Alexandria Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Thayer County · Population 148 (2020 census) · ZIP 68303 · Founded 1872 · Peak population 447 (1910)

About Alexandria

Alexandria is a village of 148 on Big Sandy Creek and NE 53, at the east edge of Thayer County about a mile from the Jefferson County line. Alexandria Lakes State Recreation Area, just across the line in Jefferson County, is about 3 miles east-southeast, and students attend Meridian Public Schools.

History

The Nightingale family made the county's first permanent settlement south of here in 1858, and Isaac Alexander came in 1859 with a portable gristmill. The Nebraska Land and Town Company located the town in 1871, and when the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad built across the Alexander land in 1872 it became the first, easternmost, of the line's alphabetical stations. It was named for S. J. Alexander, who helped bring the railroad through and later served as Nebraska secretary of state. Many people and businesses from Meridian, a mill village 2½ miles away in Jefferson County, moved here after the railroad passed it by.

Alexandria was incorporated on June 23, 1881, and in 1882 was the largest railroad town in the county. A storm leveled its new schoolhouse on June 21, 1875, and a tornado in June 1881 killed two people. The population peaked at 447 in 1910. In 1967 voters merged the Alexandria, Daykin and Tobias schools into the Meridian district. Bryant B. Brooks, later governor of Wyoming, worked on a ranch near Alexandria and married here in 1886.

Highways and trails through Alexandria

Route	One way	Other way
NE 53North–south through the village	North to NE 4 west of Daykin	South to US 136 near Gilead

Nearby towns

Meridian	about 2.5 mi south-southeast	County roads
Daykin	about 7 mi northeast	NE 53 and NE 4
Gilead	about 7 mi south-southwest	NE 53
Belvidere	about 9 mi west	County roads
Bruning	about 11 mi west-northwest	NE 53 and NE 4
Hebron	about 12 mi west-southwest	NE 53 and US 136
Fairbury	about 13 mi east-southeast	NE 53 and US 136

Things to see

Alexandria Lakes State Recreation Area, 56010 718th Rd.: two lakes with about 46 acres of water and 54 campsites, about 3 mi east-southeast in Jefferson County · the Richard E. Dill House, 6th and Mercy Sts., a 1936 Modern house (National Register; private) · the Tucker Memorial Library, 313 Harbine St., in the former hospital, reopened in 2025 · Meridian WMA, about 3 mi south on the Little Blue · Meridian, the old mill village 2½ mi away

Schools and health care

Schools: Meridian Public Schools: Meridian Elementary (PK–6) and Meridian High School (7–12), one campus at 72380 560th Ave., west of Daykin in Jefferson County

Health care: No clinic in Alexandria; nearest hospitals: Thayer County Health Services, 120 Park Ave., Hebron, a 17-bed critical access hospital; or Jefferson Community Health & Life, Fairbury

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Who's Who in Nebraska, Thayer County (1940); Nebraska State Gazetteer (1917); History Nebraska and its historical markers; National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; Little Blue NRD; Nebraska Department of Transportation; Heritage Highway 136; village, school, museum and hospital websites. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.