Lynch Nebraska

Listings in Lynch Nebraska

Village · Boyd County · Population 194 (2020 census) · ZIP 68746 · Founded 1890 · Peak population 589 (1920)

About Lynch

Lynch is a village of 194 on NE 12 in eastern Boyd County, in the Ponca Creek valley between the Missouri and Niobrara rivers. It has Niobrara Valley Hospital, with 24-hour emergency care, an elementary campus of Boyd County Public Schools, a grocery store, fuel and the Lynch RV Park. Monowi is about 7 miles east.

History

Lynch is named for John Lynch, who staked the first claim in 1890 and kept the post office, opened August 22, 1890, in his dugout home. The village was organized in 1892 and incorporated in January 1893. A tornado nearly destroyed the town in 1896. The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (later the Chicago & North Western) reached Lynch in June 1902, building west from Niobrara up the Ponca Creek valley; service ended in 1978. The population peaked at 589 in 1920.

On September 7, 1804, Lewis and Clark camped at the foot of a hill they called the Tower, now Old Baldy, about 7 miles north of Lynch. Clark wrote that it stood about 70 feet above the land around it, and the men caught a live prairie dog by pouring water into its burrow. Ponca Creek runs past Lynch through the old Ponca homeland; the tribe was forced to leave in 1877 (see the Ponca Trail of Tears). In March 2019 flooding destroyed about 30 of the town's 100 homes.

Read the full History of Lynch →

Highways and trails through Lynch

Route	One way	Other way
NE 12East–west through Lynch	West to Bristow (about 6 mi) and Spencer (about 15 mi)	East to Monowi (about 7 mi) and Niobrara (about 22 mi)

Nearby towns

Redbird	about 5 mi south	Across the Niobrara River
Bristow	about 6 mi west	NE 12
Monowi	about 7 mi east	NE 12
Gross	about 13 mi northwest	NE 12 and gravel roads
Spencer	about 15 mi west	NE 12
Niobrara	about 22 mi east	NE 12

Things to see

Lewis and Clark Camp Site marker on Sampson St. just north of NE 12 · Old Baldy (The Tower), about 7 mi north, seen from an overlook · Sunshine Bottom access on the Missouri River, 3 mi east then north on Sunshine Bottom Rd. · Lynn Theatre

Schools and health care

Schools: Boyd County Public Schools: Boyd County Elementary (Lynch), 701 Hoffman St. (elementary grades); grades 5–12 attend Boyd County Middle School and Boyd County High School in Spencer

Health care: Niobrara Valley Hospital, 401 S. Fifth St. (critical access hospital with 24-hour emergency care); Lynch Medical Clinic

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

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1900	231	—
1910	583	152.4%
1920	589	1.0%
1930	498	−15.4%
1940	487	−2.2%
1950	440	−9.7%
1960	409	−7.0%
1970	375	−8.3%
1980	357	−4.8%
1990	296	−17.1%
2000	269	−9.1%
2010	245	−8.9%
2020	194	−20.8%

Lynch Nebraska Main Street

By Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) – Lynch, NebraskaUploaded by AlbertHerring, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29429423