Plainview Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

PLAINVIEW WEATHER

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Plainview Area Cameras

Plainview area cameras are on US-20. Pierce County Cameras

Navigate & Explore Plainview

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Nearby businesses: Find businesses within 20 miles of Plainview →

Road conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov

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Travel corridor: US 20 Corridor →

Pierce County → · Nebraska Town Directory →

City · Pierce County · Population 1,282 (2020 census) · ZIP 68769 · Founded 1880 · Peak population 1,494 (1970)

About Plainview

Plainview is a city of 1,282 people (2020) in northwestern Pierce County, at 1,686 feet on US 20, which runs through town as Park Avenue; NE 13 comes up from Pierce and meets it here. It is the county’s second-largest town and calls itself the Klown Kapital. Plainview has CHI Health Plainview, a 15-bed critical access hospital, Plainview Public Schools and the public library. Alexander Payne filmed much of his 2013 movie Nebraska here, with the town standing in for “Hawthorne.” Plainview is on Central Time.

History

William B. Chilvers settled at the head of Dry Creek in 1871. A post office opened in 1872 as Roseville, for postmaster Charles Rose, and in 1874 it was renamed Plainview at the suggestion of Christian Lerum, for the level country around it. The town was platted in 1880 when the railroad from Norfolk to Creighton arrived; a second line, east–west through Osmond, followed in 1890 and was part of the Great Northern by 1900. The Bank of Plainview (now Midwest Bank) opened in 1884, and the town was incorporated in April 1886. Waterworks came in 1904, electricity in 1912 and a Carnegie library in 1916; the last train ran in 1978. The population peaked at 1,494 in 1970. U.S. Senator Ben Sasse was born in Plainview in 1972 (he grew up in Fremont), and Congressman Arthur L. Miller was born on a farm near town in 1892.

Highways and trails through Plainview

Route	One way	Other way
US 20East–west through town as Park Avenue	East to Breslau and Osmond	West to Brunswick and Royal
NE 13Ends at US 20 in town, then runs west with it before turning north	Southeast to Foster and Pierce	Northwest toward Creighton

Nearby towns

Breslau	about 5 mi east	US 20
Foster	about 8 mi southeast	NE 13
Brunswick	about 9 mi west	US 20
Osmond	about 10 mi east	US 20
Creighton	about 10 mi northwest	NE 13
Mclean	about 16 mi east	US 20
Pierce	about 17 mi southeast	NE 13
Royal	about 17 mi west	US 20
Neligh	about 20 mi southwest	County roads

Things to see

the Klown Doll Museum, 306 W. Park Ave., more than 7,000 clown dolls in a former gas station; Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday to Saturday 1 to 4, free · the Plainview Historical Society Depot Museum, 304 S. Main St., in the 1880 depot (on the National Register as the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad Depot); open May to Labor Day · two more National Register sites: the Carnegie library of 1916, 102 S. Main St., and the Athletic Park Band Shell at Harper and Main streets · the Plainview Country Club, 9 holes, par 36, built in 1925 · Klown Days in early June

Events in Plainview

Plainview Nebraska Klown Days Festival
The annual KlownDays Festival with a home-town Klown Karnival, barbecue, fireworks and other fun stuff, mostly free, is on the first Saturday of June with some activ…

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Plainview Public Schools: Plainview Elementary, 301 W. Woodland Ave., (402) 582-3808 (PreK–6); Plainview Secondary, 301 W. Pilcher Ave., (402) 582-4991 (7–12)

Health care: CHI Health Plainview, 704 N. 3rd St., (402) 582-4245 (15-bed critical access hospital, open 24 hours); Priority Family Medicine, 410 W. Locust Ave.

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Who’s Who in Nebraska (1940, NEGenWeb); Pierce County (piercecountyne.gov); City of Pierce; City of Plainview; National Register; History Nebraska markers; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nebraska Hospital Association; Osmond Republican; Norfolk Daily News. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.