SEWARD COUNTY WEATHER

Seward County Cameras

Seward County Cameras

Seward County, Nebraska

County seat: Seward · Created: March 16, 1855, as Greene County; renamed 1862; organized October 1, 1865 · Named for: William H. Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state · License plates: prefix 16 · Population: 17,609 (2020 census), the most it has had · Area: 576 sq mi · Time zone: Central

About Seward County

Seward County is rolling farm country west of Lincoln, part of the Lincoln metropolitan area, drained by the Big Blue River. Seward is the county seat and Milford the other city; the villages are Utica, Beaver Crossing, Staplehurst, Pleasant Dale, Garland, Goehner, Bee and Cordova; Tamora, Ruby and Grover are unincorporated, and Pittsburg is a ghost town. The county borders Butler County on the north, Lancaster on the east, Saline on the south, Fillmore on the southwest, York on the west and Polk on the northwest.

The territorial legislature created the county on March 16, 1855, as Greene County; it was renamed in 1862 for William H. Seward and organized on October 1, 1865. Milford, settled in 1864, is the oldest town and was the first county seat; Seward, platted in 1868, had won the seat by 1871. The Midland Pacific reached Seward in 1873–74, the Burlington laid out Utica in 1877, and the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley founded Bee, Goehner and Cordova in 1887. Unusually for rural Nebraska, the county is at its largest: 17,609 at the 2020 census, past the 16,140 of 1890, and about 18,000 in 2025.

Towns of Seward County

Cities and villages

Seward

City · County seat · Pop. 7,643 · ZIP 68434
I-80 (Exit 379) · US 34 · NE 15

Seward County seat of 7,643 where US 34 meets NE 15, home of Concordia University and America’s Official Fourth of July City.

Milford

City · Pop. 2,155 · ZIP 68405
I-80 (Exit 382) · US 6

City of 2,155 on the Big Blue River south of I-80, the oldest town in Seward County and home of Southeast Community College’s Milford campus.

Utica

Village · Pop. 840 · ZIP 68456
I-80 (Exit 366) · US 34

Village of 840 midway between Seward and York, home of Centennial Public Schools; laid out on the Burlington in 1877.

Beaver Crossing

Village · Pop. 375 · ZIP 68313
I-80 (Exit 369, Link 80E)

Village of 375 on Beaver Creek south of I-80 Exit 369, named for an overland-trail crossing; rebuilt after the 2014 tornado.

Staplehurst

Village · Pop. 236 · ZIP 68439
Spur 80C (from NE 15)

Village of 236 northwest of Seward, named for Staplehurst, England; the Nebraska Baseball Capital and birthplace of actress Coleen Gray.

Pleasant Dale

Village · Pop. 218 · ZIP 68423
I-80 (Exit 388) · NE 103

Village of 218 in the Middle Creek valley south of I-80 Exit 388, 12 miles west of Lincoln.

Garland

Village · Pop. 210 · ZIP 68360
Spur 80D (from US 34)

Village of 210, founded as Germantown in 1874 and renamed in 1918 for a local soldier; its 1920 bank is on the National Register.

Goehner

Village · Pop. 181 · ZIP 68364
I-80 (Exit 373, Link 80G)

Village of 181 at I-80 Exit 373, home of the Seward County Historical Society Museum.

Bee

Village · Pop. 171 · ZIP 68314
Spur 80B (from NE 15)

The “Honey of a Town,” a village of 171 with the twelve-sided WPA States Ballroom and a Barn Dance held for over 90 years.

Cordova

Village · Pop. 92 · ZIP 68330
Spur 76A (from US 6)

Village of 92 in the southwest corner of Seward County, first called Hunkins and renamed for Córdoba, Spain.

Former towns and post office communities

Grover

Former post office · post office 1885–1908
County roads near Milford

Former post office near Milford, 1885 to 1908, named for President Grover Cleveland.

Pittsburg

Ghost town · post office 1873–1875
Location not known

Short-lived 1873 town on supposed peat land; post office (Pittsburgh) 1873 to 1875.

Ruby

Unincorporated community · post office 1883–1905
County roads between Seward and Milford

Former Burlington station between Seward and Milford; post office 1883 to 1905.

Tamora

Census-designated place · incorporated 1888–1997
Half a mile south of US 34

Former village of 44 on the BNSF south of US 34, named for “tomorrow”; disincorporated in 1997.

Travel Corridors

I-80 crosses the county with six exits: 366 (Utica), 369 (Beaver Crossing), 373 (Goehner), 379 (NE 15 to Seward), 382 (Milford) and 388 (NE 103 to Pleasant Dale and Crete). I-80 Corridor → US 34 runs east–west through Seward, past Tamora and Utica. US 34 Corridor → US 6 crosses the south through Milford, sharing NE 15 north from Friend. US 6 Corridor → NE 15 runs north–south through Seward toward David City, and state spurs reach Bee, Staplehurst, Garland and Cordova.

Cameras: View Seward County cameras → · Road conditions: Nebraska 511

Things to See

In Seward: the courthouse and courthouse-square historic district (National Register), Concordia’s Bartels Museum and Marxhausen Gallery, the Nebraska National Guard Museum and Bottle Rocket Brewing. Elsewhere: the twelve-sided States Ballroom at Bee, the Germantown State Bank Building at Garland, the Zion Kirche near Staplehurst, the Seward County Historical Society Museum at Goehner, the Historic Milford marker, and the “Arrival” sculpture at the I-80 Blue River rest area, added to the National Register in 2026.

Parks and Outdoors

Blue River State Recreation Area is near Milford. State wildlife areas include Bur Oak (5 miles east of Seward on US 34), North Lake Basin and Shypoke at Utica, Straight Water near Goehner and Twin Lakes near Pleasant Dale; the Freeman Lakes and Tamora waterfowl production areas are federal. Seward runs the Blue Valley and Plum Creek campgrounds, and the Seward / Lincoln West KOA is at I-80 Exit 379.

Seward County Business Directory

Businesses within 20 miles of: Seward · Milford · All listings →

Adjacent Counties

Butler County (north) · Lancaster County (east) · Saline County (south) · Fillmore County (southwest) · York County (west) · Polk County (northwest).

Events

Seward’s Fourth of July (July 3–4 in 2026, Nebraska’s official America 250 celebration), the Seward County Fair (July 23–26, 2026), Milford Fun Days in mid-August and the Bee Barn Dance (December 5, 2026).

Events in Seward County

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Seward County at a Glance

Seward County, Nebraska — created March 16, 1855, as Greene County; renamed in 1862 for William H. Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state; organized October 1, 1865. County seat Seward. Population 17,609 at the 2020 census, the highest ever, and about 18,000 in 2025; part of the Lincoln metropolitan area. 320 listings across 14 towns.

Seward is Nebraska’s Official Fourth of July City (Governor Exon, 1973) and America’s Official Fourth of July City – Small Town USA (Congress, 1979), and has celebrated on the square since 1868. Garland was Germantown until 1918, when it was renamed for its first soldier to die in World War I.

Getting there: I-80 crosses the county with six exits; US 34 and NE 15 meet in Seward, and US 6 runs through Milford. Central Time.

Born here: actress Coleen Gray (Staplehurst), Culver City founder Harry Culver (Milford), evangelist F. F. Bosworth (near Utica), and Karmin’s Amy Heidemann, NFL center Quentin Neujahr and pitcher Thad Weber (Seward).

Vehicles registered in Seward County carry license plate number 16. See what every Nebraska county number means.

Seward County Businesses & Places

320 listings in Seward County.

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