How Ord, Nebraska Got Its Name (A General Passing Through)

Ord, Nebraska, is named for General Edward O. C. Ord, the Civil War general who was running the Army’s Department of the Platte when the town was laid out in 1874.

Where the name comes from

A 1925 study of Nebraska place names keeps it short. Ord “was surveyed early in the year, 1874,” by the Haskell brothers (spelled “Haskill” in the study) and A. M. Robbins, and “General E. O. C. Ord was at that time in command of the military department of the Platte and the town was named for him.” The U.S. Geological Survey’s record agrees that the town is “named for General E. O. C. Ord.”

Why him?

The general wasn’t just a name on an org chart. Valley County’s own history says Ord was in the North Loup Valley at the time, on a trip to pick the site for Fort Hartsuff. The new town was named after him. A county sketch in the 1940 Who’s Who in Nebraska also ties his visit to locating the fort, though it puts that visit in the summer of 1874, after the town was surveyed. Either way, the general and the fort are what the town remembers.

In good company

The 1925 study lists Ord among the “famous generals” remembered in Nebraska town names, right next to Grant, Sheridan and Kearney.

The rest of the record

The U.S. Geological Survey’s record says Ord was platted in 1874 and incorporated as a city in 1881. Ord is the county seat of Valley County.

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. The 1874 survey and the general’s command.
• Valley County, “Ord History.” Ord’s trip to pick the site for Fort Hartsuff.
• NEGenWeb, Valley County sketch from Who’s Who in Nebraska (1940). The same story, with the visit dated to the summer of 1874.
• GNIS feature 831890 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Ord. Platted 1874; city 1881; named for General E. O. C. Ord.