Spalding is a village in Greeley County, in central Nebraska. It was originally called Halifax, and under that name was founded in 1875 by a colony of Irish Catholics. It was renamed in 1881 in honor of bishop John Lancaster Spalding, and the town was incorporated in 1898. The 2020 census recorded 408 residents, down from 487 in 2010 and 537 in 2000.
That Catholic founding left the village its landmark. St. Michael’s parish built a frame church in 1882 and a brick one in 1890 that was dedicated in June 1891. The cornerstone of the present church was laid in 1909 and the building dedicated in September 1914, to a design by the Omaha architect James Henry Craddock. An academy building was completed in 1912 and a convent went up in 1926 and 1927. The whole group was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the St. Michael’s Catholic Church Complex in 1983.
Spalding Academy still operates alongside Riverside Public Schools, and the village has a medical clinic, a public library, and a volunteer fire department and rescue squad. Chuck, Jim and Tompall Glaser of the country group Tompall and the Glaser Brothers came from Spalding, as did the former NFL defensive end Gene Cronin.
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Spalding traces to an 1875 Irish Catholic settlement originally called Halifax, renamed in 1881 to honor Bishop John Lancaster Spalding of Peoria, who led the Irish Catholic Colonization Association that settled roughly 25,000 acres in northeastern Greeley County. The village is home to the National Register-listed 1919 Spalding Power Plant and Dam on the Cedar River and the Gothic Revival St. Michael's Catholic Church Complex, whose cornerstone was laid in 1909.
An Irish Catholic colonization-era village on the Cedar River, home to a National Register-listed 1919 hydroelectric dam.