Butte Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

BUTTE WEATHER

Village · Boyd County · County seat · Population 286 (2020 census) · ZIP 68722 · Founded 1890 · Peak population 623 (1940)

About Butte

Butte is the county seat of Boyd County, a village of 286 where NE 11 and NE 12 meet, about 6.5 miles south of the South Dakota line. It has the county courthouse, an Avera clinic open on Mondays, a library and a city park. Anoka is 3 miles north, and Spencer about 10 miles east.

History

John Gormley started the first business in 1890, a store run from a wagon box about a quarter mile north of today's town, and he was the first postmaster. Wells were hard to dig there, so the buildings moved south to the present site. When Boyd County was organized on August 1, 1891, Butte became the temporary county seat, and it later won the seat by popular vote. Businesses moved in from Mankato, 2.5 miles south, and by 1892 Butte had two hotels, a brickyard and a stone quarry. The town is named for buttes near the site; local histories name the Harvey Buttes, just south of town. The railroad never reached Butte; the nearest station was at Anoka. The population peaked at 623 in 1940.

George Wagner, the wrestler "Gorgeous George," was born in Butte in 1915, and Tim Walz, later governor of Minnesota, graduated from Butte High School in 1982. In the early 1990s land two miles west of Butte was bought for a five-state low-level radioactive waste site. After years of local opposition and court fights that ended in 2004, the site was never built. The county's old jail, built about 1915–16, is one of the few of its kind left in Nebraska; the County Clerk's office arranges tours.

Read the full History of Butte →

Highways and trails through Butte

Route	One way	Other way
NE 11Shares 1 mile with NE 12 in Butte	North to the South Dakota line (6.5 mi), then SD 43 to US 18 near Fairfax	South to Atkinson, Holt County (about 33 mi)
NE 12East–west through Butte	West to Naper (13 mi) and Springview (about 54 mi)	East to Spencer (about 10 mi)

Nearby towns

Anoka	about 3 mi north	County road
Fairfax, South Dakota	about 9 mi north	NE 11, SD 43 and US 18
Spencer	about 10 mi east	NE 12
Naper	13 mi west	NE 12
Bristow	about 18 mi east	NE 12
Lynch	about 25 mi east	NE 12
Atkinson	about 33 mi south	NE 11

Things to see

Boyd County Courthouse, 401 Thayer St., and the old county jail (tours through the County Clerk) · Butte City Park on the east side of NE 12 · Davies Memorial Library

Schools and health care

Schools: Boyd County Public Schools: Boyd County Butte Elementary, 402 Butte St. (pre-K to grade 4); grades 5–12 attend Boyd County Middle School and Boyd County High School in Spencer

Health care: Avera Medical Group Butte, 730 Wilson St. (Mondays 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m.); nearest hospital Niobrara Valley Hospital, Lynch (about 25 mi)

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; NEGenWeb Boyd County histories; History Nebraska; Nebraska Department of Transportation route mileposts. Distances marked "about" are estimates.