Bartley Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Red Willow County · Population 270 (2020 census) · ZIP 69020 · Founded 1886 · Peak population 511 (1910)

About Bartley

Bartley is a village of 270 on US 6/34 in northeastern Red Willow County, about 6 miles east of Indianola and 8 miles west of Cambridge. It is the home of Southwest Public Schools' middle and high schools and district office.

History

The Rev. Allen Bartley, a Methodist minister, had the town platted on his land in June 1886, with temperance clauses in the lot deeds, and Mallalieu University opened there that September with 60 students. Drought and hard times closed it after a few years, and its bricks went into the Methodist church. Bartley was incorporated on June 7, 1887, and the Bartley Inter-Ocean began publishing; by 1890 the town was a station on the Burlington line. On May 26, 1885, before the town existed, three women and six children traveling to homesteads drowned in a canyon nearby.

In 1919 the Bartley Sale Pavilion Company built an octagonal wood-frame sale barn; the Republican Valley Poland China Breeders Association held hog sales there until about 1927, and it was listed on the National Register in 2018. The village reached its largest population, 511, in 1910. In the 1935 flood, buildings south of the tracks were swept away and the bodies of three victims from upstream were found east of town.

Highways and trails through Bartley

Route	One way	Other way
US 6 / US 34East–west through the village	East to Cambridge (about 8 mi)	West to Indianola (about 6 mi) and McCook

Nearby towns

Indianola	about 6 mi west	US 6/34
Cambridge	about 8 mi east-northeast	US 6/34
Lebanon	about 14 mi south	County roads and NE 89
Wilsonville	about 14 mi southeast	US 6/34 and NE 47
Danbury	about 16 mi south-southwest	County roads and NE 89
Mccook	about 17 mi west	US 6/34

Things to see

The Bartley Sales Barn (1919), SW corner of US 6/34 and Commercial St. (National Register) · the Mallalieu University state marker in Bartley Town Park · the Pioneer Bohemians marker on US 6/34 about 2 mi east · the 1935 flood high-water marker at Commercial and Cedar streets · the west end of the Burton's Bend WMA, a strip of old railroad grade east toward Orleans · the Bartley Public Library, 421 Lemon St.

Schools and health care

Schools: Southwest Public Schools (district 73-0179): Southwest Elementary (PK–5), 719 E St., Indianola, and Southwest Middle School and Junior/Senior High, 900 Coke St., Bartley

Health care: No clinic in Bartley; nearest: Indianola Medical Clinic, about 6 mi; hospitals: Community Hospital, 1301 East H St., McCook, (308) 344-2650, a 25-bed critical access hospital, about 17 mi, or Tri Valley Health System, Cambridge, about 8 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Johnson's History of Nebraska (1880); Nebraska State Gazetteer (1890); Who's Who in Nebraska, Red Willow County (1940); Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names; Southwest Nebraska Genealogical Society and NEGenWeb Red Willow County; McCook Gazette; History Nebraska and its historical markers; National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Nebraska Department of Transportation; Nebraska Department of Revenue; school, hospital, library and city websites. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.