Sutton Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Sutton Area Cameras

City · Clay County · Population 1,447 (2020 census) · ZIP 68979 · Founded 1871 · Peak population 1,702 (1910)

About Sutton

Sutton is a city of 1,447 people (2020), the largest in Clay County, at 1,677 feet on US 6 in the northeast of the county, about 12 miles east-northeast of Clay Center. I-80 is about 18 road miles north, and US 81 about 14 miles east. Sutton has its own K–12 public schools and a Christian school, a library, an outdoor pool, the Sutton Community Home, a city RV park on East Ash Street, the 9-hole Fox Hollow golf course and the weekly Clay County News. Sutton is on Central Time.

History

Luther French filed his claim on March 14, 1870, and lived in a dugout on School Creek; he laid out the town on August 10, 1871, and sold it that November to I. N. and M. Clark. It was named for Sutton, Massachusetts. The Burlington & Missouri River laid its first rails here on August 12, 1871, and a depot was built in the fall of 1873. Sutton was the county seat from the first election in 1871 until Clay Center won it in 1879. Germans from the Volga region of Russia began arriving in the fall of 1873, and a German Reformed church was organized in 1874; the Congregational church of 1875 was the first church building in the county. Sutton became a village in 1874 and a city in 1876, and peaked at 1,702 people in 1910. Jacob Volz, born in Balzer, Russia, and raised in Sutton, received the Medal of Honor for action in the Philippines in 1911.

Highways and trails through Sutton

Route	One way	Other way
US 6Through the city	West to Harvard and Hastings	East to Grafton and Fairmont

Nearby towns

Saronville	about 4 mi west	US 6 and Spur 18G
Grafton	about 8 mi east-northeast	US 6
Clay Center	about 12 mi west-southwest	US 6 and NE 14
Harvard	about 12 mi west	US 6
Fairmont	about 14 mi east	US 6
Ong	about 14 mi south	County roads
Geneva	about 15 mi east-southeast	County roads
Shickley	about 15 mi south-southeast	County roads
Edgar	about 18 mi south-southwest	County roads
Hastings	about 28 mi west	US 6

Things to see

the Sutton Nebraska Museum, 309 N. Way Ave.: main museum, a restored 1908 house and a country school · the Isaac Newton Clark House, 468 Cedar St. (1877, National Register; private) · the Deering Bridge over School Creek, 2 miles north and 2 east (National Register) · Fox Hollow Golf Course (9 holes, public) · Hultine Waterfowl Production Area, 5 miles west · Dugout Days each June

Events in Sutton

Dugout Days
Dugout Days is held in Sutton, Nebraska, on the last weekend of June (Thursday to Sunday).

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Sutton Public Schools, 1107 N. Saunders Ave.: Sutton Elementary (PK–6), (402) 773-4423, and Sutton Secondary (7–12), (402) 773-4303; Sutton Christian School (K–8), 1004 E. Ash St., (402) 773-4845

Health care: Sutton Community Home, 1106 N. Saunders Ave., (402) 773-5557 (nursing home); nearest hospitals: York General, York, about 22 mi, and Mary Lanning Healthcare, Hastings, about 28 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Clay County (claycounty.ne.gov); City of Sutton; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Johnson, History of Nebraska (1880); Nebraska State Gazetteer (1890–91); NEGenWeb Clay County; Newberry Library county atlas; National Register (NRHP nominations); History Nebraska; HMdb; Nebraska Game and Parks; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Rainwater Basin WMD); USDA-ARS; SABR; Visit Nebraska; SchoolDigger. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.