How Ravenna, Nebraska Got Its Name (Italy on the Loup)
Ravenna, Nebraska, is named for the old city of Ravenna, Italy. A town-company man picked the name in 1886, and the streets got Italian names to match.
Where the name comes from
A 1925 study of Nebraska place names says the spot was “known as Beaver Creek until 1886 when the present town-site was laid out by the Lincoln Town-Site Company. The name Ravenna was selected by R. O. Phillips, a member of the company, after the ancient city of Ravenna, Italy.” The U.S. Geological Survey’s record agrees that the town was “named after the city of Ravenna, Italy,” and the town’s own history page says a town-company representative proposed the Italian name.
A whole map of Italy
The Italian theme didn’t stop at the town’s name. The 1925 study says the streets were “also given Italian or other ancient names,” among them Genoa, Verona, Padua, Pavia, Milan, Sicily, Piedmont, Syracuse, Corinth and Carthage, plus an Appian Way that later became Grand Avenue. The town’s history page also says the streets of the first plat were named for Italian cities.
Before Ravenna
The town’s history says the site was on Erastus Smith’s homestead, near where the Beaver and the Loup come together, and that the town was founded in 1886 when the Burlington railroad was built through. The U.S. Geological Survey’s record says it was founded and incorporated the same year.
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. Beaver Creek, R. O. Phillips and the Italian street names.
- City of Ravenna, “History of Ravenna.” The town-company name, the Italian streets and the Burlington railroad.
- GNIS feature 832472 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Ravenna. Founded and incorporated 1886; named after Ravenna, Italy.
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