Inavale Nebraska

Unincorporated community · Webster County · post office 1873–1994; 66 people in 2020

About Inavale

Inavale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place of 66 people (2020) on US 136 in western Webster County, just north of the Republican River and about 7 miles west of Red Cloud. Its post office closed in 1994, but the ZIP code 68952 is still used.

History

The post office opened on April 3, 1873, and the settlers chose the name by vote: In-a-vale, for the town's place in the Republican valley. The Burlington's Republican Valley line came through about 1879, W. H. Strohm laid out the town for proprietor W. J. Vance on May 15, 1884, and by 1890 Inavale was a station with about 100 people, two general stores, a druggist and a blacksmith; it later had a bank and a cheese factory.

In 1942 the WPA and local volunteers built the Inavale Community Hall and Gymnasium from concrete block salvaged from a 1911 tie barn in Red Cloud. It served for school basketball, dances and meetings, and from 1949 to 1979 as a roller rink, and it was listed on the National Register in 2023. USS Arizona survivor Donald Stratton was born at Inavale in 1922, according to the state's One Book One Nebraska program (other sources say Red Cloud).

Things to see

The Inavale Community Hall and Gymnasium, 418 Minnesota Ave. (1942; National Register; private, view from outside) · Narrows WMA, about 3 mi east on US 136, with Republican River access · Red Cloud, about 7 mi east