Adams, a banker of Superior, Nebraska. They decided on the name "C. Adams" which the department at Washington changed to the present form of Cadams.
  
• Hardy. The town of Hardy was named for a Burlington official by that name who at that time lived in Massachusetts. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Lawrence. Lawrence was named for one of the officials of this division of the Burlington railroad.
  
• Mount Clare. This town received its name from two sources. Mount was derived from the fact that the town is located on a ridge between the Blue and the Republican rivers. Clare was taken from the name of the Honorable Captain Clare Adams of Omaha, Nebraska, who was an official in the Land, Loan, and Town-Site Company that promoted this town. The first settler in Mount Clare was a Mr. Connor who came to the vicinity in 1888.
  
• Nelson. The site of Nelson was surveyed k the winter of 1873 on land owned by C. Nelson Wheeler of Illinois. The town was named in his honor. It is the county seat of Nuckolls county. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Nora. The Nora post office was first established on a farm owned by a Mr. Whiting, and three-fourths of a mile east of the present location of the office. Mr. Whiting was requested to give the office a name. In looking over the post office lists of other states he found a Nora, Illinois, and named the new office after it.
  
• Oak. The village of Oak derived its name from the oak tree. In 1856 E. S. Comstock established the first stage station on the Oregon Trail in this county, about two miles east of where the present site of Oak is located. Just back of this station on the Little Blue river was a fine grove of oak trees, and on this account the name Oak was given to the stage station and post office. When the Chicago and Northwestern railroad was built through the settlement it also took the name Oak for the station. A near-by creek is called Oak.
  
• Ruskin. The post office at Ruskin was named for the famous English author and art critic, John Ruskin (1819-1900).
  
• Sedan. The station here was named by the railroad and has always been known as Sedan. When the post office was established, however, it was named Coy, because there was already a Sedan post office in the northeastern part of Nebraska. The latter office was finally discontinued and Coy post office was renamed Sedan. The name derives from Sedan, Ardennes, France. There is a Sedan in Iowa and in Kansas.
  
• Smyrna. A village on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad in Highland precinct. It was named for Smyrna, a seaport city of Asia Minor.
  
• Superior. This town was so named because of the superior quality of the land in the vicinity as compared with other land along the railroad.
  

        Otoe county was named after the Otoe tribe of Indians. The boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature approved March 2, 1855, and redefined by an act approved January 26, 1856.

• Burr. Originally named Burr Oak because there was a bur oak grove near the town-site. The name was shortened to Burr because there was a town in Kansas called Burr Oak and this led to confusion of mail.
  
• Douglas. When the post office at Douglas was a star route it was called Hendricks after a pioneer who lived in the vicinity. Before the town was platted, a man by the name of Douglas owned the eighty-acre town-site. Later, Simpson McKibbon married a Douglas girl and bought the eighty acres. When the town was platted, it took the name Douglas from Mrs. McKibbon's maiden name.
  
• Dunbar. Originally named Wilson, then Dennison, and shortly after, Dunbar. The last name was given the town in honor of Thomas Dunbar, the oldest resident in the immediate vicinity. The town-site was laid out by the old Midland Pacific railroad. Gannett's treatise on place names states that this town was named for John Dunbar, a large land owner.
  
• Lorton. In 1881 the town of Delta was platted on the present town-site of Lorton. Later, the Missouri Pacific railroad passed through the place and refused to use the name Delta, because there was a station by that name in Kansas. The name Cio was then given to the station, but the post office retained the name Delta. This readily caused great confusion, so the post office department and the railroad company asked the citizens to choose one name for both the station and the post office. At that time, 1892, Robert Lorton was in the wholesale grocery business in Nebraska City and often visited the present town of Lorton and sold goods to the merchants His name was listed among others and finally agreed upon as a suitable name for the town. Mr. Lorton later moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he died in 1921.
  
• Minersville. The town of Minersville was so named because of the coal veins found in the bluffs near the town-site. These veins vary from four to eighteen inches in thickness, but are mined very little because they dip down into the bluffs and are not easily worked. According to borings made in the past fifty years, a coal bed underlies all of this section, but it is not of sufficient thickness to be worked profitably.
  
• Nebraska City. This town was incorporated on March 2, 1855, amended March 16, 1855, and is one of the oldest in the state; it was reincorporated December 31, 1857. It was named after the state, which in turn had its name from the Indian name for the Platte river. Nebraska City was founded by Stephen F. Nuckolls, for whom Nuckolls county was named. It is the county seat of Otoe county.
  
• Otoe. Originally called Berlin. The name was changed to Otoe during the World War in honor of the county. The precinct still retains the name Berlin which name was given with reference to local German settlers.
  
• Palmyra. The Reverend Mr. John W. Taggert was the founder of this town which was laid out on his homestead in 1870. His daughter, Mrs. Jeanette Taggert White, named the town after the ancient city of Palmyra, Asia Minor. The precinct is known as North Palmyra; the precinct south of Palmyra is called South Palmyra.
  
• Paul. The land on which Paul is located was owned by Paulinus Kuwitzky. Mr. Kuwitzky wished the town to be named in his honor and suggested Paul as short. This name was accepted by the citizens.
  
• Syracuse. The town of Syracuse was named after Syracuse precinct in which it is located. The precinct was named by Mr. George Warner after his former home in Syracuse, New York.
  
• Talmage. This town was platted in 1881 by Clark Puffer. Mr. Puffer wrote to Thomas DeWitt Talmage (1832-1902) who was at that time superintendent of the division of the Missouri Pacific railroad and asked permission to name the town in his honor. Mr. Talmage consented on condition that Mr. Puffer should see to the development of a good town. In the early spring of 1882, Mr. Talmage visited the town-site. He later became one of the foremost Presbyterian clergymen in this country.
  
• Unadilla. The land on which this town is located was at one time owned by I. N. White. Mr. White named the locality in honor of his former home in Unadilla, New York. Unadilla is an Iroquois Indian word meaning "place of meeting."
  
• Wyoming. The original town was located a short distance northeast of the present site and was a freighting point on the Missouri river. The town was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved March 15, 1855, and reincorporated and approved February 13, 1857. During the latter part of the Mormon migration as many as three thousand emigrants wintered in the town. The original founders of the town named the place after Wyoming, Pennsylvania, their former home. The old town-site is now farm land. The name Wyoming derives from a corrupted Delaware Indian word meaning "large plains" or "extensive meadows." The precinct has the same name.
  

        Pawnee county was named after the Pawnee tribe of Indians. The boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature approved March 6, 1855; January 26, 1856; and reapproved January 8, 1862. Counties in Kansas and Oklahoma have the same name for the same reason.

• Armour. This town was platted by J. M. Cravens some time after 1893. A post office had been previously established in the vicinity and the village took the name of the local post office. It does not seem to be known why the office had this name but it may have been for the Armour brothers of Chicago, bankers and pork packers.
  
• Bookwalter. The town was named in honor of W. J. Bookwalter who formerly owned the land on which it is situated.
  
• Burchard. This town was named in honor of a local minister by the name of Burchard.
  
• Du Bois. Du Bois was the name of the chief engineer of the first railroad built through this town. He was given the right-of-way by John Mallory and G. W. Miner, who later named the town in his honor.
  
• Lewiston. A village on the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railroad in Turkey Creek precinct. It was probably directly or indirectly named for Lewiston, Maine, though possibly for a local resident.
  
• Mayberry. The town was originally located one and a half miles north of the present site. It was named after Charles N. Mayberry, a pioneer of the vicinity. In 1887 the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railway was built through Pawnee county and the town was located on its present site on the railroad.
  
• Pawnee City. The county seat of Pawnee county. The town was supposedly named after the Pawnee Indians (though in the Otoe country) who according to tradition, once camped on Turkey creek near the present site of Pawnee City. The county seat was established by an act of the legislature approved March 6, 1855, and incorporated by an act of the legislature approved November 4, 1858. Many maps give the name as Pawnee, the U. S. postal guide retains the name Pawnee City. The precinct has the name Pawnee City.
  
• Steinauer. The town of Steinauer was named in honor of Joseph A. Steinauer who located in the vicinity in September, 1856. Mr. Steinauer was also the first postmaster and held this office from the time it was established in the late fifties until 1893 when he resigned. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Table Rock. Table Rock was named after a peculiar, large, flat-topped rock, shaped like a table, which is located on the Nemaha river a short distance east of the village.* It was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved January 4, 1860. A station on the Union Pacific railroad in Wyoming has this name for a like reason. The precinct also has the name Table Rock.
  * ( See Edwards, History of Richardson County, Nebraska, pp. 691-622. )
  

  
  

• Tate. A village in Turkey Creek precinct, probably named for a local resident.
  
• Violet. This town was originally named Butler in honor of the first state governor of Nebraska, David Butler, who grazed large herds of cattle on the ground that was afterwards laid out into town lots. Later the name of the town was changed to Violet in honor of Governor Butler's only daughter.
  

        Perkins county was named in 1888 in honor of Charles E. Perkins, president of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railway system. The first settlement of the county began in 1885. Local tradition is to the effect that the county was named after Joseph Perkins, a former resident of Grant, Nebraska. Perkins county was formed from Keith county by vote November 8, 1887.

• Brandon. A station on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad in Lisbon precinct. The name is probably for a railroad man or for Brandon, Ohio.
  
• Elsie. This town, in Yankee precinct, was named in honor of Elsie Perkins, a daughter of Charles F. Perkins for whom the county was named. The story of the naming is traditional in the Perkins family. According to a local account the town was named after a daughter of Joseph Perkins who was a merchant of Grant, Nebraska.
  
• Grant. The town of Grant, in Liberty precinct, was named in 1887 in honor of President U. S. Grant. It is the county seat of Perkins county.
  
• Madrid. The first settler was John McKenzie, now of Highlands, California. He located a bank here and called the embryo city Trail City. Later the site was platted and promoted by the Lincoln Land Co. and renamed Madrid, after Madrid, Spain. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Pearl. The name for a former post office and a locality near the southeast corner of Valley precinct, local in origin. A neighboring precinct in Chase county has the same name for the same reason.
  
• Phebe. Mrs. Phoebe Jack was the first postmistress for the Phebe post office, and it was named in her honor. Mrs. Jack now resides at Evans, Colorado.
  
• Venango. This place is near the west line of Perkins county on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad in Grace precinct. It was probably named after Venango, a city and county in Pennsylvania. According to Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, Venango is "from the Indian innungah, in reference to a figure found on a tree, carved by the Eries."
  

        Phelps county was organized and its boundaries defined by an act approved February 11, 1873, and was named in honor of Captain William Phelps, an early settler in this part of Nebraska, and whose son-in-law, C. J. Dilworth, served a term as attorney general of the state. Mr. Phelps was born in 1808 in New York state and for many years was captain of a steamboat on the Missouri river.

• Atlanta. This town, in Industry precinct, was organized in 1888. It was probably named after Atlanta, Georgia, or perhaps after Atlanta, Illinois, which was named after the city in Georgia.
  
• Bertrand. This town was organized in December, 1885. It was named after an official of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy raflroad.
  
• Funk. The town of Funk began its history in 1887. It was named in honor of Mr. P. C. Funk, one of the oldest settlers in the county who is at present a resident of the town. Mr. Funk is one of the few Grand Army of the Republic veterans left in this vicinity.
  
• Haydon. An inland locality in Anderson precinct. The name is probably local in origin.
  
• Holcomb. An inland locality in Center precinct, probably named for a local resident.
  
• Holdrege. Hoidrege was named in honor of George W. Holdrege, superintendent of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. The town was established in 1883, just after the railroad was built through the vicinity. It is the county seat of Phelps county.
  
• Loomis. This town was named for N. H. Loomis who was associated with the Burlington railroad in the fall of 1885, when the town was organized.
  
• Sacramento. This place was probably named after Sacramento, California. The name is from the Spanish language and means sacrament.
  
• Westmark. An inland locality in Westmark precinct, probably named for a local settler.
  
• Williamsburg. This inland town was formerly the county seat of Phelps county. It was named for William Dilworth, a son of C. J. Dilworth. Mrs. C. J. Dilworth was a daughter of Captain William Phelps for whom Phelps county was named. The precinct is also named Williamsburg.
  

        Pierce county was named for President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) It was established in 1859. The county was officially established and its boundaries defined by an act approved January 26, 1856.

• Breslau. This town was probably named for Breslau, a city in Silesia, Prussia. The surrounding country is heavily settled by Germans.
  
• Foster. This town was named in honor of George Foster who for a long time was station agent for the railroad and who owned land surrounding this town.
  
• Hadar. The name Hadar is taken from the German (Hader) and means a misunderstanding or a wordy argument. It was given to the town after the settlement of a dispute between two early settlers with the intention of perpetuating the memory of the dispute.
  
• Lucas Siding. A station on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, northwest of Pierce, in Clover Valley precinct. The name is local in origin, being for a Mr. Lucas, a landowner.
  
• McLean. This town is in the northeastern part of Pierce county, in Eastern precinct, on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. It was probably named after McLean, Ohio.
  
• Osmond. This town is a station on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad and was probably named for a railway official. The precinct has the local descriptive name of Plum Grove.
  
• Pierce. The town of Pierce, like the county, was named for President Franklin Pierce. The first settlement in the town was made in 1870. Pierce is the county seat of Pierce county. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Plainview. This town was platted on October 30, 1880, and was originally named Roseville for Charles Rose, the first postmaster. Later it was thought that this gave too much honor to one man, so a meeting of the settlers was called for the purpose of selecting another name. During the discussion of various names, some one suggested Plainview, saying that not long before he had passed through a pleasant little town in Minnesota of that name. He considered the name appropriate to the Nebraska town on account of the surrounding country. The citizens agreed upon the name and it was adopted. The locality is the first high land after leaving the Elkhorn valley. By analogy the precinct has the locally descriptive name of Dry Creek.
  

        Platte county took its name from the Platte river. Its boundaries were defined and the county established by an act of the legislature approved January 26, 1856. The boundaries were redefined by an act approved December 22, 1859. The Platte river is characteristically flat or shallow, and it takes its name from the French word for flat or shallow, applied to it by early French missionaries or explorers in Nebraska.

• Columbus. The Columbus Company, made up of a body of men who had lived in Columbus, Ohio, laid out this town-site in the summer of 1856. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved October 2, 1858. Columbus is the county seat of Platte county. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Cornlea. The name Cornlea is compounded of corn and lea and means cornland or the land of corn. The town was laid out on September 30, 1886.
  
• Creston. The town of Creston was laid out on August 23, 1886. It was so named because it was located on the top of a hill from which the waters flowed eastward to the Elkhorn river and westward to the Platte river. Towns in Illinois, Iowa, and California have the same name for a like reason.
  
• Duncan. This town was laid out on October 24, 1871, and was originally named Jackson. It was probably named for a local resident or for Duncan, Illinois, which was named for James Henry Duncan, congressman from Massachusetts, 1849-1853.
  
• Humphrey. Humphrey was laid out and platted on November 25, 1880. Mrs. Leach, the first postmistress of this village, named it after Humphrey, New York, the town from which she came. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Lindsay. The town of Lindsay was named by its first settler, John Walker, after Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out on November 8, 1886.
  
• Monroe. Leander Gerrard of Columbus named the town in commemoration of President James Monroe. Mr. Gerrard and his brother, E. A. Gerrard, founded the town which was laid out in 1889. At that time, he recalled that no town in the United States had been named for President Monroe and on this account Mr. Gerrard named the new town for him. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Oconee. This town was first platted on February 5, 1880, and was replatted on May 21, 1883. It was originally named Lost Creek on account of a small stream of water north of the town, which at intervals appeared and disappeared, and at one time overflowed the immediate territory. The post office, however, was known as Dorrance, and this caused a great deal of inconvenience because mail was constantly missent to Dorrance, Kansas. When it was decided to change the name of the office, Mr. F. A. Baldwin, now of Omaha, Nebraska, suggested the name Oconee, because it was unlike that of any other post office in Nebraska or the surrounding states. This name was accepted by both the post office department and the railroad. Oconee, Nebraska, was doubtless named for Oconee, Shelby county, Illinois. According to Gannett's treatise on place names Oconee is an Indian word and was the name of an old Creek town. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Platte Center. Platte Center is so named because of its central location in Platte county. It was laid out and platted on January 22, 1880.
  
• Tarnov. This town was originally called Burrows and was founded and incorporated on November 13, 1889. It was probably named after Tarnow (pronounced Taar'-nov), Galicia. The precinct is still called Burrows.
  

        Polk county was organized following an election held August 6, 1870. It was named in honor of ex-president of the United States, James K. Polk (1795-1849). Its boundaries were defined and the county established by an act of the legislature approved January 26, 1856.

• Osceola. This town, in Osceola precinct was named for Osceola, a chief of the Seminole Indian tribe in Florida. It was located temporarily in August, 1870, and permanently October 10, 1871, surveyed and platted in June, 1872. Osceola is the county seat of Polk county. According to Gannett's account of place names the name "Osceola" refers to a medicine drink used by the tribe in certain ceremonies.
  
• Polk. The town of Polk was named for Polk county. A post office was established here in February, 1907.
  
• Shelby. Shelby was laid out by the Union Pacific railroad in 1879, and was at that time called Arcade. The post office department, however, objected to this name because of its similarity to Arcadia in Valley county, Nebraska. The railroad then communicated with the post office department and the name Shelby was given to the town in honor of an official on the Union Pacific railroad.
  
• Stromsburg. The town of Stromsburg, in Stromsburg precinct, was located and surveyed in June, 1872. It was named Stromsburg by some of the first Swedish settlers, who purchased the land for the town-site, after a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. Another fairly well authenticated account is to the effect that the town was located about 1870 by L. Headstrom from Illin6is who moved his family to this place in 1872. He was agent for the Union Pacific Land Company, the first merchant, and the first postmaster at Stromsburg. When the town was organized it was named in honor of L. Headstrom, a leading citizen, by taking the last syllable of his name and adding "burg", that is "Strom's burg".
  
• Swedehome. This place is so named because of a large, pioneer settlement of Swedish Lutherans in the vicinity.
  

        Red Willow county takes its name from Red Willow creek. This name is a mistranslation of the Dakota Indian name Chan-shasha Wakpala, literally, Red Dogwood creek, this shrub being abundant along the stream. The boundaries were defined by an act approved February 27, 1873.

• Banksville. An inland location in Grant precinct. It was named for Edward Banks who at the time was the popular sheriff of Red Willow county.
  
• Bartley. Bartley was organized and platted on July 3, 1886. It was named after the Rev. Allen Bartley, a Methodist Episcopal minister, who homesteaded the land on which Bartley stands. It was the intention to make Bartley a school town and establish a Methodist college. The first story of a building was erected and several terms of school were held, but the needed support did not materialize and the project was abandoned.
  
• Boxelder. An inland location in Elder precinct, both so named because of the presence of much box elder timber in the vicinity.
  
• Danbury. George Gilbert, the first postmaster of Danbury, came here from Danbury, Connecticut, and named the town after his former home. The neighboring precinct has the same name.
  
• Indianola. This town was named by I. Starbuck after Indianola, Iowa, his former home. It was laid out in May, 1873, by the Republican Valley Land Association and located by D. N. Smith who had charge of locating the town-sites for the company. A neighboring precinct has the same name.
  
• Lebanon. Lebanon was named after the cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Bible. A man by the name of Bradbury, who was the first postmaster here, sent three names to the post office department. Of these the name Lebanon was chosen. The precinct has the same name. The village on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad is known as Lebanon Station.
  
• McCook. This town was named for Alexander McDowell McCook, major general in the Civil War. General McCook came from an unusual family of which eight brothers and the father all served as officers in the Federal army during the Civil War. The town of McCook was laid out by the Lincoln Land Company in June, 1882, and was originally known as Fairview. It is the county seat of Red Willow county.
  
• Marion. This town was named by the Burlington and Missouri railroad officials in honor of Marion Powell. At that time Mr. Powell owned a large track of land and was a heavy operator in the stock and feed business of the town. The town-site was platted and organized in September, 1901.
  
• Perry. This place is located in Perry precinct. It and the precinct were named for W. S. Perry, who at the time was superintendent of bridges on the McCook division of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. When the station or siding was located it was named Campbell after A. Campbell who was then superintendent of the McCook division. Later the name was changed to Perry when another town was located in Franklin county and named Campbell.
  
• Red Willow. The post office here has been discontinued but the town was named alter Red Willow creek. The post office was located near where the creek empties into the Republican river. The precinct is called Red Willow.
  
• Shippee. This place is a station on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. It was named for Leonard Shippee, a local resident and property owner.
  

© 2001 for the NEGenWeb Project by Connie Snyder