Colfax County, Nebraska

Colfax County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Schuyler
Year Organized: 1869
Square Miles: 413

Court House:

411 East 11th Street
County Courthouse
Schuyler, NE 68661-1940

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Very few, if any, Nebraska counties can make the claim that Colfax County can. When the Legislature created the county and subsequently established the county seat in 1869, it looked to Washington, D.C. for a name. Schuyler Colfax was vice president at the time, so Colfax was selected for the county name, while Schuyler was chosen for the county seat. Ironically, only 15 years earlier Colfax was a vocal supporter of a group that opposed the creation and settlement of the Nebraska Territory.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The organization of Colfax County came 56 years after the first documented report of white men traveling through the Platte River Valley. Seven members of a John Jacob Astor exploration party are said to have been returning from the Pacific Northwest when they came upon the broad valley that was inhabited by the Pawnee tribe. Over the ensuing 30 years an increasing number of traders, trappers, gold miners, and Mormon settlers passed through the area.

Farmer Daniel Hashberger settled near the future site of Schuyler in 1864. Within two years the Union Pacific Railroad was pushing westward and the Shell Creek station, later to become Schuyler, was established. By 1869, when the site was selected as the county seat, the railroad was the sole owner of the property at the site. Schuyler was incorporated in 1870.

When Colfax County was created it was actually divided from Platte County, whose inhabitants objected to the split. An agreement was worked out whereby Colfax County would assume its proportionate share of county indebtedness that existed at the time of the split.

As Schuyler and the surrounding area began to develop, it became apparent that a courthouse was needed. By 1872 a two-story brick and stone building was completed, complete with a tin roof and an ornamental tower. An interesting note is that the first floor was used for apartments for county officers, as well as for cells for prisoners. The second floor housed the court room. This building would serve Colfax County until 1922, when the present brick and terra cotta trim courthouse replaced it.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Clarkson	city	Incorporated Area
- Howells	village	Incorporated Area
- Leigh	village	Incorporated Area
- Rogers	village	Incorporated Area
- Schuyler (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."