Tarnov Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Tarnov Area Cameras

Village · Platte County · Population 52 (2020 census) · ZIP 68642 · Founded 1889 · Peak population 139 (1930)

About Tarnov

Tarnov is a village of 52 people (2020) in Platte County, at 1,657 feet about 2 miles west of US 81, between Humphrey and Platte Center. It is the home of St. Michael’s Catholic Church, called the first Polish Catholic parish still operating in Nebraska, and the Tarnov Heritage Museum. Tarnov is on Central Time.

History

Polish immigrants, many from Tarnów in southern Poland, settled here from the late 1870s; the parish was organized in 1880, and the village was laid out in 1889. The post office ran from 1891 to 1969. The Gothic Revival church was built in 1900–01 for about $17,000, partly with materials from Omaha’s 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition, and dedicated on October 24, 1901. Early on August 16, 1943, Army bombers on a night training flight mistook the lights of Tarnov for a bombing range and dropped six or seven practice bombs on the village; one went through Joe Ciecior’s house, and no one was hurt. The population peaked at 139 in 1930.

Highways and trails through Tarnov

Route	One way	Other way
US 81About 2 miles east	North to Humphrey	South to Platte Center and Columbus

Nearby towns

Humphrey	about 5 mi north	US 81
Platte Center	about 5 mi south	US 81
Cornlea	about 6 mi northwest	County roads
Creston	about 10 mi northeast	County roads
Monroe	about 11 mi south-southwest	County roads
Columbus	about 14 mi south-southeast	US 81

Things to see

St. Michael’s Catholic Church, at 3rd and Cedar streets, on the National Register (1990), with the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto (1926–27, designed by Charles Wurdeman) honoring 16 local World War I veterans · the Tarnov Heritage Museum in the 1911 parish school, kept by the St. Michael’s Historical Society; it shows the practice bomb of 1943; by appointment, donations welcome · Saint Michael House, the former rectory, now used for meetings and overnight stays

Health care

Hospital: Columbus Community Hospital, 4600 38th St., Columbus, about 14 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Phillips, Past and Present of Platte County (1915); Curry, History of Platte County; Platte County (plattecounty.ne.gov); National Register; History Nebraska; Loup Power District; Nebraska Game and Parks; Columbus Community Hospital; Platte County Visitors Bureau; Norfolk Daily News; Columbus Telegram. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.