Danbury Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Red Willow County · Population 80 (2020 census) · ZIP 69026 · Founded 1873 · Peak population 321 (1930)

About Danbury

Danbury is a village of 80 on Beaver Creek and NE 89 in southern Red Willow County, about 2½ miles north of the Kansas line and 16 miles southeast of McCook.

History

George Gilbert of Danbury, Connecticut, homesteaded on Beaver Creek in 1871, and other families followed in 1872; the Danbury post office opened on December 24, 1873, with Gilbert as postmaster. When the Burlington built its branch up the Beaver in 1887, it missed the town by three miles, so the whole town moved to the tracks; George B. Morgan opened the first store, and the depot went up in 1888. By 1890 Danbury had a bank, a roller mill and two general stores. The Danbury News lasted from August 1889 to the next summer; its last issue, after a crop failure, read only "Dried out."

Danbury incorporated in 1898 and reached its largest population, 321, in 1930. Bess Furman, born here in 1894, became an Associated Press reporter in Washington and a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, and later worked for the New York Times. The Beaver Valley school became part of Twin Valley and then, in 2003, Southwest. The rail line is still in place, but no trains have run since about 2015.

Highways and trails through Danbury

Route	One way	Other way
NE 89East–west through the village	East to Lebanon (about 7 mi) and Wilsonville	West past Marion to US 83

Nearby towns

Marion	about 4.3 mi west-southwest	NE 89
Lebanon	about 7 mi east	NE 89
Indianola	about 14 mi north	County roads
Mccook	about 16 mi northwest	NE 89 and US 83
Bartley	about 16 mi north-northeast	County roads
Wilsonville	about 17 mi east-northeast	NE 89

Things to see

The Danbury Depot Museum, 306 Grandville Ave., in the 1888 depot, with a corner for Bess Furman Armstrong; traditionally open Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, and by appointment · the Danbury-Marion Cemetery, about 3 mi west · Pleasant Prairie and Stoughton cemeteries

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 Danbury; nearest hospitals: Community Hospital, 1301 East H St., McCook, (308) 344-2650, a 25-bed critical access hospital, about 16 mi, or Decatur Health, Oberlin, Kansas, about 16 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.