Callaway Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Callaway Area Cameras

Village · Custer County · Population 563 (2020 census) · ZIP 68825 · Founded 1885 · Peak population 833 (1920)

About Callaway

Callaway is a village of 563 people (2020) in the South Loup River valley of southwestern Custer County, the “Seven Valleys” country, at about 2,549 feet. NE 40 runs through town, northwest to Arnold and southeast to Oconto. Callaway has the Callaway District Hospital and clinic, its own PK–12 school, the Nigel Sprouse Memorial Library, a pharmacy, a grocery and the Seven Valleys Museum, and Morgan Park keeps the county’s first courthouse. Callaway is on Central Time.

History

A post office opened nearby on August 30, 1880, as Set Up; it became Delight within a month, Grant in April 1886 and Callaway that August. The town was platted in 1885 and incorporated on January 13, 1888, with “Excelsior” on its seal, and was named for Samuel R. Callaway, vice president and general manager of the Union Pacific. The Kearney & Black Hills Railway finished its line from Kearney to Callaway in 1890; the Union Pacific took it over in 1898 and extended it to Stapleton in 1912. Custer County’s first courthouse was Milo F. Young’s 1876 log ranch house, which served as the temporary county seat from 1877 until Broken Bow won the seat in 1883; hearings in the Olive–Fisher case over the 1878 lynching of Luther Mitchell and Ami Ketchum were held there in 1880. In 1933 the Young estate gave the cabin to Callaway, and it was moved to Morgan Park. The village counted 833 people in both 1920 and 1930.

Highways and trails through Callaway

Route	One way	Other way
NE 40Through the village	Northwest to Arnold	Southeast to Oconto

Nearby towns

Lodi	about 6 mi southeast	NE 40
Finchville	about 10 mi west-northwest	NE 40
Oconto	about 13 mi southeast	NE 40
Merna	about 16 mi north-northeast	County roads
Broken Bow	about 16 mi east-northeast	County roads
Arnold	about 17 mi west-northwest	NE 40
Anselmo	about 23 mi north	County roads and NE 2
Eddyville	about 25 mi southeast	NE 40 and NE 21
Gothenburg	about 28 mi south-southwest	County roads and NE 47
Cozad	about 30 mi south	NE 40 and NE 21
Lexington	about 36 mi south-southeast	NE 40 and NE 21
Kearney	about 60 mi southeast	NE 40

Things to see

Custer County’s first courthouse, the 1876 log ranch house in Morgan Park (National Register), with state marker No. 134 · the Seven Valleys Museum, 102 N. Grand Ave.: arrowheads and mammoth bones, military, railroad, drugstore and country-store rooms; open during village events or by call, (308) 870-2107 · the historic Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on S. Needham St. · the Pioneer Picnic and Seven Valleys Rodeo the last full weekend of June, and the Callaway Kite Flight on Labor Day weekend

Events in Callaway

Callaway Kite Flight
Kite festival on Labor Day weekend east of Callaway, held for the 35th time in 2026.
Callaway Pioneer Picnic
Callaway Pioneer Picnic is held in Callaway, Nebraska, on the last full weekend of June.

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Callaway Public Schools, 101 N. Needham St., (308) 836-2272: Callaway Elementary (PK–6) and Callaway High School (7–12)

Health care: Callaway District Hospital, 211 E. Kimball St., Callaway, 24-hour emergency care; Callaway Medical Clinic, 213 E. Kimball St., (308) 836-2294

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; NEGenWeb Custer County (place names); Custer County Tourism; Custer County Historical Society; History Nebraska (markers); National Register listings; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nebraska DHHS hospital and clinic rosters; Nebraska 211; SchoolDigger; Nebraska Secretary of State; City of Broken Bow; Village of Callaway; VisitNebraska; NEBRASKAland; Geological Society of America abstracts; KRVN, KNOP, KOLN 10/11 and Custer County Chief reports. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.