Elm Creek Nebraska

Village · Buffalo County · Population 979 (2020 census) · ZIP 68836 · Founded 1866

About Elm Creek

Elm Creek is a village of 979 people (2020), the most it has had, in western Buffalo County, at 2,270 feet on US 30 and the Union Pacific about 15 miles west of Kearney. US 183 runs south to I-80 Exit 257, the 4 Seasons RV Park and Sandy Channel State Recreation Area, and north to Miller. Elm Creek has its public schools, a library and a summer pool. Elm Creek is on Central Time.

History

Elm Creek began in August 1866, when the Union Pacific built through and put a siding by the creek for water and wood; the crew named the creek for the red elms on its banks. The station once had a railroad eating house. A 1912 contest offering $25 for a new town name produced none. The village was incorporated on January 12, 1887, with about 300 people. On July 1, 1906, fire destroyed 14 wooden buildings; there was no water system, so the village built waterworks the next year, organized a volunteer fire department and rebuilt in stone. Floods followed in the late 1910s, 1932 and June 1947. The Chevyland U.S.A. auto museum operated near the interstate from 1973 until about 2019; its collection was auctioned in 2021.

Things to see

the Elm Creek Swimming Pool, 620 N. McComb St. · Sandy Channel State Recreation Area, 3½ miles south on US 183: sand-pit lakes popular with divers · Blue Hole WMA on the Platte, west of US 183 · the Buffalo Stampede in late August (Aug. 21–23 in 2026)