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Town Overview
Roca is a village of 201 on 0.14 square miles about 11 miles south-southeast of Lincoln, and its name tells you what it was built on: Haskel Warner suggested roca, Spanish for rock, after the limestone quarries that made the place.
The Atchison & Nebraska Railroad reached the site in 1871 on its way to Lincoln; the town was platted and then incorporated in 1876. Population has been flat for decades — 220 in 2000, 220 in 2010, 201 in 2020.
Roca stone was used in buildings across Lincoln and well beyond, and the quarries ran for more than a century. The stone was even considered for the Nebraska state capitol in 1867 before being passed over. Traces of the quarrying are still visible in the landscape around the village.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Lancaster County is Nebraska's second most populous county, with 322,608 residents in 2020 across 846 square miles, and its seat is Lincoln, the state capital. It borders Saunders County to the north, Cass County to the northeast, Otoe County and Johnson County to the southeast, Gage County to the south, Saline County to the southwest, and Seward County and Butler County to the northwest.
Nearest towns. Hickman is about 3 miles south-southeast, Sprague about 6 miles west-southwest and Martell about 6 miles west-southwest. Bennet lies about 8 miles east and Cheney about 8 miles north-northeast. Downtown Lincoln is about 11 miles north-northwest. Distances given here are straight-line measurements.
Points of Interest & Events
The limestone quarries. Roca's reason for existing. Stone cut here went into buildings throughout Lincoln and out-state, and quarrying continued for over a hundred years. It was a serious enough resource that Roca rock was among the candidates for the Nebraska state capitol in 1867.
A highway crossroads. Roca marks the eastern end of Nebraska Highway 33, which runs west from U.S. Route 77 here through Crete and on toward Dorchester — making the village a small but real junction on the south side of the Lincoln metro.
Events. No recurring town-wide celebration could be independently verified for Roca at the time of writing, so none is claimed here.
Education & Health
Schools. Norris School District 160, founded in 1964 and named for Senator George W. Norris, serves nine small communities across Lancaster, Gage and Otoe counties — Roca, Hickman, Firth, Cortland, Panama, Princeton, Holland, Cheney and Rokeby — from a single 160-acre campus about 12 miles south of Lincoln, surrounded by the Norris Forest School Arboretum. Four buildings (elementary, intermediate, middle and high school) hold just under 2,000 students. The campus was badly damaged by the May 2004 Hallam tornado and took more than 20 months and over $35 million to rebuild.
Health care. There is no hospital in Roca. Lincoln, about 11 miles north-northwest, has the region's full range of hospital care.
Highway Access
Nebraska Highway 33 has its eastern terminus at U.S. Route 77 near Roca, about 10 miles south of Lincoln. Westbound, NE-33 runs 26 miles through Crete, parallel to the BNSF line, to U.S. Route 6 and Nebraska Highway 15 west of Dorchester.
US-77 is the main north–south route here, running north into Lincoln and south toward Beatrice. The nearest interstate is Interstate 80 on the north side of Lincoln. The Atchison & Nebraska line that created the village still runs through it, freight only.
Roca is a village of 201 about 11 miles south-southeast of Lincoln, platted when the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad arrived in 1871 and incorporated in 1876. Its name is Spanish for rock, after the limestone quarries that supplied building stone to Lincoln and beyond for more than a century. Nebraska Highway 33 has its eastern terminus at U.S. Route 77 here. It is served by Norris School District 160.
Navigate & Explore Roca
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