Pender Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Pender Area Cameras

Village · Thurston County · County seat · Population 1,115 (2020 census) · ZIP 68047 · Founded 1885 · Peak population 1,318 (1980)

About Pender

Pender is the county seat of Thurston County, a village of 1,115 in the Logan Creek valley where NE 9, NE 16 and NE 94 meet. It lies within the Omaha Reservation. It has Pender Community Hospital and clinic, Pender Public Schools, the Heritage Museum of Thurston County, CrossRoads Lodge, the Blue Ox RV Park and Twin Creeks Golf Course.

History

Athens, the county's first village, was founded in 1885 on reservation land opened to settlers under an 1882 act of Congress. Its buildings were moved about two miles to the Omaha Road line to form Pender, named for Sir John Pender, the Scottish transatlantic-cable pioneer and a director of the railroad. Pender has been the county seat since Thurston County was organized in 1889. The 1892 Peebles House hotel on Main Street served as the first courthouse; in 1927 the 1895 school building was converted into the present courthouse. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Walthill supporters tried to take the county seat in the early 1900s and failed. In 2006 the Omaha Tribe applied its liquor licensing and tax to Pender businesses; in Nebraska v. Parker, decided unanimously on March 22, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the 1882 act did not shrink the reservation, so Pender lies within it. Rail service through Pender ended in the 1960s and early 1970s. The population peaked at 1,318 in 1980. Pender Community Hospital affiliated with Bryan Health in 2025.

Highways and trails through Pender

Route	One way	Other way
NE 9North–south through Pender on 4th Street	North to Thurston (about 6 mi) and Emerson (about 13 mi)	South toward West Point
NE 94Main Street; begins at NE 9	East to Walthill (about 13 mi) and US 75 near Macy	Begins at NE 9
NE 16Runs with NE 9 through town	South to Bancroft (about 12 mi)	North to NE 35 near Wakefield

Nearby towns

Thurston	about 6 mi north	NE 9 and Spur S-87A
Bancroft	about 12 mi south	NE 16
Emerson	about 13 mi north	NE 9
Walthill	about 13 mi east	NE 94
Wakefield	about 19 mi north	NE 9 or NE 16
Winnebago	about 19 mi northeast	NE 94 and US 77

Things to see

Thurston County Courthouse, 106 S. 5th St. (National Register) · First Thurston County Courthouse and Peebles House, 400–412 Main St. (National Register) · Heritage Museum of Thurston County, 500 Ivan St., in a 1905 prairie home (free; limited hours) · House Memorial Library, 220 Thurston Ave. · Twin Creeks Golf Course, 912 NE Hwy 9 · Blue Ox RV Park, 1 Mill Rd.

Schools and health care

Schools: Pender Public Schools: Pender Elementary (pre-K–6) and Pender High School (7–12), 609 Whitney St.

Health care: Pender Community Hospital, 100 Hospital Dr. (24-hour emergency care), with Pender Medical Clinic attached

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Thurston County; Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Department of Transportation route mileposts. Distances marked "about" are estimates.