Holdrege History

There were no trees in Holdrege when the Swedes came in the 1880s. The Swedes, recalling wooded hills of Scandinavia, found the barren prairie land strange and windswept. They immediately planted trees and set them in straight rows. That pattern of straightness leaves its imprint on Holdrege today.

Holdrege, a new railroad point, was named after George W. Holdrege, general manager of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Company, who constructed most of the line's mileage in Nebraska. On December 10, 1883, the first train arrived in Holdrege, a little pioneer town inhabited by 200 people.

A campaign was started in 1883 to move the county seat from Phelps Center to Holdrege, and an election was held in October. By that time, the town had acquired a block of ground on which to erect a courthouse and, with calm assurance of victory at the polls, they laid the cornerstone of the building which was intended to be the Phelps County Courthouse. At the special election, Holdrege received a majority of the votes. Legality of the election was questioned, and citizens of Holdrege went to Phelps Center, picked up the official records and books, brought them to Holdrege, and hid them for two months pending the arrival of the county officials to take over on January 1, 1885. Holdrege succeeded in becoming the county seat and the courthouse was completed.

Holdrege was incorporated as a village on February 14, 1884. It quickly became the metropolis of the county, being well located with good roads from all directions. The early history of the town was one of ups and downs-good crops one year and drought and no crops at all for several years following. In 1910, C. W. McConaughy, a Holdrege grain dealer, began crusading for use of the Platte River to supplement subsoil moisture for farmlands in the area. A dream had become a reality when Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District began its power production and irrigation operations and water flowed into Phelps County for irrigation in 1941. The city was declared a first-class city on May 4, 1967.

The large increase in population of Holdrege in the immediate post-war years was due mostly to irrigation. With irrigation came increased crop production which brought a pipeline company, grain elevators, and agriculture-related businesses.

In 1995, Holdrege was selected No. 38 of the 100 best small towns in America with a population of 5,000 to 15,000 by Norm Crampton, author of "Best 100 Small Towns in America." Factors considered in the survey were; crime rate, educational quality, pollution and others.