Hayes County, Nebraska

Hayes County, Nebraska

County seat: Hayes Center · Created: February 19, 1877; organized late 1884 · Named for: President Rutherford B. Hayes · License plates: prefix 79 · Population: 856 (2020 census); peak 3,953 in 1890 · Area: 713 sq mi · Time zone: Central

About Hayes County

Hayes County lies on the High Plains of southwestern Nebraska, rolling tableland cut by the canyons of Red Willow, Stinking Water and Frenchman creeks. Its villages are Hayes Center, the county seat, and Hamlet, and a small part of Palisade, which lies mostly in Hitchcock County. It borders Lincoln County on the north, Frontier on the east, Hitchcock on the south, Dundy on the southwest, Chase on the west and Perkins on the northwest.

The Legislature created the county in 1877, and special officers appointed by Governor James W. Dawes organized it late in 1884 at LaForest on Blackwood Creek. Hayes Center won the county seat in an April 1885 runoff against Estelle. No railroad ever reached the county seat; the Burlington’s Frenchman Valley branch touched only the southern edge, at Palisade and past Hamlet, and some fifteen post offices and settlements across the county have since disappeared. In January 1872, before settlement, Grand Duke Alexis of Russia hunted buffalo on Red Willow Creek in what is now the county’s northeast. The county has three National Register listings: St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran German Church and Cemetery (the “White Church”) and the J. M. Daniel House and School near Hamlet.

Towns of Hayes County

Travel Corridors

NE 25 runs north–south through Hayes Center, from US 6 and Trenton in the south to Wallace and I-80 in Lincoln County. NE 25A, a 6-mile spur, links NE 25 with Palisade. US 6 crosses the southern edge of the county near Hamlet, which is reached by Spur 43A. US 6 Corridor →

Cameras: View Hayes County cameras → · Road conditions: Nebraska 511

Parks and Outdoors

Hayes County has no state park or state recreation area. Hayes Center Wildlife Management Area, known locally as Camp Hayes, covers 119 acres in the northeast of the county around Camp Hayes Lake, about 32 acres, with a boat ramp and a camping and picnic area. Frenchman WMA, 96 acres along Frenchman Creek northeast of Palisade, has three sandpits.

Things to See

The Grand Duke Alexis Buffalo Hunt marker, 4 miles east and 4 miles north of Hayes Center; St. John’s “White Church” of 1925, east-northeast of Hayes Center; the Hayes County Veterans Memorial and the Hayes County Historical Society in Hayes Center.

Hayes County Business Directory

Businesses within 20 miles of: Hayes Center · Hamlet and Palisade · All listings →

Adjacent Counties

Lincoln County (north) · Frontier County (east) · Hitchcock County (south) · Dundy County (southwest) · Chase County (west) · Perkins County (northwest).

Events

The Hayes County Fair is held at Hayes Center in the last week of July, with a ranch rodeo on the Wednesday night (July 25–August 1 in 2026).

Hayes County at a Glance

Hayes County, Nebraska — created by the Legislature on February 19, 1877, and organized late in 1884, when officers appointed by Governor James W. Dawes met at LaForest, the home of LaForest Dyer on Blackwood Creek. Named for Rutherford B. Hayes, president at the time. County seat Hayes Center. The population peaked at 3,953 in 1890, recovered to 3,603 in 1930, and has fallen at every census since, to 856 in 2020. 60 listings across 16 towns.

The railroad never came to the county seat. Freight was hauled by wagon from Culbertson, in Hitchcock County, and then from Beverly; when the Burlington reached Palisade in 1891 it shortened the haul but never touched the interior. That shaped the county’s history: about fifteen former post offices and settlements, from Carrico and Estelle to Strickland and White, against three living villages.

Getting there: NE 25, NE 25A and US 6, with Spur 43A into Hamlet. Frenchman Creek crosses the south, Stinking Water Creek the west and Red Willow Creek the northeast. Hayes Center sits at 3,058 feet. Six counties border Hayes, all in Nebraska. Central Time.

The county seat was built to be one. An election on January 10, 1885, among Hayes Center, Estelle and LaForest gave no town a majority; the runoff on April 10, 1885, went to Hayes Center, a town put up by county-seat promoters and named for its place near the county’s center. Estelle, on Stinking Water Creek, had the post office, general store, blacksmith, harness shop and mill, and it is a ghost town now. The first county offices were two rooms rented for ten dollars a month.

The Grand Duke’s buffalo hunt happened here. On January 13–15, 1872, Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovich, son of Tsar Alexander II, hunted buffalo on Red Willow Creek in a hunt arranged by General Philip Sheridan, with Generals George Custer and George Forsyth, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody as guide, and Spotted Tail’s Brulé Sioux. Camp Alexis stood about a mile north of the History Nebraska marker, which is 4 miles east and 4 miles north of Hayes Center. Because the creek is called Red Willow, the hunt is often placed in Red Willow County, which lies to the east.

Outdoors: no state park, no state recreation area and no large reservoir. Hayes Center Wildlife Management Area — Camp Hayes — about 7 miles northeast of Hayes Center, has a lake of about 32 acres, camping, fishing and hunting. No nationally notable native has been verified for Hayes County, and we would rather say so than borrow a name from a town list. If you can document one, the county historical society at Hayes Center — and this directory — would like to hear from you.