Heartwell was founded around 1883 with the arrival of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and was named for James B. Heartwell, a politician and bank official.

Heartwell is a village with a very small 2020 census population of 80 on just 0.073 square miles of land, making it one of Nebraska's smallest incorporated places. Its ZIP code is 68945. It remains a small, quiet agricultural village.