This is a NEGenWeb Project On-Line Library presentation.

        Chase county was named in honor of Champion S. Chase who was at one time mayor of Omaha, Nebraska. The county was organized in 1886. The boundaries were defined by an act approved February 27, 1873. Mr. Chase was the first attorney general of the state.

• Best. Best post office was named in honor of its first postmistress, Mrs. Ethel M. Best, who began her term of office in 1902. It is an inland post office in the southwestern part of Chase county in Valley precinct.
  
• Blanche. A post office in the northeastern part of Chase county in Enterprise precinct. It was named after the daughter of G. C. Davis, the first postmaster.
  
• Champion. The town of Champion was named in honor of Champion S. Chase, late of Omaha, Nebraska. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Chase. This post office took its name from the county in which it is situated. This post office is in Macedonia precinct.
  
• Enders. This town was named for a ranchman who lived in the vicinity. The town was laid out by the Lincoln Land Company and was so named by the company.
  
• Imperial. Thomas Mercier homesteaded the land on which this town is located and also laid out and named the town-site. Mr. Mercier was an emigrant from Canada and it is supposed that he named the town either after a town in Canada or after the British Imperial government. Imperial is the county seat of Chase county. The precinct is also named Imperial.
  
• Lamar. Named after Lucius Q. C. Lamar, secretary of the interior in President Cleveland's cabinet and later an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Wauneta. The town of Wauneta was named by its early settlers after the popular song Juanita. It was the intention to keep the spelling of the name of the song but since there was already a town in Nebraska named Juniata, the spelling was modified to Wauneta in order to prevent confusion. Gannett's account of place names erroneously states that wauneta is an Indian word meaning "winter camp." The precinct is also called Wauneta.
  

        Cherry county was named in honor of Lieutenant Samuel A. Cherry, Fifth United States cavalry, who was murdered May 11, 1881, about eight miles north of Fort Niobrara, near Rock creek, Dakota. The boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature approved February 23, 1883. The claim is made that it is the largest county in the United States.

• Arabia. Henry V. Ferguson of Sioux City, Iowa, auditor for the railway, named this town after Arabia in Asia because he imagined that the soil in the vicinity resembled the desert sands of Arabia. This assumption proved incorrect, however, for the soil was found to be very fertile.
  
• Banner. A former post office in Wells precinct.
  
• Big Creek. The original post office was situated in Big Creek valley, the headwaters of Big Creek, and the name of the valley and creek was given to the post office.
  
• Brownlee. When this town was first established there were two brothers-in-law in business as partners. Their wives were sisters whose maiden names were Brownlee and this town was named for them.
  
• Burge. This post office was named in honor of Toney Burge, a stock grower in the vicinity.
  
• Calf Creek. A locality and a precinct in the southern part of Cherry county, named after Calf Creek valley which is an old river bed.
  
• Capwell. A locality and a former post office in Buffalo Lake precinct, named for Mr. Allen B. Capwell, an early homesteader in the vicinity.
  
• Cascade. J. F. Keller suggested the name Cascade for the post office here and it was accepted by the department at Washington.
  
• Cashswan. A locality and a former, inland post office in the southern part of Cherry county, named after the postmaster, Cassius Swan, who shortened his name to Cash Swan.
  
• Cherry. This post office was established in 1907 and named by Mrs. R. F. Osborne, wife of the postmaster, after the county in which it is situated.
  
• Chesterfield. This post office was established by a Mr. Waite on his ranch on Boardman's creek in 1896 or 1897. It is stated that Mr. Waite (a scholar and a "gentleman," a little above the rest of the "natives") named his post office "Chesterfield."
  
• Cody. This town was named for Thomas Cody of Iowa who was a foreman of the water supply construction gang while the railroad was being built in the vicinity in 1885.
  
• Crookston. Crookston was named for W. T. Crook who was a yard master of the railroad at Valentine when the railroad was being built through this part of the state. The Pioneer Town-Site Company platted this town in 1894. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Curlew. Curlew post office was named for the bird, curlew, there being quite a number in the vicinity when the office was established. It is in Steen precinct, in the southern part of Cherry county. There is also a place or neighborhood called Curlew in the northeastern part of Cherry county, in the eastern part of Schlagle precinct.
  
• Eli. This town was named for Mr. Daniel Webster Hitchcock whose nickname was "Get-there-Eli." Mr. Hitchcock at that time worked for a locating engineer (Captain J. E. Ainsworth) in the the vicinity. At first the town was called the full "Get-there-Eli" but when it was permanently named only the last part of the nickname was used. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Elizabeth. This post office was named by its postmaster, John M. Nehling, in honor of his eldest daughter, now Mrs. William H. Wilkinson of this place.
  
• Elsmere. This place is situated near the southeastern corner of Cherry county, in Elsmere precinct. It and the precinct were probably named after Mrs. Humphry Ward's one time popular novel entitled Robert Elsmere. The office was established in 1899 on the homestead of Parkerson R. Giles, the first postmaster.
  
• Enlow. A locality and a precinct in the western part of Cherry county, named after William Enlow, a local resident.
  
• Erik. Erik post office was named by Mrs. Erik P. Eriksen in honor of her husband. It is in Kinneyville precinct. In 1924 Mr. Eriksen was elected county judge of Hooker county.
  
• Ethel. A locality and a former post office in Buffalo Lake precinct, named after the daughter of Mr. Luenstra, the postmaster and a homesteader.
  
• Fern. The post office here was established at the home of K. F. Kimes and named in honor of his second daughter. This office was discontinued about a year ago. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Gilaspie. A locality and a precinct in the central part of Cherry county, named after Robert F. Gilaspie, a local ranchman.
  
• Harmony. The school district in this vicinity was named after a district in Iowa. Later when a post office was established it also took the name of Harmony. Harmony is in Table precinct.
  
• Hire. Hire post office was named in honor of a pioneer, John C. Hire, at whose home the office was first established. Hire is near the northeast corner of Cherry county in Sparks precinct.
  
• Irwin. This town was named in honor of Bennett Irwin who started the first cattle ranch in the surrounding country, one time foreman of Newman's ranch. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Kennedy. This office was named after B. E. B. Kennedy of Omaha, Nebraska. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Kilgore. This town was named in honor of one of the first settlers in the vicinity.
  
• King. King post office was named in honor of its first postmaster, a Mr. King, the local storekeeper.
  
• Kinneyville. A locality and a precinct in the southern part of Cherry county, named by the men of the Standard Cattle Company that had headquarters here, for Mr. Kinney, a resident in the vicinity.
  
• Lackey. A locality and a precinct in the southern part of Cherry county, named after Mr. Lackey, an old resident in the vicinity.
  
• Lake. A locality and a former post office in Barley precinct, so named because of numerous lakes in the vicinity.
  
• Lavaca. This place is located in Lavaca precinct. It and the precinct were probably named after a river, county, and bay in Texas. The name is a corruption of les vaches, the cows, given by the French explorer, La Salle, because of the presence of many buffaloes. An erroneous local surmise is that the place was named after an original postmaster. It is probable that the name was imported by some of the Texas men connected with the Zeke Newman's Twelve Mile ranch located in the vicinity.
  
• Lewanna. The name for this post office was formed by a Mr. Lewellen on whose ranch the office was established. He wished to name the office Lewellen, but since there was already a Lewellen post office in the state, he combined part of his own name with the name of his daughter, Anna, into Lewanna.
  
• Lund. The first postmaster was Alfred Lund after whom the village is named. The village is on the east side of Russell precinct.
  
• Martindale. This place is in King precinct and doubtless was named after James O. Martin, the postmaster. The post office has been discontinued.
  
• Merriman. This post office was named for John Merriman, train master in charge of construction trains on the railroad at the time when the road was built through the vicinity. The name was first spelled Merryman, but when the post office was established the spelling was changed to Merriman.
  
• Middle Prong. A locality and a precinct in the southern part of Cherry county, named after the middle prong of the Loup river which runs through the precinct.
  
• Nenzel. This town was named in honor of George Nenzel, an early settler and owner of the land on which the town-site is located. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Newton. This post office was established in 1897 and named after Isaac Newton Russell, an early local settler, who worked for the establishment of the post office. It is on Boardman's creek in Gilaspie precinct.
  
• Oasis. This post office was established in 1890 at the ranch home of William H. Stratton who named it Oasis because the location had much sand with a small lake near the house. Afterwards the post office was moved to another place and later discontinued.
  
• Prentice. Prentice was named for its postmaster, Benjamin F. Prentice who established the office in October, 1906, and has been postmaster since that time.
  
• Pullman. The Pullman post office was named for the Pullman brothers, Willam, Philip, and John, who homesteaded the site of the old Pullman office at an early date. This office was recently discontinued.
  
• Reeves. A locality and a precinct in the southern part of Cherry county, named for a local settler from Virginia.
  
• Riege. Named after Peter Riege, the first postmaster, who settled on the Niobrara river in 1881.
  
• Rita Park. Rita Park post office was named by A. L. Stewart, now on the staff of the Nebraska State Journal at Lincoln, for his daughter Rita. This office has been discontinued. It was in Calf Creek precinct.
  
• Rolf. This post office was named in honor of the youngest son of Charles M. Kime who at one time conducted the post office and a little store at his ranch home. It is near Boardman's creek in the southeastern part of Enlow precinct.
  
• Roxby. Roxby is an abridgment of Roxbury. The town was named after Roxbury Station, Connecticut.
  
• Simeon. This post office was established during the summer of 1885 at the ranch home of Simeon Mortgareidge and was named for him. Elias Stillwell was the first postmaster.
  
• Soudan. This town was named after the Soudan region in central Africa, south of the Sahara and Libyan deserts. The name is derived from a word meaning black or "the land of the blacks." The town of Soudan, Nebraska, was so named because it is located in the Black Hills region.
  
• Sparks. This place is situated near the northeastern corner of Cherry county in Sparks precinct. It and the precinct were named after early local residents. Four brothers, Eldon, James Allen, Charles, and Levi Sparks settled in the vicinity and laid out a town on the land belonging to Eldon and named it Sparks after themselves.
  
• Survey. Survey post office was first located in Survey valley and received its name from this source. The valley was called Survey because the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad ran a railway survey through the vicinity from O'Neill to Alliance.
  
• Thatcher. This place was named for James M. Thatcher, the United States post trader at Fort Niobrara. Thatcher is in the northeastern part of Schlagle precinct.
  
• Trouble. A locality and a former, inland post office in the west central part of Cherry county, presumably so named by Lerton Jay, the postmaster.
  
• Valentine. This town was named in honor of Edward Kimball Valentine who for three terms, from 1879 onward, was congressman from this district. Valentine is the county seat of Cherry county.
  
• Vian. Vian was named after Millard W. Vian, the first postmaster, and an old settler in the vicinity.
  
• Wells. This place is in Wells precinct in the southern part of Cherry county. It and the precinct were so named because a local settler had put down a number of desirable wells in the vicinity.
  
• Wood Lake. This town was named after a near-by lake which is situated on the west side and on whose shores was practically the only timber to be found in the locality. The precinct has the same name.
  

        Cheyenne county was separated from Lincoln county on June 6, 1871. It was named after the Cheyenne tribe of Indians, members of the Algonquian family who were at one time residents of the vicinity.

• Brownson. Brownson is a station on the Union Pacific railroad in Bronson precinct. It and the precinct were probably named for an early local settler.
  
• Clara. Clara is an inland locality in Bronson precinct. It was probably named after a local resident
  
• Colton. Colton is a station on the Union Pacific railroad in Colton precinct. It and the precinct were probably named after a local resident.
  
• Dalton. Dalton is a station on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad in the northern part of Cheyenne county. It was probably named for Dalton, Massachusetts.
  
• Dye. This post office is located in the southwest part of Cheyenne county, in Chambers precinct, near the west county line. It was named for Lida F. Dye, the postmaster.
  
• Henry. Henry is an inland place in the northern part of Cheyenne county in Valley precinct. It was probably named for a local settler.
  
• Herndon. Herndon is a station on the Union Pacific railroad in Bronson precinct.
  
• Higgins. Higgins is an inland locality in Davison precinct. It was named for a local settler.
  
• Ickes. Ickes is located in Davison precinct. It was named for Adam Ickes, an early county treasurer.
  
• Leafdale. This post office is situated in Trodnitz precinct and was named after Anthony M. Leafdale, the postmaster.
  
• Lodgepole. This town received its name from Lodgepole creek. Lodgepole creek was so named because the Indians cut so many lodge poles for their tepees from its banks. The precinct has the same name. Lodgepole creek is a literal translation of the Dakota name, Tushu Wakpala.
  
• Lorenzo. Lorenzo is a station on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad in the southern part of Cheyenne county.
  
• Margate. Margate is a station on the Union Pacific railroad in Sidney precinct.
  
• Potter. Named after General Potter, at one time commander of troops in western Nebraska and a shareholder in the Union Pacific railway. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Sextorp. This is an inland place in the northwestern part of Cheyenne county in Trodnitz precinct.
  
• Sidney. The town of Sidney was named in honor of Sidney Dillon, a New York attorney, who was general solicitor in New York for the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Dillon was a man of high intellectual attainments, the author of Dillon's Municipal Law, etc. His position with the railroad company brought him recognition in the naming of the towns along the railroad. At the time Sidney was named it was regarded as an important place on account of its being the railroad terminus of the route to the Black Hills, and also because it was the site of a government fort. Sidney is the county seat of Cheyenne county. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Sunol. Sunol is a station on the Union Pacific railroad in Lodge Pole precinct.
  
• Weyerts. Weyerts is an inland locality in the northern part of Lodge Pole precinct. It was probably named for an early settler.
  

        Clay county was named for Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman. The boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature approved March 7, 1855, and again established and the boundaries defined by an act approved January 26, 1856, and redefined February 16, 1867.

• Clay Center. This town was surveyed in the summer of 1879. It was located in the center of the county by R. G. Brown and was named by him on account of its central location. It is the county seat of Clay county.
  
• Deweese. Deweese was named for a James W. Deweese, attorney for the Burlington railroad. Mr. Deweese was a resident of Lincoln where he died some years ago. He was a member of the law firm of Marquette, Deweese, and Hall. Deweese post office has the distinction of being the only one by that name in the United States, although there is a settlement called Deweese in Mississippi.
  
• Edgar. The town of Edgar was named for the son of a pioneer named Ed Graham, who settled in the vicinity. A previous name of the town was Eden.
  
• Eldorado. The name is Spanish and means the gilded or golden. The soil in and around this town-site has a yellowish cast and because of this the town was so named.
  
• Fairfield. This town was originally named White Elm. Later the name was changed to Frankfurt. When it was discovered that there already existed a town called Frankfurt in the state, the name was again changed to Fairfield. The name Fairfield was given the town by the railroad company in conformity with its alphabetical system of designating the sites along the road, probably after Fairfield in Illinois or in Iowa. The name refers to the beauty of the surrounding fields. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Glenvil. Glenvil was originally named Georgetown or Dogtown. The latter was a nickname given the town because it had more dogs than citizens. When the name was first changed, the spelling of the new name was Glenville. There were, however, at least ten Glenvilles in the United States, and as a result so much mail was missent that Glenville, Nebraska, changed the spelling of its name to Glenvil. This change affects only the name of the post office, for the incorporated town is Glenville. The name Glenville was given the town by the railroad company in conformity with its alphabetical system of naming.
  
• Harvard. Named by the officials of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Company (in conformity with its alphabetical system), after Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  
• Inland. This name was transferred from an old town in Adams county. The present town dates back to about 1878. It was named by the railroad company in conformity with its alphabetical system and is supposed to have reference to its locality (inland, not on the coast).
  
• Ong. This town was platted on August 22, 1886. It was named in honor of Judge J. E. Ong who owned the land on which the town is located. The original name was Greenberry, after Greenberry L. Fort, a large land owner in the vicinity.
  
• Saronville. Reverend Haterius, a Swedish Lutheran minister named the local church Saron, after a small village in Sweden. When the post office was established it was named Saronville, after the local church.
  
• Springranch. A post office was established at Spring Ranche in 1870. The first settlement in the vicinity was made on June 8, 1864. The town was so named because of the presence of numerous springs of water in the locality. The precinct has the same name. The United States postal guide prints the name as one word. On the railroad maps it appears as two words.
  
• Sutton. This locality was entered as a homestead on March 14, 1870. The town-site was named after Sutton, Massachusetts.
  
• Trumbull. The village of Trumbull was named in honor of a railway official.
  
• Verona. Originally called Sweden. The name was changed to Verona in 1884 in honor of a family by the name of Veronica that lived in the vicinity at that time. The Veronica family played an important part in the development of the town. The above is the local account of the origin of the name and seems authentic. There are about twenty towns in the United States with the name of Verona, most if not all of which were named for Verona, Italy.
  

        Colfax county was originally a part of Platte county. By an act of the legislature approved February 15, 1869, this county was divided and Colfax county was named for Schuyler Colfax who was then vice-president of the United States. The boundaries were redefined March 3, 1873.

• Clarkson. Clarkson was platted by the Western Town Lot Company in October, 1886. It was named in honor of Mr. T. S. Clarkson, the first postmaster of Schuyler, Nebraska, because he helped to establish a post office in the new town. Mr. Clarkson was later postmaster of Omaha.
  
• Howell. This town is called Howells by the railroad company and Howell by the post office department. It was platted in August, 1886, by the Western Town-Site Company and named in honor of J. S. Howell, a prominent citizen of Colfax county.
  
• Leigh. The land on which Leigh was platted was owned by Mr. A. M. Walling. The town was named for Mrs. Walling whose maiden name was Leigh. It was platted in October, 1884.
  
• Praha. A Bohemian community in Midland precinct, named after Prague, Bohemia.
  
• Richland. The village of Richland was platted under the name of Spitley in September, 1884.
  
• Rogers. This town was platted in October, 1886.. It was named after an official of the Union Pacific railroad. The town-site was owned by Jacob McCall, candidate for governor of Nebraska in 1896, and a Mr. Leflang of Plum Creek, near Lexington, Nebraska.
  
• Schuyler. The county seat of Colfax county was located at Schuyler in 1869 the same year that the county was separated from Platte county. Like the county, the town was named for Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885) who was then vice-president of the United States.
  

        The boundaries of Cuming county were defined by an act of the Territorial Legislative Assembly passed in 1855 and approved on March 16, 1855. The boundaries were redefined by an act approved February 12, 1857, and January 10, 1862. The county was named in honor of Thomas B. Cuming, acting governor of the Territory of Nebraska in 1854-1855 and 1857-1858. A precinct, a creek, and formerly a village in the county have the same name for the same reason.

• Aloys. An inland village near the southeast corner of Bismarck precinct.
  
• Bancroft. This town was named in honor of George Bancroft, the American historian.
  
• Beemer. Originally called Rockcreek. Later the town-site was changed and the name changed to Beemer in honor of A. D. Beemer the founder of the new town.
  
• Bismarck. An inland village in the northwestern part of Elkhorn precinct, named for the German statesman, Prince Karl Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen (18t5-1898). A neighboring precinct has the same name for the same reason.
  
• Cuming. An inland village in Neligh precinct, named for Thomas B. Cuming, after whom the county was named.
  
• Germanville. An inland village in the southern part of Cuming precinct, so named in compliment to the German settlers.
  
• Monterey. An inland village in Monterey precinct, named directly or indirectly for the battle of Monterey, Mexico.
  
• West Point. This town, the county seat of Cuming county, was so named because when located it was the most westerly point that was settled in the Elkhorn River valley. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved October 29, 1858. Its founder was John D. Neligh (1831-1896) who settled on the present site of West Point in 1858.
  
• Wisner. The settlement of Wisner dates back to 1865. The town was named in honor of Samuel P. Wisner, vice-president of the railroad company at that time.
  

        Custer county was named in honor of General George A. Custer, the gallant Indian fighter who was killed at the battle on the Little Big Horn river in the summer of 1876. The organization of the county was approved on February 17, 1877, and its boundaries were defined at this time. A precinct in the county has the same name for the same reason.

• Anselmo. This town was named for Anselmo B. Smith, a civil engineer who platted the towns along the Burlington railroad for the Lincoln Town-Site Company. Anselmo was platted on November 20, 1886.
  
• Ansley. The first settlement was made here in the summer of 1886. The town was named in honor of a lady who invested a large sum of money in real estate in the newly platted town.
  
• Arnold. This town was named in honor of George Arnold who located in the vicinity in 1875. Mr. Arnold was a member of the ranch firm of Arnold and Ritchie. The town was laid out in 1883. The precinct is also named Arnold.
  
• Berwyn. The Lincoln Town-Site Company laid out the town of Berwyn in 1886. It is believed to have been named after a railroad surveyor. A previous name was Janesville.
  
• Broken Bow. Broken Bow was located and platted in June, 1882. The name was suggested to the post office department by Wilson Hewitt who found on an old Indian camping ground in the vicinity a broken bow and arrow. Mr. Hewitt had suggested three different names for the town-site to the post office department, all of which were rejected. After the third name had been rejected, he came upon the broken bow and immediately decided upon the name, feeling sure that there was no other town by that name in the state. It is not known who was the owner of the broken bow, or any other facts concerning it. The bow was partially destroyed, but a fragment still remains. It is owned by E. R. Purcell, editor of the Custer County Chief. Broken Bow is the county seat of Custer county.
  
• Callaway. The town of Callaway was surveyed and platted in the spring of 1885. It was named in honor of S. R. Callaway, at that time general manager of the Union Pacific railroad.
  
• Climax. This town was named Climax by Mrs. Mary T. Ewing who owned the farm on which the post office is located, and who had charge of the office when it was established.
  
• Comstock. W. H. Comstock moved a store building from Wescott and located on this town-site so it was named in his honor. The site was surveyed in 1899.
  
• Cumro. The town of Cumro was named by William Edmunds after Cumro, Wales.
  
• Dale. The post office at Dale was named for its first postmaster a Mr. Daley. The settlers here wished to name the office Daley, but Mr. Daley objected so they called it Dale. This office has been discontinued.
  
• Elton. Named after Elton, New York. The postoffice has been discontinued for several years.
  
• Etna. A former inland post office near the southwestern corner of Custer county, in Wayne precinct. The name is probably of local selection.
  
• Gates. An inland post office in Lillian precinct. It was named for a local resident.
  
• Huxley. Huxley post office was named by J. M. Lowry (deceased), the first postmaster at this office. Mr. Lowry named it for Thomas H. Huxley, the scientist, whose works he admired and studied.
  
• Lillian. Hugh Gohean was the first postmaster in this town. The office was named in honor of his second daughter, Lillian Gohean. The precinct is also named Lillian.
  
• Lodi. This place was named after Lodi, a city in Italy.
  
• Lomax. A station on the Union Pacific railroad in Wood River precinct, apparently named for E. L. Lomax, assistant general passenger and transfer agent, Omaha, Nebraska.
  
• Mason City. There are two theories concerning the naming of Mason City. One is that the early settlers in the vicinity named it for Mason county, Virginia, from which they had come to Nebraska. The second theory is that the Lincoln Town-Site Company named the town Mason in honor of Judge O. P. Mason of Lincoln. The latter theory is generally accepted. The post office, however, refused to accept the name Mason, because of probable confusion with Macon; so the town is Mason City to the post office department and Mason to the railroad.
  
• Merna. Samuel Dunning was the first postmaster here and the town was named for his daughter Merna.
  
• Milburn. James Milburn established the Milburn post office on December 1, 1887, and it was named in his honor.
  
• Milldale. A station on a branch line of the Union Pacific railroad, in Triumph precinct. It apparently was named for a mill site along a near-by creek, the South Loup river.
  
• Oconto. This town was located in the fall of 1887. It was to be called Olax but the name was changed because of its similarity to Lomax, Nebraska. It received the name Oconto from a man by that name, according to local tradition; but doubtless the name is for Oconto, Oconto county, Wisconsin. Oconto is a Menominee Indian word meaning the "place of the pickerel."
  
• Ortello. Ortello was named for Grove Ortello Joyner. The town was first called Ortello Grove and later shortened to Ortello.
  
• Sargent. The town of Sargent was laid out in 1883. The founders were E. P. Savage and Joseph W. Thomas. A few years previously a post office was located over a mile east of the town-site with Mrs. George Sherman postmaster. She chose the name, Sargent which was the name of some friends who lived in her old home town, Streeter, Illinois. When the town was founded Mrs. Sherman agreed to surrender the post office and permit its removal to the new town on condition that the name remain Sargent. This was agreed to by the founders, as Mr. E. P. Savage had wished to name the town after his uncle, George D. Sargent, a banker of Davenport, Iowa, later a resident of New York City, and an official of the Great Northern railway.
  
• Walworth. This town was named in honor of a Mr. Walworth who operated a line of lumber yards in Nebraska at the time Walworth was established.
  
• Weissert. The name Weissert was suggested for this post office by the department at Washington. The office was established in 1892.
  
• Westerville. The location here was originally known as Elm Bridge. The town of Westerville was named in honor of its first resident, James Westervelt, who established a store in the vicinity in the fall of 1880. The precinct has the same name.
  
• Yucahill. A locality and a former post office in the northwestern part of Custer county in Hayes precinct. It was so named because of the prevalence of a liliaceous plant known as bear-grass or Spanish bayonet (Yucca glauca) in the vicinity.
  

        Dakota county was named for the Dakota tribe of Indians. The word Dakota means allies or brothers, according to the usual interpretation, but it is really an ancient word having the idea of sodality or society of friends in the mystical sense of a peculiar people. The white man's name for this tribe was Sioux. The boundaries of the county were defined by an act of the legislature approved March 7, 1855, redefined January 26, 1856.

• Covington. Covington, originally Harney City, next Newport, then finally Covington, was first taken as a town-site in 1856. It was named for the Covington, Columbus, and Black Hills railroad. The town was consolidated with South Sioux City on May 1, 1893.
  
• Dakota City. The Dakota City Land Company surveyed and platted this town in 1855-56. The town was named for the Dakota tribe of Indians. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved October 21, 1858. It is the county seat of Dakota county.
  
• Goodwin. This town was named in honor of John C. Goodwin who was one of the railroad officials in 1892 when the town was established.
  
• Homer. The town of Homer was surveyed and platted in 1874. It was named for the poet of ancient Greece.
  
• Hubbard. The Dakota City Land Company laid out this town in 1880. Judge Asahel W. Hubbard was the first president of the Covington, Columbus, and Black Hills railroad and the town was named for him.
  
• Jackson. The town was originally called Franklin but the name was changed because there was already another post office in the state with that name.
  
• Nacora. The name of this town was formed from the Spanish nacio which means "I am born."
  
• Sioux. The original town-site, called South Sioux City, was washed away by the Missouri river. The present town was incorporated on January 4, 1885, and was named for the Sioux tribe of Indians who had a reservation in the vicinity.
  
• Vista. This town was originally named Brady in honor of a pioneer family in the vicinity. Later the name Vista was chosen because of the picturesque views surrounding the town.
  

        Dawes county was named in honor of James W. Dawes, former governor of Nebraska, 1883-1887. Its boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature approved February 19, 1885.

• Antelope. Formerly a post office situated in Antelope township. The office and township were named for the antelope of the plains.
  
• Belmont. This town was named after an official of the Burlington railway system. C. L. Phelps, nbw of Bellevue, Nebraska, was the first postmaster.
  
• Bordeaux. The town of Bordeaux was named for Bordeaux creek on which it is located. The creek was named in honor of Pierre Bordeaux, a French trapper and trader on this stream, who came from Bordeaux, France, and took his name from that city.
  
• Chadron. This town was platted in 1885 by the pioneer Town-Site Company and named in honor of Pierre Chadron, a French-Indian "squaw-man," who lived and trapped on a river in the vicinity. He was at one time a trader for the American Fur Company of St. Louis, Missouri, and was stationed at "Winter Quarters" on the mouth of the Cheyenne river near Fort Pierre. Chadron is the county seat of Dawes county.
  
• Crawford. The town of Crawford was named for Captain Jack Crawford (John Wallace Crawford, 1847-1917), "the poet scout," who was stationed at Fort Robinson during the eighties. Captain Crawford was a soldier, scout, poet, lecturer, as well as a noted Indian fighter.
  
• Dakota Junction. So named because the branch line of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad to the Black Hills joins the main line to Wyoming.
  
• Dunlap. The first postmaster of Dunlap was a Mr. Roberts, a soldier of the Civil War, and he named the place after an officer under whom he served, probably Brigadier-General James Dunlap.
  
• Esther. A former, inland post office in Antelope precinct, probably named for a local resident.
  
• Fort Robinson. This town was laid out by Colonel W. H. Carter and named after Fort Robinson military post which was located in the vicinity. This post was named by the United States War Department in memory of Lieutenant Robinson who was killed by Indians just before the post was established.
  
• Hough. There is no particular reason for calling this post office Hough except that it was necessary to change the name of the former office "Huff" because there was already an office by that name in the state. The spelling H-o-u-g-h was suggested and accepted by the United States post office department.
  
• Ida. A former, inland post office near the line of Antelope and Table precincts, named probably for a local resident.
  
• Manchester. An inland place in the northeast central part of Dawes county, named by the settlers for an eastern town. Many towns in the United States have this name, most of which derive it directly or indirectly from Manchester, England.
  
• Marsland. This town was named after Thomas Marsland, of Lincoln, Nebraska, who was at the time general freight agent of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad.
  
• Pine Ridge. There is a ridge of pine timber running across this part of the state, that is called Pine Ridge. The Pine Ridge post office was named after this ridge.
  
• Wayside. The name of this town has no historic significance but is purely fanciful. The name was suggested by the railroad workmen as descriptive of the place in an early day when it consisted of a section house by the side of the railway and was an occasional stopping place for the trains.
  
• Whitney. This town was originally named Dawes City. Later it was named Earth Lodge, and finally Whitney. The latter name was given the town in honor of Peter Whitney who was the Pioneer Town-Site agent for the railroad at the time.
  

© 2001 for the NEGenWeb Project by Connie Snyder