Elwood Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Gosper County · County seat · Population 658 (2020 census) · ZIP 68937 · Founded 1885 · Peak population 761 (2000)

About Elwood

Elwood is a village of 658 people (2020) and the seat of Gosper County, at 2,674 feet on the high divide between the Platte and Republican valleys. US 283 (Smith Avenue) and NE 23 (Ripley Street) cross in town; Lexington and I-80 are about 14 miles north. Elwood has the county courthouse, Elwood Public Schools, a public library, a clinic of Lexington Regional Health Center and the county fair each July. Elwood Reservoir is about 3 miles north-northeast and Johnson Lake about 7 miles north. Elwood is on Central Time.

History

A post office called Mick opened here in 1884. The Burlington reached the site in 1885 and the town was platted that year; the post office became Elwood on November 16, 1885. Accounts differ on the name: one credits homesteader Elwood Thomas, another Burlington official Elwood Calvert. The Lincoln Townsite Company offered free lots if the county seat came to Elwood, and after a bitterly contested election in November 1888 Elwood took it from Homerville; in the spring of 1889 the Homerville courthouse itself was moved 8 miles to Elwood. That building burned in 1895, and its replacement served until the present Art Deco courthouse, designed by McClure & Walker of Kearney and paid for with a $42,000 bond and a Public Works Administration grant, was dedicated on November 9, 1939; it has been on the National Register since 1990. Building Johnson Lake and the canals in 1939–41 brought new residents. Archaeologist John L. Champe (1895–1978), longtime head of anthropology at the University of Nebraska, was born in Elwood.

Highways and trails through Elwood

Route	One way	Other way
US 283Through town as Smith Avenue	North to Johnson Lake, Lexington and I-80	South to Arapahoe
NE 23Through town as Ripley Street	East to Smithfield, Bertrand and Holdrege	West to Eustis
NE 18Ends at US 283 south of town	West toward Stockville (partly gravel)

Nearby towns

Smithfield	about 6 mi east	NE 23
Eustis	about 10 mi west-northwest	NE 23
Bertrand	about 13 mi east-southeast	NE 23
Lexington	about 14 mi north-northeast	US 283
Arapahoe	about 20 mi south	US 283
Cozad	about 20 mi north-northwest	NE 21
Loomis	about 20 mi east-southeast	NE 23
Cambridge	about 26 mi southwest	US 283 and US 6/34
Holdrege	about 28 mi east-southeast	NE 23
Stockville	about 28 mi west	NE 18

Things to see

the Gosper County Courthouse (1939, National Register) · Johnson Lake State Recreation Area, about 7 miles north · Elwood Reservoir, about 3 miles north-northeast · the 18-hole Lakeside Golf Club at Johnson Lake · Phillips Canyon State Recreation Area, opened in 2026 · the Elwood Disc Golf Course

Events in Elwood

Gosper County Fair
Gosper County Fair, a county fair in Elwood, Nebraska.

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Elwood Public Schools, 502 1st Ave., (308) 785-2491: Elwood Elementary (PK–6) and Elwood High School (7–12); sports teams play with Eustis-Farnam as the Hi-Line Bulls

Health care: Lexington Regional Health Center – Elwood Clinic, 202 Smith Ave., (308) 785-8175 (Tuesdays and Thursdays); nearest hospital: Lexington Regional Health Center, about 14 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Gosper County (gospercountyne.gov); Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Southwest Nebraska Genealogical Society place names; NEGenWeb Gosper County; National Register (Gosper County Courthouse); Living New Deal; History Nebraska; Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District; Nebraska Game and Parks; Sharlot Hall Museum; SchoolDigger. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.