Touhy Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Touhy Area Cameras

Unincorporated community · Saunders County · post office 1892–1956

About Touhy

Touhy is an unincorporated Czech hamlet in Newman Township, southwestern Saunders County, about 4 miles north of Valparaiso on the Union Pacific line toward Weston. St. Vitus Catholic Church (1903), now a mission of St. John Nepomucene in Weston, and St. Vitus Cemetery remain.

History

Touhy was platted in 1892 on John H. Parker's farm when the Union Pacific built its line between Valparaiso and Weston, and it was named for Patrick Touhy, a longtime Union Pacific track man and later roadmaster. The post office ran from 1892 to 1956; the Newman post office of 1868 had served the area before. The people were mainly Czech, and at its peak Touhy had stores, an implement dealer, a lumberyard, two elevators, a pool hall, a barbershop, a dance hall, a garage and the State Bank of Touhy (1906 to the 1930s). The opera house burned in 1951, and the last store closed in 1975.

A Czech Catholic society asked to build a church in 1901; after the bishop twice refused, permission came in 1902, and the 36-by-80-foot frame church designed by Jacob Ort of Wahoo was dedicated on October 7, 1903. Victor Mlejnek was its first resident pastor. A 1938 fire led to a remodeled sanctuary in 1946, and since 1974 St. Vitus has been a mission of St. John's in Weston.

Nearby towns

Valparaiso	about 3.7 mi south	County roads and NE 79
Weston	about 6 mi northeast	County roads
Swedeburg	about 10 mi east	County roads
Ceresco	about 11 mi east-southeast	County roads
Wahoo	about 12 mi east-northeast	County roads

Things to see

St. Vitus Church, North Main St. (Sunday Mass, alternating 8 and 10 a.m.) · St. Vitus Cemetery, first burial 1903 · Kacirek-Woita General Store in Weston