Vesta Nebraska

Former village · Johnson County · school from 1857; Burlington station by 1885

About Vesta

Vesta is a former village in Johnson County on US 136, about 8 miles west of Tecumseh and 5 miles east-northeast of Crab Orchard. The Vesta Cemetery, with burials from 1866, is beside the highway.

History

Vesta was one of the county's original precincts and post offices; a school opened in 1857, and 45 school-age children were counted in 1862. W. H. Strong, who settled in 1856, wrote family letters from Vesta in the 1850s and 1860s. A schoolteacher is said to have named the place for a former student from Massachusetts. In 1882 it had about ten families, a general store and a small Baptist church, with merchant A. B. Noble postmaster since 1873. By 1885 Vesta was a station on the Burlington's branch toward Beatrice, and in 1890 it had about 150 people. It still appears on the 1912 county map; today the cemetery remains.

Nearby towns

Crab Orchard	about 4.7 mi west-southwest	US 136
Sterling	about 8 mi north-northwest	County roads
Tecumseh	about 8 mi east	US 136
Lewiston	about 9 mi south-southwest	County roads
Elk Creek	about 12 mi east-southeast	US 136, NE 50 and NE 62