Hershey Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Lincoln County · Population 649 (2020 census) · ZIP 69143 · Founded 1892 · Peak population 665 (2010)

About Hershey

Hershey is a village of 649 people (2020) in western Lincoln County, at about 2,900 feet on US 30, the Lincoln Highway, beside the Union Pacific main line, with I-80 just south across the Platte valley. Hershey has its own schools, a post office, Centennial Park and the Hershey Fall Festival in late August. North River WMA lies 3 miles north and Hershey WMA at the I-80 interchange. Hershey is on Central Time.

History

A post office was already here by 1890. In 1892 farmers and ranchers organized a town-site company to get a railroad siding for hay and potatoes, and on February 5, 1892, Annie S. Guthrie, widow of a railroad engineer, platted the town as a Union Pacific station. It was named for J. H. Hershey, a Pennsylvanian and partner in the Paxton & Hershey Land and Cattle Company. Irrigation ditches dug from 1884 and 1894 watered sugar beets and potatoes, drawing Mexican families to the fields. Hershey incorporated in April 1909. Ben Kuroki, whose family moved here when he was a year old, graduated from Hershey High School in 1936 and became the only Japanese American in the Army Air Forces to fly combat missions over both Europe and Japan, 58 in all. The village reached 665 people in 2010.

Highways and trails through Hershey

Route	One way	Other way
US 30Through town, the Lincoln Highway	East to North Platte	West to Sutherland and Paxton

Nearby towns

Sutherland	about 7 mi west	US 30
North Platte	about 13 mi east	US 30
Paxton	about 18 mi west	US 30
Wallace	about 24 mi south-southwest	I-80 and NE 25
Maxwell	about 26 mi east-southeast	US 30
Tryon	about 27 mi north	NE 97
Wellfleet	about 31 mi south-southeast	I-80 and US 83
Ogallala	about 37 mi west	I-80

Things to see

North River WMA, 3 miles north · Centennial Park · the Hershey Fall Festival in late August

Events in Hershey

Hershey Fall Festival
Hershey Fall Festival is held in Hershey, Nebraska, on the last full weekend of August.

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Hershey Public Schools, 301 S. Lincoln Ave.: elementary (308) 368-5572, high school (308) 368-5573

Health care: Nearest hospital: Great Plains Health, 601 W. Leota St., North Platte, (308) 568-8000, about 13 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Lincoln County (co.lincoln.ne.us); History Nebraska and HMdb markers; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); 1890 Nebraska State Gazetteer; NEGenWeb Lincoln County; National Archives (North Platte Canteen); National Register; VA National Cemetery Administration; Nebraska Game and Parks; Golden Spike Tower; NEBRASKAland Days; AirNav; KNOP; North Platte Chamber; SchoolDigger. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.