Murdock Nebraska

Village · Cass County · Population 270 (2020 census) · ZIP 68407 · Founded 1890

About Murdock

Murdock is a village of 270 in northwestern Cass County, reached by the S-13A spur north from NE 1, about 6 miles north of Elmwood. Elmwood-Murdock Jr/Sr High is here, and so is Stock Seed Farms, which raises native grass and wildflower seed.

History

Murdock began in December 1890 as a water station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and was named for Mr. Murdock of the railroad's townsite company. Arthur Rikli opened a furniture store in 1892, and the first death that year was buried at Callahan Cemetery. The village incorporated on March 18, 1905, with 222 people; the first street fair was held in 1909, and electricity was voted in in 1920. Many early families were German immigrants, and much of the farmland around town has been held by the same families for more than 100 years.

Murdock held its centennial in 1990, and the Murdock Historical Society grew out of that display in 1993. In 1995 the society bought a building put up in 1945 by German prisoners of war, later an Allis-Chalmers dealership, for its museum, and in 2005 it added the 1906 Woodmen of the World hall as a one-room school. A mural on the museum marks the town's 125th birthday in 2015. The 2020 count of 270 is Murdock's highest.

Things to see

Murdock Museum, 400 Nebraska St., at the south end of Main St.: a boardwalk of old storefronts, a country store, an 1894 county plat map and the Country Prairie School next door (May–October, Saturday 9–noon and Sunday 1–4) · the Christian Kupke Farmstead, 32618 Church Rd., about 3 mi northeast (National Register; private) · Wabash and the east end of the MoPac Trail East, about 3 mi south-southeast · Grandpa's Woods Golf Course, 9 holes on 310th St. · Murdock Fields, 4th and Wyoming Sts. · Fourth of July parade at 11 a.m.