Banner County, Nebraska

Banner County, Nebraska

County seat: Harrisburg · Created: November 6, 1888, from Cheyenne County; organized January 29, 1889 · Named for: the hope that it would be the "banner county" of Nebraska · License plates: prefix 85 · Population: 674 (2020 census); peak 2,435 in 1890 · Area: 746 sq mi · Time zone: Mountain

About Banner County

Banner County is high ranch and wheat country in the southern Panhandle between the Wildcat Hills, which form its northern edge, and the dry tableland called the Divide. Pumpkin Creek flows east across the middle of the county past Harrisburg, the county seat and only community, which is not incorporated. No Interstate, US highway or railroad has ever entered the county; NE 71 runs north from Kimball to Gering, and NE 88 runs east from the Wyoming line toward Bridgeport.

Ranchers arrived in the 1870s and homesteaders from 1884. Voters split the county from Cheyenne County on November 6, 1888, and its settlers named it in the hope that it would become the banner county of the state. Ashford was the temporary seat; Ashford, Banner, Freeport and Centropolis competed, and Centropolis, renamed Harrisburg in 1889, won after two elections. The 1890 census counted 2,435 people, still the county's highest, before drought drove many away; the 1904 Kinkaid Act brought a second wave. Oil was found near Harrisburg in 1951, reaching about 7.5 million barrels a year by 1960. In the 1960s about 20 Minuteman missile sites of F.E. Warren Air Force Base were built in the county, and they remain active on private land. The C. C. Hampton Homestead, a private 1890 ranch near Hull, is the county's National Register listing.

Towns of Banner County

Travel Corridors

NE 71 — north from Kimball and I-80 past Harrisburg (by Spur 4A) and through the Wildcat Hills to Gering and Scottsbluff. Highway 71 Corridor →

NE 88 — east from the Wyoming line (toward LaGrange) north of Harrisburg, sharing about 4 miles with NE 71, then on to Bridgeport.

Cameras: View Banner County cameras → · Road conditions: Nebraska 511

Things to See

The Banner County Museum in Harrisburg, with the log Flowerfield School, a sod house and pioneer church, where Panhandle fourth graders spend an 1880s school day each fall; Banner County Historical Day on the first Saturday in June; the butte of Gabe Rock; and the sites of the early towns and post offices of Ashford, Freeport, Hull and Kirk.

Outdoors

Banner County has no state park, campground or public lake. Williams Gap WMA (1,829 acres, south of McGrew) and Buffalo Creek WMA (about 4,300 acres, on the Scotts Bluff line) are open to hunting on foot for deer, elk and turkey; the rest of the county is private, and the yearly Public Access Atlas lists walk-in land. The nearest camping is at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area just north in Scotts Bluff County, where bighorn sheep live, and at Oliver Reservoir west of Kimball. The southern half of the county is prone to flash floods at snowmelt.

Banner County Business Directory

Businesses within 20 miles of: Harrisburg · All listings →

Adjacent Counties

Scotts Bluff County (north) · Morrill County (east) · Cheyenne County (southeast) · Kimball County (south) · Laramie County, Wyoming (west and southwest) · Goshen County, Wyoming (northwest).

Events

Each year: Banner County Historical Day in Harrisburg on the first Saturday in June, and the joint Kimball-Banner County Fair in Kimball in early August.

Banner County at a Glance

Banner County, Nebraska — ranch country between the Wildcat Hills and Kimball, with one community, the unincorporated county seat of Harrisburg. Mountain Time.

Getting there: NE 71 from Kimball (I-80) or Scottsbluff, then Spur 4A to Harrisburg; NE 88 from Bridgeport or Wyoming.

For visitors: the Banner County Museum and Historical Day in Harrisburg; Williams Gap and Buffalo Creek WMAs. No hospital: Scottsbluff and Kimball.