Bridgeport Nebraska

City · Morrill County · County seat · Population 1,454 (2020 census) · ZIP 69336 · Founded 1899 · Peak population 1,668 (1980)

About Bridgeport

Bridgeport is a city of 1,454 people (2020), the seat of Morrill County, at about 3,665 feet on the North Platte River. US 26 and US 385 meet here and cross the river together; NE 92 follows US 26 west and US 385 south, and NE 88 begins in town and runs south past Courthouse and Jail Rocks toward Banner County. US 385 is the Gold Rush Byway. Bridgeport has the county courthouse, Morrill County Community Hospital and clinic, Bridgeport Public Schools, a library, pool and golf course, motels, the Pioneer Trails Museum and Bridgeport State Recreation Area on the edge of town. Bridgeport is on Mountain Time.

History

Emigrants on the Oregon–California and Mormon trails passed here, and the Pony Express and stage line ran by Courthouse Rock. In 1875–76 Henry T. Clarke built a 2,000-foot toll bridge across the North Platte about 3 miles west for the Sidney–Black Hills gold road, and the settlement of Camp Clarke grew around it. The Burlington laid out Bridgeport in 1899–1900 and named it for that bridge; it incorporated as a village in 1901. On February 12, 1899, the area recorded −47°F, still Nebraska’s record low. When Cheyenne County voters split off Morrill County in 1908, Bridgeport beat Bayard for the seat, 575 to 375, and the courthouse went up in 1909–10. The city reached 1,668 people in 1980. On March 12, 2026, wind gusts of 70–80 mph snapped a power pole northeast of town and started the Morrill Fire, which burned about 643,000 acres across five counties, the largest wildfire in Nebraska history.

Things to see

Courthouse and Jail Rocks, about 5 miles south on NE 88 · Bridgeport State Recreation Area: five sandpit lakes and 80 campsites · the Pioneer Trails Museum, 103 Bell Rd., free, summers · the 1909–10 Morrill County Courthouse, on the National Register · the Camp Clarke Bridge site, about 3 miles west · Camp Clarke Days each spring