Preston Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Preston Area Cameras

Village · Richardson County · Population 19 (2020 census) · ZIP 68355 · Founded 1881 · Peak population 149 (1900)

About Preston

Preston is a village of 19 in southeastern Richardson County, about 5 miles east-southeast of Falls City, within the reservation of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, whose headquarters are about 5 miles south-southwest in Reserve, Kansas. Coal trains still pass on the rail line along the north side of the village.

History

A post office opened in 1874 as Sac, for the Sac and Fox. The Atchison & Nebraska Railroad, later the Burlington, reached the site in 1878, and Philip R. Shelly, who had opened a general store in 1880, platted a town of about 40 acres in 1881. Storekeeper James Eatough suggested the name Preston, for Preston, England, adopted on June 23, 1881. Fires in 1891 and 1903 and a cyclone in 1896 nearly destroyed the town. The last high school class graduated in 1928, the depot closed in 1953, and the post office became a rural branch in 1974. The population was 149 in 1900.

Nearby towns

Falls City	about 4.7 mi west-northwest	County roads
Rulo	about 4.8 mi east-northeast	County roads and US 159
Archer	about 5 mi northwest	County roads
Salem	about 11 mi west-northwest	County roads
Yankton	about 6 mi east-northeast	County roads

Things to see

Margrave WMA on the Big Nemaha, about 3 mi east-southeast · Falls City, about 5 mi west-northwest · the Sac & Fox Casino, run by the Sac and Fox Nation, at Powhattan, Kansas

Schools and health care

Schools: Falls City Public Schools: Falls City North Elementary (PK–2), 2500 Chase St.; Falls City South Elementary (3–5), 1000 Fulton St.; Falls City Middle School (6–8), 1415 Morton St.; Falls City Senior High (9–12), 1400 Fulton St.

Health care: No clinic in Preston; Community Medical Center, 3307 Barada St., Falls City, 402-245-2428 (25-bed critical access hospital, with its Family Medicine Clinic at the same address)

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Edwards, History of Richardson County (1917); History Nebraska; National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nemaha NRD; Nebraska Department of Transportation; city, village, school, library, museum and parish websites. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.