Shelby Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Polk County · Population 710 (2020 census) · ZIP 68662 · Founded 1879 · Peak population 724 (1980)

About Shelby

Shelby is a village of 710 people (2020) in eastern Polk County, at 1,647 feet on US 81 and NE 92, about 6 miles east of Osceola and 17 miles south of Columbus; NE 69 ends here, coming north from Gresham. It has Shelby-Rising City Public Schools, a Prairie Creek Family Medicine clinic, the Shelby Community Library and a 2017 state historical marker at Walnut and Oak streets. Nebraska’s 2020 center of population lies about 11 miles east, beyond Rising City in Butler County. Shelby is on Central Time.

History

The area’s first post office, Cyclone, opened in 1873 in the home of Civil War veteran Horace A. Cowles, about a mile east and a mile south of today’s village. When the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad (Union Pacific) built through in 1879, Gilbert Van Vorce and Peter Matter gave it a half-interest in a townsite on Van Vorce’s timber claim, and the station opened as Arcade; J. T. Dunning’s elevator and the Dunnings’ general store followed that August and September. Because Arcade was confused with Arcadia, the town and post office were renamed Shelby in the winter of 1880–81, for an official of the railroad. Shelby grew into a grain-shipping point settled largely by German families; the Methodists organized in 1883 and the Catholics in 1898, the Shelby Sun began in 1889, and radio station KGBY was built in 1926. The village marked its centennial in 1979, and its population peaked at 724 in 1980. Arjay Miller, president of Ford Motor Company (1963–68) and dean of Stanford’s business school, was born in Shelby in 1916, and bobsledder Curtis Tomasevicz, a 2010 Olympic gold medalist, grew up here.

Highways and trails through Shelby

Route	One way	Other way
US 81 / NE 92East–west past the village	West to Osceola	East to the Butler County line, where US 81 turns north to Columbus
NE 69North end at US 81 / NE 92 in Shelby	South to Gresham and US 34	North end in Shelby

Nearby towns

Osceola	about 7 mi west	US 81 / NE 92
Rising City	about 7 mi east	NE 92
Stromsburg	about 10 mi west-southwest	US 81
Gresham	about 12 mi south	NE 69
Swedehome	about 13 mi west	County roads
Durant	about 14 mi west-southwest	County roads
Silver Creek	about 15 mi northwest	County roads
David City	about 16 mi east-northeast	NE 92
Columbus	about 17 mi north-northeast	US 81

Things to see

the Shelby historical marker (2017), Walnut and Oak streets · the Shelby Community Library, 648 N. Walnut St. · Flatsedge WMA, about 3 miles west and 2 miles north

Schools and health care

Schools: Shelby-Rising City Public Schools (formed 2011): elementary, middle and high school at 650 N. Walnut St., (402) 527-5946

Health care: Prairie Creek Family Medicine, 150 E. Park St.; nearest hospital: Annie Jeffrey Memorial County Health Center, Osceola, about 6 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Who’s Who in Nebraska (1940), Polk County; NEGenWeb Polk County; History Nebraska markers; National Register; Nebraska Department of Transportation; Nebraska Game and Parks; Polk County; City of Osceola; Stromsburg Public Library; Shelby Community Library; Nebraska DHHS; Nebraska Life; Census Bureau centers of population. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.