Perkins County, Nebraska

Perkins County, Nebraska

County seat: Grant · Created: November 8, 1887, from Keith County · Named for: Charles E. Perkins, president of the Burlington railroad (by most accounts) · License plates: prefix 74 · Population: 2,858 (2020 census); peak 5,834 in 1930 · Area: 884 sq mi · Time zone: Mountain

About Perkins County

Perkins County lies on the high, nearly level plains of southwestern Nebraska, against the Colorado line. No river crosses it; a 1976 county marker notes that it has no flowing streams, and its farms draw on deep wells. The Texas cattle trail to Ogallala crossed this dry stretch in the 1870s and 1880s, passing about 2 miles east of present Madrid. In 1887 the Burlington built its line west from Curtis toward Sterling, Colorado, and Cheyenne, and the towns of Elsie, Madrid, Grant, Brandon and Venango grew up along it; the first train reached Grant on July 4, 1887. That November 8, voters split the southern part of Keith County off as Perkins County, generally said to be named for Charles E. Perkins, the Burlington's president (a local tradition credits Joseph Perkins of Grant). Grant, Madrid and Lisbon, a station west of Grant, competed for the county seat, and Grant won in 1888.

Drought and crop failures in the 1890s emptied the county: it had 4,364 people in 1890 and 1,702 in 1900. Settlement returned after 1900, and the population peaked at 5,834 in 1930. After World War II deep-well irrigation spread across the county; a 1976 marker counted about 500 systems. The last passenger train ran in 1950, but the line still carries grain: the Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado Railway, an OmniTRAX short line of about 509 miles, has its offices at 245 Washington Ave. in Grant and also hauls coal to Gerald Gentleman Station, Nebraska's largest coal-fired power plant. The state is now planning the Perkins County Canal to bring South Platte River water into Nebraska.

Towns of Perkins County

Travel Corridors

NE 23 — east–west from the Colorado line at Venango (Colorado SH 23 from Holyoke) through Brandon, Grant, Madrid and Elsie to Wallace.

NE 61 — north from Imperial, with NE 23 for about 3 miles into Grant, then north on Central Avenue to I-80 at Ogallala. No U.S. highway or Interstate crosses the county.

Cameras: View Perkins County cameras (NE 23 east of Grant) → · Road conditions: Nebraska 511

Things to See

In Grant, the 1927 Perkins County Courthouse, the Grant Commercial Historic District and the WPA-built Grant City Park, all on the National Register, and the Perkins County Museum at 605 Central Ave., with a 1905 house, a country school from near Brandon and an exhibit hall. In Venango, the 1921 Venango Public School (National Register; view from the street). The county marker stands about 20 miles west-northwest of Grant at Colorado's northeast corner, where Perkins, Keith, Deuel and Sedgwick counties meet (reached from I-80 at Big Springs).

Outdoors

Perkins County has no state park, recreation area, wildlife management area or reservoir; hunting for pheasant and deer is mostly on private land. Grant has a 9-hole golf course, a swimming pool in the city park and an RV park at the Plainsman Inn. The nearest lakes are Lake McConaughy, north of Ogallala, and Enders Reservoir in Chase County.

Perkins County Business Directory

Businesses within 20 miles of: Grant · Madrid · Elsie · Venango · All listings →

Adjacent Counties

Keith County (north) · Lincoln County (east, on Central Time) · Hayes County (southeast, on Central Time) · Chase County (south) · Phillips County, Colorado (southwest) · Sedgwick County, Colorado (west); Deuel County touches only at the northwest corner.

Events

2026 dates: the Perkins County Fair in Grant, July 10–18, with 4-H shows, a ranch rodeo and mutton bustin', a concert, a parade and a carnival; the Perkins County Museum's Christmas display from the Thursday before Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.

Perkins County at a Glance

Perkins County, Nebraska — high wheat and corn country on the Colorado line, with no river. County seat Grant; Mountain Time.

Getting there: NE 23 from Holyoke, Colorado, and Wallace; NE 61 from Ogallala and I-80, and from Imperial.

For visitors: the courthouse, historic downtown, city park and county museum in Grant, and the Venango school. Hospital: Perkins County Health Services in Grant.