How Nebraska Towns Got Their Names
10 stories so far. More Nebraska towns are being researched.
How Alliance, Nebraska Got Its Name (Picked for the Alphabet)
Alliance, Nebraska, was named by a railroad boss who wanted a short, one-word name that no other Nebraska town had and that would sit near the top of the alphabetical list of towns.
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How Beatrice, Nebraska Got Its Name (And Why It's Bee-AT-riss)
Beatrice, Nebraska, is named for Julia Beatrice Kinney, the daughter of a judge who helped found the town in 1857. Locals say bee-AT-riss, because that's how she said her own name.
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How Bellevue, Nebraska Got Its Name (Beautiful View)
Bellevue, Nebraska, gets its name from the French for "beautiful view." Tradition says fur trader Manuel Lisa said it when he first saw the spot, but that part is a story, not a record.
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How Broken Bow, Nebraska Got Its Name (The Post Office Kept Saying No)
Broken Bow, Nebraska, is named for a broken bow found near the town site. Homesteader Wilson Hewitt sent it in as a name after the post office turned down his earlier choices.
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How Kearney, Nebraska Got Its Name (With an Extra E)
Kearney, Nebraska, is named after nearby Fort Kearny, which honored General Stephen Watts Kearny. Somewhere along the way the town picked up an extra E that the general never had.
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How Lincoln, Nebraska Got Its Name (A Trick That Backfired)
Lincoln, Nebraska, is named for Abraham Lincoln, but an 1889 history of the city says the name started as a trick by an Omaha senator who wanted to keep the capital in Omaha. It didn't work.
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How McCook, Nebraska Got Its Name (One of the Fighting McCooks)
McCook, Nebraska, is named for Alexander McDowell McCook, a Union general from the family known as the Fighting McCooks. As far as anyone knows, he never visited the town.
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How Red Cloud, Nebraska Got Its Name (A Lakota Chief, Far From Home)
Red Cloud, Nebraska, is named for the Lakota chief Red Cloud, though the town sits in what was Pawnee and Otoe country, far from his own. It's also Willa Cather's hometown.
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How Valentine, Nebraska Got Its Name (A Congressman, Not the Holiday)
Valentine, Nebraska, is named for Edward K. Valentine, who represented the area in Congress. It has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, though the town has had a lot of fun with that since.
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How Weeping Water, Nebraska Got Its Name (The Legend Came Later)
Weeping Water, Nebraska, is named for its creek, which French traders called L'Eau qui Pleure, the water that weeps. A 1925 study says the famous legend of weeping women came later, made up to explain a mistranslation.
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