How Falls City, Nebraska Got Its Name (The Falls Are Gone, the Name Stayed)
Falls City, Nebraska, is named for a set of falls on the Great Nemaha River, really a rock ledge a few feet high. The river has changed since then, and the falls are gone.
Where the name comes from
A 1925 study of Nebraska place names keeps it simple: “Falls City receives its name from the fact that it is located near the falls in the Great Nemaha river.”
Don’t picture Niagara. The state’s MyNE History site describes the “Falls of Nemaha” as a rock ledge about four feet high where the river spilled over. It says changes to the river over the 1800s and 1900s mean the falls no longer exist, though part of the ledge can still be seen in dry seasons near Nemaha Falls Cemetery.
A free-state town
The City of Falls City says the town was the Nebraska base of the “Lane Trail,” the route free-state settlers used to get into Kansas during the fight over whether Kansas would allow slavery.
The record
The 1925 study says the town was incorporated on May 17, 1858, and that the county seat, first placed here temporarily, was made permanent by an act approved January 13, 1860. The U.S. Geological Survey’s record says Falls City was founded in 1857, incorporated in 1858 and became the county seat of Richardson County in 1860.
Sources & further reading
- Lilian Linder Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names (University of Nebraska, 1925). A public-domain study of the state’s place names, county by county. Named for the falls; incorporated May 17, 1858; county seat in 1860.
- MyNE History, “Nemaha River Falls.” The four-foot rock ledge and what’s left of it.
- City of Falls City, “Historic Falls City.” The town as the Nebraska base of the Lane Trail.
- GNIS feature 829265 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Falls City. Founded 1857; incorporated 1858; county seat 1860.
Spot something wrong? Corrections are noted here with their date, never made silently.
