How Wayne, Nebraska Got Its Name (The Settlers Said No to Brookdale)

Wayne, Nebraska, carries the name of its county, which honors Revolutionary War general “Mad” Anthony Wayne. The railroad wanted to call the town Brookdale, but the settlers talked it out of that.

Where the name comes from

A 1925 study of Nebraska place names says “the town of Wayne was named for Wayne county which in turn was named for General Anthony Wayne.” The same study says the county was named for Anthony Wayne (1745–1796), “the American revolutionary general.”

Brookdale, almost

The 1925 study leaves out the best part. The City of Wayne’s history says railroad officials first named the place Brookdale, “but the settlers prevailed upon the company to name the community the same as the county, in memory of General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne of Revolutionary War fame.” Wayne County’s own page tells the same story and dates it to 1881, when the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad was built west from Wakefield.

Moving the county seat

The railroad changed more than the name. The city’s history says the old county seat, LaPorte, wasn’t on the new line, so the settlers voted to move the county seat to Wayne. The U.S. Geological Survey’s record says Wayne became the county seat in 1882.

The rest of the record

The U.S. Geological Survey’s record says Wayne was founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1884. The city’s history gives February 2, 1884, as the day it became a village.

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 town named for the county and the county named for Anthony Wayne.
• City of Wayne, “History.” Brookdale, the settlers’ push, LaPorte and the 1884 village.
• Wayne County, “Wayne.” The same story, with the railroad coming from Wakefield in 1881.
• GNIS feature 834513 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Wayne. Founded 1881; county seat 1882; incorporated 1884.