Scotia Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Greeley County · Population 301 (2020 census) · ZIP 68875 · Founded 1874 · Peak population 559 (1920)

About Scotia

Scotia is a village of 301 people (2020) on the north bank of the North Loup River in southwestern Greeley County, at about 1,933 feet. NE 22 runs through town as Scotia Avenue, and NE 11 comes north past Happy Jack Peak to join NE 22 west to North Loup, which puts Scotia on the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway. Greeley is about 10 miles east-northeast. Scotia has Central Valley Elementary (PK–6), a public library, a post office and churches. Scotia is on Central Time.

History

A Seventh Day Baptist colony from Wisconsin chose the bottomlands near here in 1871, and when settlers arrived in 1872 the trapper and scout Jack Swearengen, "Happy Jack," was living in a dugout in the chalk bluffs south of the river. Scotia, a literary name for Scotland, was suggested by a Scottish settler, said to be Samuel Scott. In 1874 voters moved the county seat from Lamartine to the Scotia site; the post office opened in January 1877, and Ed Wright opened the county's first store here. Wright began mining the chalk bluffs south of town in 1877–78, and in 1887 he finished a general store of chalk blocks, the Scotia Chalk Building, now on the National Register and the only surviving chalk commercial building identified in Nebraska. The Union Pacific built a spur into Scotia in 1883, but the Burlington went through Greeley Center, which won the county seat in 1890. Scotia reached 559 people in 1920. Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum, was born near Scotia in 1873; his family moved to Iowa the next year.

Highways and trails through Scotia

Route	One way	Other way
NE 22Through town as Scotia Avenue	West with NE 11 to North Loup	East to US 281 and Wolbach
NE 11Joins NE 22 at Scotia	West with NE 22 to North Loup, then north to Ord	South past Happy Jack to Elba and Dannebrog

Nearby towns

North Loup	about 4 mi west-northwest	NE 22 and NE 11
Cotesfield	about 8 mi south-southeast	NE 11
Greeley	about 10 mi east-northeast	NE 22 and US 281
Elba	about 14 mi south-southeast	NE 11
Ord	about 15 mi northwest	NE 11
Wolbach	about 17 mi east-southeast	NE 22
St. Paul	about 22 mi southeast	NE 11 and NE 92
Spalding	about 23 mi northeast	US 281 and NE 91
Burwell	about 31 mi northwest	NE 11
Grand Island	about 42 mi south-southeast	NE 11 and US 281

Things to see

Happy Jack Peak and Chalk Mine, about 2 miles south on NE 11: guided tours of a room-and-pillar chalk mine, Memorial Day to Labor Day, (308) 245-3276 · the Chalk Mine historical marker beside it · the 1887 Scotia Chalk Building on Main Street (National Register) · Davis Creek Reservoir, about 4 miles southwest: a 1,145-acre lake with 74 electric campsites · the Scotia Public Library, 110 S. Main St., (308) 245-3191

Schools and health care

Schools: Central Valley Elementary – Scotia (PK–6), 303 N. Indian St.; Central Valley High School (7–12) in Greeley; district office (308) 428-3145

Health care: Nearest hospital: Valley County Health System in Ord, about 15 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Nebraska Who's Who (1940) county history; 1890 and 1917 Nebraska State Gazetteers; Greeley County (history, offices); History Nebraska (markers); National Register nominations (NPGallery); U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Lower Loup NRD; Nebraska Library Commission; Nebraska Extension; Riverside and Central Valley Public Schools; Diocese of Grand Island; KOLN 10/11; VisitNebraska; Nebraska Passport. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.

Greeley County's original county seat, home to the National Register-listed 1887 Scotia Chalk Building.