Campbell Area Cameras
About Campbell
Campbell is a village in Franklin County, in south central Nebraska, in North Franklin Township. The 2020 census counted 272 residents, down from 347 in 2010 and 387 in 2000. The village covers 0.41 square miles, all land. It keeps parks, a fire department, a library and a community hall, and publishes a local newsletter, the Can Do News, which began in April 1995.
History
Campbell was platted in 1886 on behalf of the railroad and took the name of one of its founders. The settlement around it was older. In July 1876 a party of roughly 43 German colonists left Bremen from the village of Kolb on the Volga, landed at Castle Garden in New York in August, and were carried west by the Burlington Railroad to Hastings, where the company hired them as labourers on the Republican Valley line then being built westward. Their schoolmaster, Franz W. Scheibel, organized a congregation in the country near what became Campbell. By the 1880 census forty-four German-Russian family units lived in the Campbell neighborhood. French-Canadian and Norwegian families settled in the area as well.
Campbell is a village in northeastern Franklin County, platted in 1886 on behalf of the railroad -- a classic Nebraska railroad town. It takes its name from one of the town's founders, a man named Campbell, though his full identity isn't well documented in available records. Professional baseball player Barney Koch, born in Campbell in 1923, is among the village's notable natives. With a 2020 population of 272, Campbell has seen a steady decline from 387 residents in 2000, consistent with the broader trend across Franklin County's smaller communities.
Campbell's founding as a railroad town is typical of the county's settlement pattern, though the specific founder behind its name remains only partially documented. It remains a small agricultural service village today.
Campbell Businesses & Places
13 listings in Campbell.
Click a category to see the businesses.
Community & Faith (8)
- Campbell Cemetery — Cemeteries
- Campbell, Westminster United Presbyterian Church — Presbyterian Church
- Harmony Cemetery — Cemeteries
- Koch-Cook Cemetery — Cemeteries
- Morseville Cemetery — Cemeteries
- St. Anne Campbell — Catholic Church
- Trinity Lutheran Cemetery — Cemeteries
- Trinity Lutheran Church — Lutheran Church
Government & Resources (4)
- Campbell Area Chamber of Commerce — Chamber of Commerce
- Campbell Post Office — Post Office
- Campbell Public Library — Libraries
- Campbell Village Office — City Hall
Utilities (1)
- Village of Campbell — Water Utility / District