Valparaiso Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Saunders County · Population 595 (2020 census) · ZIP 68065 · Founded 1865 · Peak population 614 (1900)

About Valparaiso

Valparaiso is a village of 595 on NE 79 in southwestern Saunders County, about 14 miles southwest of Wahoo and 20 miles north of Lincoln. It has Valparaiso Elementary/Intermediate School of the Raymond Central district, the public library and Sts. Mary and Joseph Catholic Church.

History

Andrew Johnson settled just west of the site on October 5, 1865, and the place was first called Raccoon Forks; an 1863 map had already marked it as the capital of Calhoun (now Saunders) County. Settlers called the watershed the Valley of Paradise, and the town took the Spanish form, Valparaiso. The post office opened in 1871 with Johnson as postmaster, and the village incorporated in July 1880.

The Omaha & Republican Valley (Union Pacific) arrived in 1877 at the junction of its Lincoln and Osceola branches, and from about 1910 to 1925 Valparaiso was a Union Pacific hub with a roundhouse and yard for the Beatrice and Stromsburg lines. The population peaked at 614 in 1900. A plesiosaur vertebra was found on a farm along Oak Creek in 1963.

Highways and trails through Valparaiso

Route	One way	Other way
NE 79Through the village	North past Touhy to NE 92 and Prague	South to Raymond and Lincoln
NE 66Ends at NE 79 in Valparaiso	East toward Ithaca and Ashland	Ends here

Nearby towns

Touhy	about 3.7 mi north	NE 79
Raymond	about 9 mi south-southeast	NE 79
Weston	about 9 mi north-northeast	County roads
Ceresco	about 10 mi east	County roads
Brainard	about 11 mi northwest	County roads
Wahoo	about 15 mi northeast	County roads
Lincoln	about 20 mi south-southeast	NE 79

Things to see

Sts. Mary and Joseph Catholic Church, 637 S. Iver St. · St. Vitus Church at Touhy (1903), about 4 mi north · Larkspur WMA, 160 acres west of town

Schools and health care

Schools: Valparaiso Elementary/Intermediate School (Raymond Central Public Schools), 406 E. 3rd St.; the high school is in Raymond

Health care: Nearest hospitals Saunders Medical Center, Wahoo (about 14 mi), and in Lincoln (about 20 mi)

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Phillips, Past and Present of Saunders County (1915); Saunders County, Nebraska History (1983, NEGenWeb); Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names (1925); National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; Lower Platte North NRD; Nebraska Department of Transportation. Distances marked "about" are estimates.