St. James Nebraska

Navigate & Explore St. James

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Former county seat · Cedar County · 1857–1909

About St. James

St. James is an unincorporated community on NE 12 about 1.5 miles east of Wynot in northeastern Cedar County. It was the first county seat. The former Sts. Philip and James Parochial School, now the St. James Marketplace, and the Sts. Philip and James Cemetery remain.

History

Charles C. Van and Moses H. Deming of Des Moines staked a claim at the mouth of Bow Creek on the Missouri in 1856, and the town was platted in July 1857. The territorial act that created Cedar County on February 12, 1857, made St. James the county seat. A courthouse was built, and during the 1864 Indian scare it was ringed with an earthwork and held by Seventh Iowa Cavalry troops. On July 24, 1863, the five Wiseman children were killed at their homestead about 3 miles east-northeast of town.

The county seat moved to St. Helena by 1869. When the Omaha Road ended its line about a mile west across Bow Creek in 1906–07, St. James businesses moved to the new town of Wynot, and the post office (1858–1909) closed. Sts. Philip and James Catholic Church served from 1904 to 2000. Its 1919 Mission Revival school, built by Henry Stuckenhoff, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and now houses the St. James Marketplace.

Things to see

St. James Marketplace, 89039 570 Ave. (artisan market, seasonal weekends) · Sts. Philip and James Cemetery · Wiseman Monument · Bow Creek Recreation Area