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Blue Springs sits on the Big Blue River in southern Gage County, a little over a mile north of Wymore and about ten miles south of Beatrice. The town takes its name from springs that fed the river here — water the area’s Native peoples long regarded as healing. Incorporation papers were filed in 1857 and a post office followed in 1861, making Blue Springs one of the earliest settlements in southeast Nebraska.
A dam thrown across the Big Blue in 1866 powered a burr-grist mill. The Black Brothers replaced it with a flour mill in 1886 that ran until 1928, and a hydroelectric plant was added in 1923. The remains of the dam and the power plant are still visible below the Broad Street bridge.
With 282 residents at the 2020 census, Blue Springs is the least populous incorporated city in Nebraska. For its size it carries a great deal of history: a Methodist cemetery founded in 1860 that the city describes as Nebraska’s oldest recorded cemetery, an 1857 log cabin that has served as a museum since 1950, a trailhead on the 22-mile Chief Standing Bear Trail, and the birthplace of Pro Football Hall of Famer Guy Chamberlin.
Nebraska’s least populous city, on the Big Blue River in southern Gage County — named for its healing springs, with an 1866 mill-dam ruin below the Broad Street bridge, an 1860 cemetery, and a trailhead on the Chief Standing Bear Trail.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Gage County lies in the second tier of counties north of the Kansas line in southeast Nebraska, with Beatrice as its county seat. Inside the state it borders Lancaster County to the north, Saline County to the northwest, Otoe County to the northeast, Johnson County to the east and northeast, Pawnee County to the east, and Jefferson County to the west. Its southern boundary is the Kansas state line, where Marshall County and Washington County, Kansas lie opposite.
Other communities in Gage County. Wymore (population 1,377) is Blue Springs’ immediate neighbor, just over a mile south and the seat of the shared school district. Holmesville is about 3 miles north along the Big Blue and is the next trailhead north on the Chief Standing Bear Trail. Barneston (population 90) sits roughly 8 miles southeast near the Kansas line, on ground that was once a major Otoe village and agency. Odell (population 260) is about 9 miles southwest, and Liberty is about 10 miles east-southeast. Beatrice, the county seat, is about 10 miles north-northwest and is the county’s hospital, courthouse and retail center. Farther out in the county are Filley, Virginia, Pickrell, Clatonia, Cortland, Adams and Rockford.
Nearby towns beyond Gage County. Fairbury lies about 30 miles west in Jefferson County. Pawnee City is roughly 27 miles east. DeWitt is about 22 miles northwest and Wilber, the Czech Capital of Nebraska, about 28 miles northwest. Marysville, Kansas is roughly 21 miles south on U.S. Route 77, and Lincoln is about 47 miles north.
Points of Interest & Events
Blue Springs City Park and the Johnson Cabin Museum — The city park at 100 North A Street was dedicated on Arbor Day, 23 April 1914, and some of the trees planted that day are still standing. The park holds an 1857 log cabin that has served as a museum since 1950; the city marked its 75th year as a museum in 2025. The cabin is opened to visitors on Memorial Day and during city celebrations.
The mill dam and power plant ruins — Below the Broad Street bridge the Big Blue River still shows the remains of the 1866 dam and the hydroelectric plant built in 1923. The dam first turned a burr-grist mill; the Black Brothers built a flour mill on the site in 1886 that operated until 1928. The bridge itself is lit for the town’s Night Lights display.
Blue Springs Cemetery — About a mile north of downtown, the cemetery grew around a Methodist burying ground established in 1860. The City of Blue Springs describes it as Nebraska’s oldest recorded cemetery.
Guy Chamberlin Monument — Guy Chamberlin was born in Blue Springs on 16 January 1894 and went on to become one of the most successful figures in early professional football. He won titles as a player in 1919 and 1921 and as a player-coach in 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1926, and remains the only coach to win NFL championships with three different clubs. His .759 winning percentage is still the best in NFL history among coaches with 50 or more games. He is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, he farmed near Blue Springs from 1932, and his ashes were scattered in his hometown after his death in 1967. A monument to him was dedicated in 2014 on the grounds of Southern Elementary School.
Chief Standing Bear Trail — Blue Springs is one of four trailheads on this 22-mile crushed-limestone rail-trail, which follows a former railroad grade south from Beatrice to the Kansas state line. The other trailheads are at Beatrice, Holmesville and Barneston, each with rest-stop facilities and interpretive history. The Blue Springs trailhead is about a mile east of town on the B-Line.
Union Center School ruins — About a mile east of Blue Springs in Island Grove Township stand the brick walls of Union Center School, District 161. It opened in the fall of 1917 and closed in the spring of 1952, and was among the earliest consolidated rural schools in Nebraska to offer a full secondary program. The district formally merged with Wymore on 1 July 1957. The shell of the building is still visible from the road.
Camping and outdoor recreation. Feit Memorial Park, established in 1977 and named for fireman John Feit, overlooks the Blue River and was the Disldo Campground before the fire department bought it in 1973. It accepts every kind of camping — tents, pop-ups, RVs, fifth-wheels and truck campers — at $10 per day, with registration on arrival and a seven-day limit on consecutive stays. Blue Springs City Park allows tent camping only; RVs and motorized campers are not permitted there. Big Indian Recreation Area, a 233-acre Lower Big Blue NRD site southwest of Wymore and six miles east of Odell, offers tent and RV camping with electrical hookups and restrooms and is a well-regarded channel catfish and bullhead fishery; it was the first NRD-managed recreation area in Nebraska and was rebuilt in 2010. Arbor State Park in Wymore has camping with electrical hookups alongside ball fields, a horse arena, a skate park and an aquatic center. Rockford Lake State Recreation Area lies northeast in Gage County.
Events. The Blue Springs Volunteer Fire Department hosts an annual classic car, bike and tractor show in August, paired in recent years with a cornhole tournament. The city also lights the Blue Springs river bridge for its Night Lights display, and the self-guided Southern Gage History Trail links historic sites across Blue Springs and Wymore. In Wymore, the Southern Gage Community Pride Group runs Sam Wymore Days, an Easter egg hunt and seasonal farmers markets. Confirm dates with the City of Blue Springs before travelling.
Education & Health
Schools. Blue Springs and Wymore share Southern School District 1, whose teams compete as the Raiders. Southern Elementary School, serving kindergarten through sixth grade, is in Blue Springs; the junior and senior high school, grades seven through twelve, is in Wymore, where the district is based. A Head Start preschool program also serves the two communities. Southern’s wrestling program won state championships in 1974 and 1980. Before consolidation, rural children in the township attended Union Center School, District 161, a mile east of town.
Health care. The nearest clinic is the Wymore Medical Clinic, operated by Beatrice Community Hospital & Health Center at U.S. Highway 77 and West E Street in Wymore, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. and reachable at (402) 645-3310. It provides family medicine, wellness and Medicare visits, immunizations, chronic disease management, school and sports physicals, DOT physicals, same-day sick visits and on-site behavioral health several days a week. The nearest hospital is Beatrice Community Hospital & Health Center, about ten miles north, which serves the whole of Gage County. Emergency response in Blue Springs is provided by the Blue Springs Volunteer Fire Department, with EMS, fire and rescue shared across southern Gage County; dial 911.
Community services. Blue Springs City Hall is at 104 East Broad Street, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., telephone (402) 645-3539. Memorial Hall is available for public rental. The Wymore Public Library serves southern Gage County, and the senior center in Wymore provides congregate meals and Meals on Wheels.
Highway Access
U.S. Route 77 passes immediately west of Blue Springs and is the town’s main connection to the rest of the state. Northbound it runs through Beatrice about ten miles away, then on to Lincoln, Wahoo and Fremont before continuing to South Sioux City and the Iowa line. Southbound it passes Barneston and crosses into Kansas toward Marysville, roughly 21 miles south. US-77 is the corridor that carries most Blue Springs traffic to Interstate 80 at Lincoln.
Nebraska Highway 8 crosses southern Gage County several miles south of Blue Springs, meeting US-77 between Odell and Barneston. Westbound, N-8 runs through Odell toward Fairbury, Chester and Superior; eastbound it passes Liberty on the way to Pawnee City and Falls City. The route stays within about ten miles of the Kansas border for its whole length.
Nebraska Highway 112 ends at U.S. Route 77 just west of Blue Springs. It runs about 16 miles southwest, overlapping N-8 through Odell, and reaches the Kansas line at K-148, giving the town a direct link to the southwest corner of the county.
Local streets and the trail. Broad Street is the main street through town and carries the bridge over the Big Blue River; City Hall sits at 104 East Broad. The B-Line runs about a mile east to the Chief Standing Bear Trail trailhead.
Rail. A railroad line was built north from Marysville, Kansas to Beatrice in 1879, with a spur track into Blue Springs; the Marysville and Blue Valley Railroad reached Barneston in 1884. That corridor south of Beatrice is now the Chief Standing Bear Trail. Wymore, a mile south, was founded in 1881 as a railroad town and remains the larger rail point in the area.
Before you drive. Check current road and weather conditions at Nebraska 511, and see live camera views on the Gage County cameras page.
Navigate & Explore Blue Springs
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Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
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