Sargent Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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City · Custer County · Population 500 (2020 census) · ZIP 68874 · Founded 1883 · Peak population 1,078 (1920)

About Sargent

Sargent is a city of 500 people (2020) beside the Middle Loup River in northeastern Custer County, at about 2,313 feet. US 183 runs through town as Ord Street, north to Taylor and south to Westerville and Ansley. Sargent has its own PK–12 school, a weekly clinic, the Sargent Township Library, the Sargent Leader, an airport and RV parking, and it calls itself the Antique Capital of Nebraska. Sargent is on Central Time.

History

D. S. Groff, the first settler near the site, arrived in 1874. About 1879–80 Mrs. Ruth Sherman, wife of George Sherman, opened a post office in their sod house half a mile east and named it for friends, Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Sargent of Streator, Illinois. In July 1883 J. K. Spacht built the first store in a wheat field and took the post office in on condition that the name stay Sargent, and that year Ezra P. Savage, governor of Nebraska in 1901–03, and Joseph W. Thomas, who organized the county’s first bank, laid out the town. A plan of 1894 to divide Custer County would have made Sargent a county seat, but it failed. The Burlington’s branch from Aurora reached Sargent, its northern end, in 1899, and the town grew to 1,078 people by 1920. Ralph G. Brooks, governor in 1959–60, graduated from Sargent High School in 1916. The Sargent Bridge over the Middle Loup a mile south, listed on the National Register in 1992, was lost in the 2019 flood.

Highways and trails through Sargent

Route	One way	Other way
US 183Through town as Ord St.	North to Taylor	South to Westerville and Ansley

Nearby towns

Comstock	about 8 mi southeast	US 183 and Spur S-21C
Wescott	about 9 mi southeast	County roads
Taylor	about 9 mi north	US 183
Round Valley	about 9 mi west-southwest	County roads
Walworth	about 11 mi west	County roads
Weissert	about 13 mi south-southwest	County roads
Westerville	about 15 mi south	US 183
Burwell	about 16 mi northeast	US 183 and NE 91
Arcadia	about 19 mi southeast	US 183 and NE 70
Broken Bow	about 21 mi southwest	US 183 and NE 70
Ord	about 24 mi east	NE 70 and NE 11

Things to see

antique and collectibles shops, among them Abbott Antiques on Main Street and Thompson’s Treasures, 100 N. Hwy 183 · the Nebraska Junkathon on Memorial Day weekend, the 183 Flea the weekend before July 4 and the Junk Jaunt in September · the Sargent Township Library, 506 Main St. · Comstock and the Dowse Sod House

Schools and health care

Schools: Sargent Public Schools, 400 N. 5th St., (308) 527-4119: Sargent Elementary (PK–6) and Sargent High School (7–12)

Health care: VCHS Medical Clinic – Sargent, 404 W. Main St., Wednesdays, appointments (308) 728-4202; hospitals in Broken Bow and Ord, each about 22 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; NEGenWeb Custer County (place names); Custer County Tourism; Custer County Historical Society; History Nebraska (markers); National Register listings; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nebraska DHHS hospital and clinic rosters; Nebraska 211; SchoolDigger; Nebraska Secretary of State; City of Broken Bow; Village of Callaway; VisitNebraska; NEBRASKAland; Geological Society of America abstracts; KRVN, KNOP, KOLN 10/11 and Custer County Chief reports. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.