Other Small Towns History

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Nemaha County is dotted with towns that tried to be, but now are nearly forgotten. They were rural post offices, railroad sidings, paper towns and promoters' dreams.

Aspinwall

Aspinwall was situated on the Missouri River two and one half miles south of Nemaha City, below the mouth of the Little Nemaha. The land in which the town site was located was in the Half-Breed tract. The first settler and owner of the land (by Indian title) was Louis Neal. The Neal family settled there in 1853. Mrs. Louis Neal was a sister of Logan Fontenelle, famous Nebraska Indian. Louis Neal sold the land in 1856 to I. T. Whyte and Company. Darius Phipps, William Thurman, Henry Hart, Milt Paulin and others were the first settlers. Aspinwall was laid out and platted at an early date, but no official record was made. In 1867 the town site was officially surveyed by Jonas M. Hacker. The town was incorporated in 1870, at which time it had a population of about 200. The post office was established on March 2, 1860, with Jacob D. Hegler as the first postmaster. He was followed as postmaster by Joseph M. Paullin, Edward Weisenrider, George G. Strart, John S. Minick, Edward Weisenrider, Frank M. King, Jeremiah Marlatte, Edward Weisenrider, John W. Macomber, and John F. Crother. The post office was discontinued and re-established a number of times. It was officially discontinued on December 14, 1903. One account gives the opening of the first store to Hoblitzell and Company. The first school was taught in the fall of 1861 by Clara Parker. In the 1870's a Good Templars Lodge was organized. Officers were S. Gilbert, Miss M. J. Stiers, A. L. Stiers, G. W. Culp, and John S. Minick. Aspinwall fared better than many of the early towns, at one time boasting of a population of nearly 500, but its continued existence was not to be and it now lives only in memories and history books.

Febing

Febing was a post-office settlement located about seventeen miles west and south of Brownville or seven or eight miles southwest of Auburn. Febing was made up mostly of Germans in 1856. The first settler in Febing was A. J. Behrends. T. Caspers, J. Gelker, W. Tuxhorn, A. Fass, G. Williams, B. Bower and R. Weber soon followed. W. Tuxhorn and John Tuxhorn were the first town officers. The first post office was opened in 1865. The first postmaster was H. Stein, who held the office for about twenty years. He was probably the only postmaster at Febing. The first births in the settlement were twin children, a boy and a girl in 1856. They were children of Rike Weber. The first marriage was that of John Tuxhorn and Cora Williams in 1857. The first death was that of an infant son of B. Bower in 1857. A schoolhouse was built in 1857, where the first sermon was preached by Reverend J. Magie, an Evangelical Lutheran minister, in 1858. In 1866, the Evangelical Lutheran Church congregation built a church from limestone quarried nearby. There was no other church organization in the settlement. The members of the Febing church were all Germans, and as the bell tolled its silvery tone, it was a reminder of their friends in Germany. These early settlers in this vicinity learned from experience of the hardships and privations of frontier life. This was especially true of the women whose husbands enlisted in the United States Army. Some of the men who served were H. C. Plager, Private I, Fifth Infantry in Iowa and John Tuxhorn, Sergeant, Second Cavalry in Kansas. Like all early settlers, they believed the uplands were sterile and unproductive. For this reason, only the bottomlands were cultivated. A great variety of crops were grown. The first thresher in this settlement was owned by Wesley Dundas and F. H. Palmer. As late as 1864, John Tuxhorn, W. Williams, William Tuxhorn, Hi Coleman and Henry Bohlken stacked their wheat, oats, rye and barley all in the same yard. It took less than one day to thresh the whole setting. The population peaked at 200 in 1890, and in 1894, the post office was discontinued. The only thing left of this settlement is the old stone church and the bell, which now hangs in the present church, built in 1903, and still tolls its silvery tone every Sunday. 

Old Glen Rock

Old Glen Rock was platted September 7, 1857, by Allen Coate, county surveyor. It was located on the southwest quarter of section 29, and the northwest quarter of section 32, in township six, range fourteen. The town-site was in Glen Rock precinct, which originally was called Allen precinct after Allen Phillips, who, with his two sons, were among the early settlers. The name was later changed to Glen Rock. It was named after Rock Creek. Glen means a secluded, narrow valley, so it became Glen Rock. A post office was soon established and Mr. S. Good was appointed postmaster. Proprietors of the town site were Richard Brown, Cyrus W. Wheeler, Alex Hallam, J.L. Dozier, and D.L. McGary. The proprietors personally worked at making and driving stakes. Mr. Hallam soon decided to erect a flourmill at a rock ford on Rock Creek, about one-half mile from the mouth of the stream. The mill provided good service for a while, but the stream was inadequate to operate the mill. The mill was then moved to the Nemaha river, where it had a capacity of sixty barrels a day. In 1866, S.J. Fisher settled on 360 acres of valley land in Glen Rock precinct. The Missouri Pacific Railroad built across his farm in 1882 and established the present town of Glen Rock. The town took its name from the abandoned town site of Glen Rock and Glen Rock precinct. The first town site is now known as "Old Glen Rock." There is also the old Glen Rock school, a reminder of the Old Glen Rock dreams of becoming a business center of Nemaha County and Nebraska.

Hillsdale

Hillsdale was located at the foot of the bluffs along the Missouri river two and a half miles from the southern boundary of the county. It was ten miles from Brownville and twenty-five miles from Rub. The town was made up of eighteen blocks. The east-west streets were named First, Second, Third and Fourth. The north-south streets were named Bluff, Spring, Walnut, Elm and Wood-ward. The surveyor was J.M. Hacker, who surveyed the town on June 25, 1866. The proprietors were John McFarlin, Delilah McFarlin, Daniel Hamlin, and John Harlin. R.V. Hughes was Justice of the Peace and William Hoover was the Registrar. The post office of Hillsdale was established August 26, 1868, with Christian Slagle as the postmaster. A Star Route, which ran from Nemaha to Falls City, served the post office at Hillsdale. The carrier went one-way one day and back the next. John Shook, who bought it after the Civil War and operated it along with his large farm, operated a sawmill. He employed more men than any other man in southeastern Nebraska for about twenty-five years. Christian Slagle operated a grocery store. F.H.D. Hunt, a prominent farmer and stock raiser, also operated a wood yard in Hillsdale for many years. A large two-story school building was erected at Hillsdale, with the best-qualified teachers employed there. The little town ranked high as an educational center. Many of its graduates looked back with pride when they spoke of where they received their education. A Masonic lodge was held in the upper story of the two-story school building. On March 30, 1891, the post office was discontinued and so Hillsdale became one of the many ghost towns in Nemaha County. 

Dog Town

Dog Town, the first known settlement in Nemaha County was not really a town. This settlement involved seven families who entered the Nebraska Territory before it was opened for homesteading. They arrived sometime in 1852-53, but only stayed a few months. During this time they built simple, crude dwellings on Long's Branch, about three miles west of where Calvert was formed thirty years later. An Indian scare caused them to leave for more friendly country. 

Braton

Braton, also called Eden, was a post office in the southwest part of the county. It was named for George W. Bratton, an early area farmer who later became county treasurer. When David J. Wood, a retired hank cashier, bought the land where the post office was located, he became the postmaster, and changed the name to Eden.

Cliffton

Cliffton, a rural post office in the arm home of Benton Aldrich. was never a town. vet it had many advantages not available in the nearby villages. Chifton was a community of farmers who jointly sponsored a library, organized a farmers institute and maintained a school in this rural setting. The post office was operated from February 24, 1868 until May 29. 1883.

Grant

Grant, first called Warrollton. was in the northwest corner of Nemaha County, near Evergreen Cemetery. It was called Warrollton in honor of Horatio Warroll and was primarily a post office location. This has been mistakenly called Morrallton in some publications. When the post office was moved in November of 1864, it was named in honor of General U.S. Grant.

Locust Grove

Locust Grove, a settlement about two and one-half miles west of Brownville, was named for the locust trees growing in the area. It too, was mainly noted as a post office location and was near the site of the present-day Locust Grove School.

Popeno

Popeno is known to have been a post office operated by F.G. Miller from June 5. 1865 to April 26, 1866. The location was in southern Washington township, near the Muddy Creek. BRACKEN (or Stein) was a railroad town about halfway between Nemaha and Auburn. It was named for a CB & Q Railroad executive. Bracken had a post office from January 12. 1897, until October 26, 1907.

Carson

Carson, named for John L. Carson, was platted at the junction of the Burlington Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. A postmaster was appointed February 7, 1882, until May 31, 1883. When the railroads refused to install a siding at that place the town failed.

Douglas

Douglas was a town planned on the Brownville, Ft. Kearney, and Pacific Railroad. It would have been about one mile northwest of the Sheridan Cemetery. When the railroad failed so did the plans for this community.

The following "paper towns" appeared on maps and on paper, but realized no significant development.

Glowing Ring

Glowing Ring, spoken of by Dr. Holliday in a July 4, 1876, address was to be located near Brock. John D. Hopkins, an eccentric Hoosier, proposed it. He laid out the town like a wheel with the streets running from a hub in the center of town. When his proposed marriage failed, he left the county and the town became farm ground.

Minerva

Minerva, proposed as a health spa by two promoters from Illinois, was located about a mile west of the Sheridan Cemetery. It had a spring for which the promoters claimed healing powers. Although it is shown on some early maps, the town failed to exist when questions of laws not strictly complied with were never answered. The promoters left the county and their town was abandoned. 

San Francisco

San Francisco, a paper town on the Missouri River between Nemaha and Aspinwall, was the dream of Captain Holland and some friends from St. Louis, Missouri. They platted the town and at least three homes were built there in about 1854. It also had a hotel for a short time. Stock in the town sold and a certificate may he seen at the State Historical Society By 1867 the buildings were bought by area farmers and moved or torn down for the lumber.

Fairview

Fairview is shown on an 1858 map of Nemaha County as being located three miles west of Brownville. It was platted on April 17, 1858. Nothing more is known of the town after that time.

Knaw Wood

Knaw Wood was platted on September 5. I 857. two miles north of Brownsville in section 25-6-16. Today its location is in the Missouri River. It never developed as a community.

Little York

Little York was located two miles southeast of Knaw Wood, and a little more than one mile northeast of Brownville. The town was platted on March 19, 1857. It was in section 6-5-15.

Eldoraido

Eldoraido was platted on April 9, 1857. in section 5-5-15. It was five miles west and two miles north of Brownville.

Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, a rival city with Peru. was located in the section immediately east of its neighbor. Mt. Vernon was platted on February 23, 1857, and Peru on May 9. 1857. Mt. Vernon was successful in securing the post office but within two years it was moved to Peru and Mt. Vernon was abandoned. A cemetery board was organized in 1869 and within a year it was decided to purchase a portion of the original town site for the cemetery. Mt. Vernon's brief existence is remembered through the attracted cemetery on the hill east of Peru.

Centre and Middleport

Centre and Middleport are towns whose only known history is their mention in the address by Dr. Holliday on July 4, 1876. No platting is known to exist.

Submitted by Sandi Knippelmeyer & L.D. Fletcher Hardware Store. Johnson, NE; Copied from the Nemaha County History Book with permission