Auburn, Nebraska History (St. George, Calvert, Sheridan)

Home > History

Auburn, one of the newest cities in Nemaha County, includes within its city limits the former towns of St. George, Sheridan, and Calvert. 

St. George, a 40 acre plot of land in Northeast Auburn was platted in the 1850's. It was on the road from Brownville to Marshall's Trading Point near the Blue River. It must have been a progressive community. As early as 1858 there was an attempt to move the county seat from Brownville to a more central location in the county. When the election was held on August 28, 1858, Brownville received 206 votes and St. George 164. This was apparently the last note worthy event to take place in St. George, for by 1882, it was recorded in Andreas' History of Nemaha County that the town Site was farm ground. 

Sheridan was surveyed as a 160 acre town site on October 19, 1868, just a short distance west of St. George. The town was organized by A.P. and Laura Cogswell and A.W. and O.A. Morgon. They soon attracted numerous businesses; general merchandise, clothing, and grocery stores, etc. Within the next fourteen years the city limits had expanded to 640 acres. The second business to locate in Sheridan was Adolph Opperman, M.D. He came from Germany to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865. In 1871 he built the second house in Sheridan and opened his clinic and drug store in this dwelling. He specialized in ear and eye diseases. By 1876, the population had grown to 40! A stage line through Sheridan provided service between Brownville and Beatrice three times a week. 1881 brought a new spurt of growth to Sheridan when the Missouri Pacific Railroad was being built northward through Nemaha County. To insure its route would include Sheridan the town issued $4,000 worth of bonds to purchase the Right of Way through Douglas Precinct. This railroad brought new businesses and within the next year the business and residential districts of Sheridan increased rapidly. 

At the same time, the Burlington and Missouri Railroad in Nebraska was being built west through Nemaha County from Nemaha City. The B & M RR and the MP RR crossed about two and one-half miles southeast of Sheridan. An attempt was made by John L. Carson, of Brownville, and others, to establish the new town of "Carson" at that point. However, the railroad refused to build a depot at Carson, and instead, selected a site south of Sheridan for the depot. In 1881. the Lincoln Land Company, a subsidiary of the B & M RR, purchased the land and platted the town site, naming it Calvert, in honor of Thomas F. Calvert, a railroad official. This was the beginning of a rivalry between the two railroad towns. 

U.S. government records show Sheridan had a post office whose postmaster was Wesley Dundas, Sheridan's first businessman. He served from his appointment on August 21, 1869, until August 13, 1885, when David Campbell succeeded him as postmaster of what had become known, for three years, as the Auburn post office. 

On October 3, 1881, Calvert was granted a post office and George W. Fairbrothers was named postmaster. He continued as postmaster when it became the South Auburn post office and subsequently retired on January 18, 1883. The post office department changed the name of the two post offices on June 8, 1882. 

The two rival towns of Sheridan and Calvert incorporated on May 1, 1882, to become the town of Auburn. Although they joined to form Auburn, the rivalry continued for years with the two business sections, known as North and South Auburn. The postal service maintained two post offices. The South Auburn postmasters were John W. Armstrong (serving more than once), Albert Dillon, Thomas H. Gillan, Joshua Brush, and John W. Roscow. The South Auburn office was discontinued September 1, 1919, and then became a contract office and continued until about 1942. The North Auburn postmasters were: Wesley Dundas, David Campbell, Benjamin N. Burress, Kate Burson, Rush 0. Fellows, George W. Harmon, William P. Freeman, RE. Harmon, Paul R. Lorance, Wallace 0. Johnson, Mary J. Kelligar, Lorin V. Jones, Charles D. Adams, and John Twombly. 

When the railroads came to Calvert and Sheridan their combined population was about 600. In 1888 Auburn was made a second-class city. By 1892 Auburn had a number of factories manufacturing such things as: bed springs, watering tanks, brooms, and fences. There was also a brick yard with a capacity of 25,000 per day. There were three banks with a combined capital of $210,000.

"The Nemaha County Granger", on November 16, 1888, carried the interesting story on the history of Auburn, which follows: "Twenty-five years ago today, in company with parents, brothers and sisters, we crossed the Missouri River at Brownville, and that night put up with Mr. and Mrs. John Burley, two miles north of where now stands the city of Auburn. 

"Nemaha County was not at that time a howling wilderness, the home of the buffalo and antelope, and where the coyote dug his hole unscared, but had already been dotted with many improvements. The buffalo had long since gone west and the lank coyote sneaked about from place to place in quest of food and at night plied his wicked yelping on the tenderfoot and his petty deprivations upon young pigs and chickens. 

"Heavily freighted trains left Brownville each week during the spring and summer months, and returned some weeks, even months, later without freight of any kind. These trains consisted of from five to fifty wonderfully large wagons, drawn by from two to five yoke of cattle each. They were principally loaded with corn and flour and were bound for Fort Kearney, Denver and other forts and mining camps. 

"Where Auburn now stands was unoccupied prairie except the part known as the Sage land, the balance being owned by speculators in the east. 

"There was not a school house within five miles, and but one church (Fairview) west of Brownville. The first time we attended religious meeting was at the residence of James Baldwin, a small log hut not far from where the Home-wood mill now stands. The preacher was one A.M.T. Zoo, a zealous Baptist, with deep dislike for Methodists and Carmelites, and not a few were converts that he made from those of other faiths, all of whom were immersed in the Nemaha river and arose to walk as Baptists and manifest disdain for those of other denominations. 

"The first school that we were permitted to attend was in a cottonwood shanty near where Walter Parker's house now stands. Wesley Dundas taught the school, and William Watson, Ante Miller and the editor were the big boys in attendance. 

"Since that time there has been a change. Our freight trains are drawn by iron horses. Our praise are dotted with cities and covered with fields of grain. The gospel is preached from carpeted pulpits to hearers who sit in cushioned pews, and the Nemaha river is no longer the resort where converts are immersed, its place being supplied by the baptismal fount with water tempered for the occasion; and our children attend school in large buildings with commodious rooms, the heat for which is furnished from 'the regions below.'

 Auburn became the county seat of Nemaha County on February 27, 1883. Brownville had been the county seat since 1857, when it was the most up and coming town in the Nebraska Territory. 

Modern Auburn offers many recreational facilities including: tennis courts, bowling alley, several ball fields, public parks, swimming pool, fishing, county fairgrounds, rodeo arena, etc. There are also motels, restaurants, manufacturing plants, financial institutions, a hospital, nursing home, library, and churches to serve the community.

Copied from the Nemaha County History Book with permission