Box Butte County, Nebraska

Box Butte County, Nebraska

County seat: Alliance · Created: November 2, 1886, by vote from southern Dawes County · Named for: Box Butte, about 12 miles north-northeast of Alliance · License plates: prefix 65 · Population: 10,842 (2020 census); peak 13,696 in 1980 · Area: 1,078 sq mi · Time zone: Mountain

About Box Butte County

Box Butte County lies on the high tableland of the northern Panhandle where the Sandhills begin, farmed with center-pivot irrigation and grazed by cattle. Alliance, the county seat, is a BNSF railroad city and the home of Carhenge; Hemingford is a village on NE 2 with the county fairgrounds; Berea is a railroad settlement where US 385 joins NE 2. It borders Dawes County on the north, Sheridan on the east, Morrill on the south, Scotts Bluff on the southwest and Sioux on the west. Its four National Register listings are the Alliance Commercial Historic District, the courthouse, the Central Park fountain and the Running Water Stage Station site.

Homesteaders filed more than 3,000 claims in 1884–86, and on November 2, 1886, voters split the county from Dawes, naming it for a box-shaped butte promoted by the homesteading Bissell family. Nonpareil was the first seat in 1887; Hemingford won it in 1890; Alliance, founded by the Burlington in 1888, won in 1898, and in July 1899 the railroad carried the courthouse there on flatcars. The present courthouse dates from 1913–14. During World War II the Alliance Army Air Field trained glider and paratroop crews, and the county reached its peak of 13,696 people in 1980.

Towns of Box Butte County

Travel Corridors

NE 2 — the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway, east from Alliance toward Hyannis and northwest through Berea and Hemingford toward Crawford, joined by NE 71 northwest of Hemingford. Highway 2 Corridor → US 385 runs south from Alliance to Bridgeport and north from Berea to Chadron. NE 87 starts in Alliance and runs north past Carhenge to Hay Springs. No Interstate enters the county.

Cameras: View Box Butte County cameras → · Road conditions: Nebraska 511

Outdoors

There is no state park or wildlife area inside the county. The nearest big water is Box Butte Reservoir State Recreation Area, just over the line in Dawes County about 9 miles north of Hemingford, (308) 665-2903: 2,212 acres including a 1,600-acre lake on the Niobrara, 86 campsites (60 with 30/50-amp electric), a shower house and dump station, two ramps and fishing for pike, walleye, bass, catfish and perch; reservations 1-844-637-2757 and a park entry permit required. In Alliance, Jeske’s Over The Hill Campground next to Carhenge (15 full-hookup sites, cash) and J&C RV Park on US 385 have RV sites; the city has no campground. Laing Lake in Alliance is a kids’ fishing lake, and the 2-mile Snake Creek Trail links it with Central Park. Hunters rely on walk-in Open Fields and Waters tracts; check the current Public Access Atlas.

Things to See

In Alliance: Carhenge, 38 vintage cars set up in 1987 as a Stonehenge replica, owned by the city since 2013, free and open daily with the Car Art Reserve and Pit Stop gift shop; the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center; the Sallows Military Museum; the Carnegie Arts Center; the Central Park fountain; and the Alliance Army Air Field marker.

Box Butte County Business Directory

Businesses within 20 miles of: Alliance · Hemingford · All listings →

Adjacent Counties

Dawes County (north) · Sheridan County (east) · Morrill County (south) · Scotts Bluff County (southwest) · Sioux County (west).

Events

Alliance Heritage Days, held downtown each July since 1981, has a parade and carnival (July 14–19 in 2026). The Box Butte County Fair runs in Hemingford in early August (August 1–9 in 2026).

Box Butte County at a Glance

Box Butte County, Nebraska — 1,078 square miles of irrigated tableland with 10,842 people, county seat Alliance. 204 listings across 5 towns. Mountain Time.

Getting there: US 385 from Bridgeport or Chadron; NE 2 from the Sandhills or from Crawford; NE 87 from Hay Springs. Alliance has a commercial airport.

For visitors: Carhenge, the Knight Museum and the Sallows Military Museum in Alliance, the county fair in Hemingford, and Box Butte Reservoir just north. Hospital in Alliance.