Wauneta Nebraska

Village · Chase County · Population 549 (2020 census) · ZIP 69045 · Founded 1887 · Peak population 926 (1950)

About Wauneta

Wauneta is a village of 549 (2020) in eastern Chase County, in the valley of Frenchman Creek (also called the Frenchman River), where the town grew up beside a low waterfall. US 6 runs along the south edge of town; the main street is Tecumseh Avenue. Wauneta has its own school district, Wauneta-Palisade, a branch of the county clinic, a village-run nursing home and a library.

History

George Rowley and his wife built a sod house at the Wauneta Falls in 1875, the first settlement in the county, according to Wikipedia. A post office opened on June 19, 1877, with Lyman Rowley as postmaster; it closed in 1882 and reopened in 1886. The name comes from the popular song "Juanita," respelled because Nebraska already had a Juniata; the story that it is an Indian word for "winter camp" was called an error as early as 1925. John Hann started the Wauneta Breeze on January 17, 1887, and W. S. "Deak" Fisher, who owned the town site, had it platted into 18 blocks that fall, with Tecumseh Avenue as the main street.

Blair and D. E. Polly built a water-powered flour mill on the east side of the falls in 1887. It burned in 1905 and was rebuilt in 1907 as H. E. Athey's mill, which also burned. In 1925 Bert and Edna Maxfield built the diesel-powered Wauneta Roller Mills, the town's third mill; it was listed on the National Register in 2008 and, as Nebraska's last family-run roller mill, made "Wauneta's Best" flour until production paused in May 2022. The Burlington branch from Culbertson reached Wauneta on January 28, 1892, and the village was the end of the track until the line reached Imperial. Wauneta reached its largest population, 926, in 1950. The Breeze, the county's oldest paper, merged into the Imperial Republican in November 2020.

Things to see

Wauneta Roller Mills, 112 N. Arapahoe Ave. (1925; National Register; view from outside) · the Chateau Theatre, 217 N. Tecumseh, with weekend movies in season · the Little Grand Canyon, a loess canyon on private land seen from a signed pull-off north and west of town, built as a Boy Scout project and kept up by the village · the village park, with a 9-hole disc golf course, pickleball, ball fields and a walking trail, and the village swimming pool, 473 S. Bodeman Park Dr. (ask the village office about the season) · the Village of Wauneta RV Park, 454 S. Arikaree Ave., with full hookups at $20 a night · the Wauneta Public Library, 319 N. Tecumseh · the Harvest Festival, usually the last weekend of July, and Oktoberfest in October