Hayes County, Nebraska

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

County Seat: Hayes Center
Year Organized: 1877
Square Miles: 713

Court House:

502 Troth St, P.O. Box 370
County Courthouse
Hayes Center, NE 69032-0370

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Namedfor President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Hayes County was created by an act of the Legislature on Feb. 19, 1877 and named for President Rutherford B. Hayes. It was not until the latter part of 1884, however, that the county officially organized. The following year, Hayes Center was founded with the intent of it being the county seat.

The early history of Hayes County, like so many others in Southwest Nebraska, centers around the cattle herds that were driven from Texas to Ogallala. Pre-dating that were the days when the Pawnee and Sioux tribes roamed the grasslands in this area and hunted buffalo. It was the buffalo that resulted in one of the most significant events in the history of what today is Hayes County.

In October 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant revealed that Grand Duke Alexis of Russia would be making a tour of the United States. One of the Duke's desires was to shoot a buffalo during his visit. Arrangements were quickly made for the Duke and his party of hunt on the central plains in the Nebraska Territory. Leading the hunt would be Gen. George Custer and Gen. Phil Sheridan. Buffalo Bill Cody, at age 25, would serve as the guide.

Cody asked Sioux Chief Spotted Tail to help round up a buffalo herd. In exchange for his assistance, Spotted Tail would receive 1,000 pounds of tobacco.

An elaborate camp was set up one mile west of Red Willow Creek, just inside what today is the eastern boundary of the county. It included two hospital tents for royal meals, ten wall tents for guests and generals, and a dormitory tent for orderlies and Russian servants.

The hunt took place in January 1872. The scouts and the Sioux found a herd of buffalo near Medicine Creek. After Duke Alexis emptied two pistols, Cody gave him a .50 caliber Springfield rifle. On his first shot, the Duke dropped a buffalo bull. Russian servants immediately brought out a basket of champagne to celebrate. Before the hunt ended, the Duke shot a total of eight buffalo.

Neighboring Counties:

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Cities and Towns:

- Hamlet	village	Incorporated Area
- Hayes Center (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

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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."