Ashland Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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City · Saunders County · Population 3,086 (2020 census) · ZIP 68003 · Founded 1866

About Ashland

Ashland is a city of 3,086 in the southeastern corner of Saunders County, on US 6 where Salt Creek runs to the Platte River, about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. It has Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools, the public library, the Ashland History Museum and a Silver Street downtown of shops, galleries and taprooms. Eugene T. Mahoney State Park and the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum are a few miles east at I-80, in Cass County.

History

Saline Ford, the only rock-bottomed crossing of Salt Creek, carried travelers between the Missouri River towns and the Platte valley trails, and Dennis Dean built a mill here in 1863–64. The town was formed in 1866 and named by an admirer of Henry Clay for Clay's Kentucky estate; "Saline Ford" had also been proposed. Ashland was the county seat from 1867 until Wahoo won the 1873 election. The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad arrived in the spring of 1870, the year Ashland incorporated, and a Burlington line north to Sioux City was added in 1906.

Floods in the "Bottoms" moved the business district uphill. The 1911 Carnegie library, the 1889 National Bank of Ashland, the Hoffman Building, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and Camp Ashland's Memorial Hall are on the National Register. A Platte River levee break flooded Camp Ashland on March 17, 2019. Astronaut Clayton Anderson grew up here, and the 2020 census count was the city's highest.

Highways and trails through Ashland

Route	One way	Other way
US 6Silver St. through town	Northeast across the Platte to Gretna and Omaha	Southwest to I-80, Greenwood and Lincoln
NE 66North from US 6	North to Memphis (about 5 mi) and Ithaca	Ends at US 6

Nearby towns

Memphis	about 4.7 mi northwest	NE 66
Wann	about 7 mi north	County roads
South Bend	about 7 mi east-southeast	County roads
Greenwood	about 6 mi south-southwest	US 6
Gretna	about 10 mi northeast	US 6
Ithaca	about 12 mi northwest	NE 66
Yutan	about 14 mi north	County roads
Wahoo	about 17 mi northwest	NE 66 and US 77
Lincoln	about 23 mi southwest	US 6 and I-80
Omaha	about 27 mi east-northeast	US 6

Things to see

Ashland History Museum, in the 1911 Carnegie library, 207 N. 15th St. (Thursday 1–4 p.m. or by appointment) · Willow Point Gallery, 1431 Silver St., with the Archie Hightshoe big-game collection · Glacial Till Cider House, 1419 Silver St. · the National Bank of Ashland (1889) and Hoffman Building on Silver St. (National Register) · Catfish Run WMA on Salt Creek · Mahoney State Park and the SAC museum, about 4 mi east at I-80 Exit 426 (Cass County)

Events in Ashland

Ashland Stir-Up Days
Stir-Up Days is Ashland’s annual summer community festival, hosted by the Ashland Chamber of Commerce each July in the town’s historic downtown along Silver Street.
Testicle Festival
Testicle Festival is held in Ashland, Nebraska, on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend or the weekend after.

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools: Ashland-Greenwood Primary, Intermediate, Middle and High schools

Health care: Nearest hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln (about 25 mi) and Saunders Medical Center, Wahoo (about 17 mi)

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Phillips, Past and Present of Saunders County (1915); Saunders County, Nebraska History (1983, NEGenWeb); Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names (1925); National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; Lower Platte North NRD; Nebraska Department of Transportation. Distances marked "about" are estimates.