Lowell Nebraska

Former county seat · Kearney County · county seat 1872–1878

About Lowell

Lowell is an unincorporated place of a few homes in northern Kearney County, on Lowell Road about 4 miles south of I-80 Exit 285 at Gibbon, whose ZIP code (68840) it uses. A History Nebraska marker tells its story. Fort Kearny State Recreation Area and Fort Kearny State Historical Park are about 8 miles west.

History

The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad chose the townsite in 1871 and named it for the poet James Russell Lowell. In 1872 Lowell became the county’s first incorporated town, won the county seat from Kearney City on June 17 by a vote of 23 to 5, and greeted the railroad on July 8. As the end of track it boomed with Texas cattle shipping and four saloons, and the U.S. Land Office for the Republican Valley opened here; by one estimate as many as 2,000 people lived here. The boom was short: the railroad reached Kearney in 1873, the land office moved to Bloomington in 1874, and after a court fight the county records went to Minden in 1878. By 1882 Lowell had about fifty people. Its 1872 depot, used until 1942, is now at Pioneer Village in Minden. On a hill southeast of town, a cement boot erected in 1976 marks a boot hill with about 25 unmarked graves; the dirt road there is impassable in wet weather and ends at private land.

Things to see

the History Nebraska marker on Lowell Road · Boot Hill Cemetery (cement boot memorial, 1976) · Fort Kearny State Historical Park, about 8 miles west · the Fort Kearny State Recreation Area