Firth Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Firth Area Cameras

Village · Lancaster County · Population 649 (2020 census) · ZIP 68358 · Founded 1872

About Firth

Firth is a village of 649 people (2020), the most it has counted, at 1,355 feet near the headwaters of the Big Nemaha River, about 19 miles south of downtown Lincoln; with Hallam it is one of the two southernmost towns in Lancaster County. The Norris School District 160 campus is about 2 miles north and 1½ miles west of the village. Firth is on Central Time.

History

Settlement began in the early 1870s as the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad built toward Lincoln. The post office opened in 1872, named for Frank Firth, a superintendent of the railroad, and the village was incorporated in 1879. It had about 230 people in 1880 and about 500 in 1890, when it shipped grain and livestock. A brick school built in 1916 stood until 1971, seven years after Firth joined the new Norris district in 1964. The Lakeview Rest Home was built in the 1970s on land given by Henry and Bertha TeKolste. Orah Dee Clark, Alaska’s first superintendent of schools, was born in Firth.

Nearby towns

Cortland	about 6 mi west-southwest	County roads
Hickman	about 6 mi north-northwest	County roads
Panama	about 7 mi northeast	County roads
Adams	about 7 mi southeast	County roads
Roca	about 9 mi north-northwest	County roads
Hallam	about 10 mi west	County roads
Sprague	about 10 mi northwest	County roads
Lincoln	about 19 mi north	US 77

Things to see

Camp Solaris

Schools and health care

Schools: Norris School District 160 (Norris Elementary, Intermediate, Middle and High School on one campus about 2 miles north and 1½ miles west of Firth; it serves Roca, Hickman, Firth, Cortland, Panama, Princeton, Holland, Cheney and Rokeby)

Health care: Lakeview Living (assisted living), 404 E. 8th St.; Hospitals: Bryan Medical Center (East and West), CHI Health St. Elizabeth and Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Lincoln, about 19 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Nebraska State Gazetteer (1890); NEGenWeb Lancaster County; History Nebraska; National Register; Nebraska Game and Parks; Lower Platte South NRD; City of Lincoln; Lincoln Airport; Nebraska State Capitol; Flatwater Free Press; school districts; city and village sites. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.