Westerville Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Unincorporated community (CDP) · Custer County · Population 31 (2020 census) · ZIP 68881 · Founded 1880

About Westerville

Westerville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place of 31 people (2020) in the Clear Creek valley of eastern Custer County, at about 2,326 feet, where US 183 meets NE 70, about 13 miles east of Broken Bow. A History Nebraska marker on Main Street tells its story. Westerville is on Central Time.

History

Black and white pioneer families settled along Clear Creek in the 1870s, and on August 11, 1880, the land of storekeeper James H. Westervelt was platted as a town site; the post office followed in 1882. Westerville was the first town in Custer County, with the county’s first frame church, newspaper (The Custer Leader), doctor, lawyer and banker, its first two county fairs (1881 and 1882) and its first teachers’ institute, as well as a hotel, a flour mill and a livery barn. It was passed over for county seat, and in 1886 the railroad went south through Berwyn and Ansley; the town declined and later gave up its incorporation. John W. Speese, an African American farmer, homesteaded near Westerville in 1881 and later wrote in the Omaha World-Herald that his 238-acre farm was out of debt.

Highways and trails through Westerville

Route	One way	Other way
US 183Through the community	North to Sargent	South to Ansley
NE 70Meets US 183 here	West to Broken Bow	East to Arcadia

Nearby towns

Weissert	about 5 mi northwest	County roads
Berwyn	about 8 mi southwest	County roads and NE 2
Ansley	about 9 mi south	US 183
Comstock	about 12 mi northeast	US 183
Arcadia	about 13 mi east	NE 70
Broken Bow	about 13 mi west	NE 70
Mason City	about 14 mi south-southeast	US 183 and NE 2
Sargent	about 15 mi north	US 183

Things to see

the Westerville 1880–1980 historical marker on Main Street, west of Hancock Street · Weissert, about 5 miles northwest

Health care

Nearest hospital: Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center, 145 Memorial Dr., Broken Bow, (308) 872-4100, about 13 mi

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.