Frontier County, Nebraska: History and Information

Frontier County, Nebraska

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

County Seat: Stockville
Year Organized: 1872
Square Miles: 975
MSA:

Court House:

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Named: When it came time to name the new county, the fact that it was located in what was referred to at that time as part of the Nebraska frontier led organizers to name it as such.

History

When Frontier County was established in 1872, the land was inhabited predominantly by cattlemen who had come to the area for the rich grazing land that it offered. When it came time to name the new county, the fact that it was located in what was referred to at that time as part of the Nebraska frontier led organizers to name it as such.

Henry and Mortimer Clifford were two of the early cattlemen to live in the area and their efforts are greatly credited for the organization the county. The Clifford brothers had come to the area, married Indian women, and decided to settle along Medicine Creek where they could raise cattle. The site of the Cliffords' settlement was not too far from where the present town of Stockville is located.

Two years before the county was officially established, cattlemen came to know the W.L. McClary ranch as the place where information could be exchanged or left for those who passed back and forth through the area. This site was located near the geographic center of the county and would be the forerunner to the settlement that would become known as Stockville, the county seat.

Stockville is not only in the geographic center of the county, it also has been the center of considerable controversy over the years.

Among the towns that were settled in the county was Curtis, located along Curtis Creek to the northwest of Stockville. Curtis was the beneficiary of a railroad line that passed through the area. Because of this, it developed much more quickly than Stockville, which had no rail line. For many years the townspeople of Curtis would call for an election to relocate the county seat to their community. These calls began shortly after the turn of the century and continued up until a decade or two ago. Despite their numerous attempts, the townspeople of Curtis were never successful in their quest.

Today, the courthouse that was built in 1888 is the prominent feature of Stockville's main street.

Neighboring Counties:

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Cities:

Curtis; Eustis; Maywood; Moorefield; Stockville

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

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