Bushnell Nebraska

Village · Kimball County · Population 115 (2020 census) · ZIP 69128 · Founded 1867 · Peak population 341 (1930)

About Bushnell

Bushnell is a village of 115 (2020) at the western end of Kimball County, on US 30 (the Lincoln Highway, here Birch Street) and the Union Pacific at 4,869 feet, the highest of the county's towns. It is the first Nebraska town on US 30 coming from Wyoming; Pine Bluffs is about 10 miles west. I-80 exit 8 is 2.7 miles south by Link 53C, and that exit is the start of the route to Panorama Point, Nebraska's highest point. Bushnell is on Mountain Time.

History

Bushnell dates from 1867, when the Union Pacific built through, and was named for Cornelius S. Bushnell, the financier who backed the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. In the 1880s its post office was called Orkney; the 1890 gazetteer lists it as Orkney-Bushnell, 16 miles west of Kimball. Settlers at Bushnell and Antelopeville (now Kimball) were the first in this corner of what was then Cheyenne County.

The village was incorporated by 1920, and its volunteer fire department was organized in 1921 with 27 members. The population peaked at 341 in 1930; the 757 sometimes quoted for 1920 was the whole Bushnell precinct. The grain elevator still ships by rail. Bushnell Day, first held in 1974, brings a parade, a truck show and a fire department hog roast to Hammond Park each August.

Things to see

Panorama Point (5,424 ft), Nebraska's highest point, on the High Point Bison Ranch about 17 mi south-southwest; a fee of about $3 per person goes in the box at the gate, and bison roam the pasture. From I-80 exit 8 at Bushnell, go south on County Road 17 to its end (10 mi), west on Road 8 (4.2 mi), south on Road 9 (1 mi), west on Road 6 (2 mi) and south on Road 5 (2 mi), then west on the signed ranch road about 1.2 mi · Bushnell Day in Hammond Park, with its grain-bin gazebo, usually the third Saturday in August · the Bushnell Calvary United Methodist Church on 3rd St. · Oliver Reservoir, about 5 mi east, with camping