Phillips Nebraska

Village · Hamilton County · Population 320 (2020 census) · ZIP 68865 · Founded 1884 · Peak population 405 (1980)

About Phillips

Phillips is a village of 320 people (2020) in northwestern Hamilton County, at 1,890 feet about a mile south of the Platte River and 11 miles west-northwest of Aurora; Grand Island is about 8 miles west-northwest. Spur 41A runs north from US 34, and I-80 Exit 318 (NE 2) is to the south. Deep Well Wildlife Management Area is nearby, and the village holds an Independence Day celebration. Phillips is on Central Time.

History

The Lincoln Land Company bought the site from P. M. Cross in 1873–74, but the town was not surveyed until the spring of 1884, when the Burlington & Missouri River built west from Aurora; the trains arrived that June. It was named for Capt. R. O. Phillips, who handled town-site work for the land company. St. Joe, laid out by J. W. Skelton about two and a half miles south in 1878–79 and bypassed by the railroad, moved its post office and most of its buildings to Phillips in 1884 and was vacated in 1886. Phillips incorporated on March 17, 1891. In 1918 the Burlington moved its tracks out of the middle of town to a line to the south and built a new depot. Phillips Memorial Hall, built in 1940 to honor World War I veterans, long served as the school gym. The village reached its peak of 405 people in 1980.

Things to see

Deep Well WMA, about 238 acres · Phillips Memorial Hall (1940) · the Platte River just north