Purdum Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Unincorporated community · Blaine County · ZIP 69157 · Founded 1884

About Purdum

Purdum is an unincorporated community and census place on the North Loup River in northwestern Blaine County, just east of the Thomas County line, at about 2,700 feet; 21 people lived in the census place in 2010. It is reached from Halsey by about 14 miles of single-lane oiled road, so keep two tires on the pavement when you meet traffic. Purdum has a church, a cemetery and a volunteer fire department; schools are Sandhills Public Schools in Halsey and Dunning. Purdum is on Central Time.

History

George F. Purdum and his family were the first homesteaders on Buffalo Flats, arriving in March 1883. They petitioned for a post office without suggesting a name, so the Post Office Department named it Purdum; it opened in 1884 in a cracker box at the Purdum home and later moved several times, once across the line into Thomas County, always keeping the name. Purdum was one of the county’s three original precincts in 1886. It had a brass band, a Modern Woodmen lodge and the county’s first automobile, and in the 1920s a store, a bank, the post office, a garage and two halls. The Congregational church joined the Blaine County Larger Parish with Brewster and Dunning in 1927. On October 2, 2022, Mike Moody, 59, assistant chief of the Purdum Volunteer Fire Department, died while fighting the Bovee Fire near Halsey.

Nearby towns

Halsey	about 11 mi south	local road
Natick	about 12 mi southwest	local roads and NE 2
Thedford	about 17 mi west-southwest	local roads and NE 2
Dunning	about 18 mi south-southeast	local roads and NE 2
Brewster	about 22 mi east-southeast	local roads
Linscott	about 26 mi south-southeast	local roads
Ainsworth	about 39 mi north-northeast	local roads and NE 7
Stapleton	about 42 mi south-southwest	NE 2 and US 83
Valentine	about 58 mi north-northwest	US 83

Things to see

the North Loup River valley · the Bessey Recreation Complex and campground, about 11 miles south near Halsey

Schools and health care

Schools: Sandhills Public Schools: elementary in Halsey, (308) 533-2203; high school in Dunning, (308) 538-2224

Health care: No clinic in the county; nearest hospitals: Broken Bow and North Platte, both about 55–60 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Blaine County (blainecounty.ne.gov); NEGenWeb Blaine County and Belle Dunn's county history; Nebraska Who's Who (1940) county sketch; Jim Forte Postal History; USPS Postal Bulletin; Courthouses.co; Nebraska Game and Parks; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; USGS; NDOT; Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway; History Nebraska; VisitNebraska; Sandhills Public Schools; SchoolDigger; KOLN. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.