Berea Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Berea Area Cameras

Unincorporated community · Box Butte County · Population 49 (2020 census) · ZIP 69301 · Founded 1889

About Berea

Berea is an unincorporated community and census place of 49 people (2020) in Box Butte County, at about 4,141 feet on the west side of the BNSF tracks where US 385 from Chadron joins NE 2, about 9 miles northwest of Alliance and 9 miles southeast of Hemingford. It has a grain loading facility but no stores; mail comes through Alliance, ZIP 69301. Berea is on Mountain Time.

History

The Burlington reached this point in 1889 and put up a water tower and section house, and settlers from Ohio named the place for Berea, Ohio. A post office opened in 1890–91, with a general store and a newspaper, the Press, and again briefly in 1925. A school and hall followed, a garage in 1921 and a small refinery in 1935. The country school, District 39, closed in 2007 with nine students. In 2010 West Plains Grain announced a 126-car grain loading facility here.

Highways and trails through Berea

Route	One way	Other way
NE 2 / US 385Join here	Southeast to Alliance	NE 2 northwest to Hemingford; US 385 north to Chadron

Nearby towns

Hemingford	about 9 mi north-northwest	NE 2
Alliance	about 9 mi southeast	NE 2 and US 385
Letan	about 14 mi south	US 385
Nonpareil	about 15 mi northwest	NE 2 and local roads
Marsland	about 23 mi northwest	NE 2
Chadron	about 43 mi north	US 385

Things to see

Carhenge, about 8 miles southeast

Schools and health care

Schools: No school in town; Alliance Public Schools, (308) 762-5475, or Hemingford Public Schools

Health care: Nearest hospital: Box Butte General Hospital, 2101 Box Butte Ave., Alliance, (308) 762-6660, about 9 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Box Butte County (boxbuttecountyne.gov); City of Alliance; Village of Hemingford; NEGenWeb Box Butte County; Nebraska Who's Who (1940) county sketch; 1890 Nebraska State Gazetteer; History Nebraska (incl. "Moving the Courthouse" and marker 416); National Register; NDOT; Nebraska Game and Parks; Box Butte General Hospital; Alliance Chamber of Commerce; Alliance Times; SchoolDigger; Nebraska Library Commission; SPACES; Open Plains Transit. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.